Metalink Announces Industry's First Single-Chip Real-MIMO, 802.11n Draft-Compliant, Radio Frequency (RF) IC

Metalink Announces Industry's First Single-Chip Real-MIMO, 802.11n Draft-Compliant, Radio Frequency (RF) IC

MtW8150 is First in 802.11n Product Family Laying the Groundwork for New Wireless Multimedia Networking for Home Entertainment Applications

YAKUM, Israel, May 23/PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Metalink Ltd. (NASDAQ: MTLK), a provider of high performance
wireline and wireless broadband communication silicon solutions, today
entered the wireless LAN (WLAN) market with the first in a planned family of
products, WLANPlus(TM), that will enable IEEE 802.11n networks to deliver the
necessary performance and coverage to handle high-bandwidth digital
entertainment content. The company's initial product for this emerging WLAN
market segment is the world's first single-chip radio frequency (RF) device
to support Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) antenna technology used in
the IEEE 802.11n standard being developed for next-generation Wi-Fi(R).

"Metalink's goal is to help move IEEE 802.11n beyond fast data
networking to fulfill its promise as a video and multimedia delivery
technology for wireless home entertainment," said Tzvika Shukhman, chairman
and chief executive officer with Metalink. "In addition to offering our new,
highly integrated RF device as a stand-alone product for use with other MIMO
or smart-antenna baseband chips, we also will be including it as part of a
complete IEEE 802.11n MIMO chipset that we plan to unveil soon. We are
confident that our WLANPlus product line is a crucial building block for the
digital home networks."

According to ABI Research, more than 150 million Wi-Fi ICs will
be embedded into consumer electronics products by 2007, many of those driven
by the need to deliver multimedia content.

"Audio receivers, DVRs, home and portable game consoles, and
portable media players will reshape the home entertainment environment by
unleashing content to be freely distributed throughout the home," said Philip
Solis, ABI Research senior analyst. "This includes content streamed over the
Internet, as well as content from the PC or any other consumer electronics
device. The proliferation of Wi-Fi in the home is causing consumers to expect
to be able to access their content from anywhere in the home. Newer Wi-Fi
equipment must be able to perform well with high throughput at a great range
while still maintaining compatibility with existing Wi-Fi equipment. MIMO
technology is important because it will make this happen."

Product Details

Metalink's WLAN family will build on the company's proven
mixed-signal communications processing expertise gained from ten years of
excellence in high-end digital subscriber line (DSL) technologies. The
company's WLAN products will give set-top boxes, media gateways or other
centralized systems the throughput and reach to seamlessly and reliably
deliver music, movies and other rich-media content to consumer electronics
appliances located anywhere in the home. They will support the emerging
802.11n standard including its foundational MIMO antenna technology, which
takes WiFi to the next level by moving multiple, simultaneous RF signals over
one radio channel and exploiting multipath signal propagation to increase
throughput without consuming additional spectrum.

Metalink is the first to integrate two transmit and receive RF
chains on one Real- MIMO chip (2 x 2 MIMO). The MtW8150 device features two
complete and independent transmit and receive RF chains on a single
cost-effective device, and is designed to be compliant with any IEEE 802.11n
standard that is ratified. Operating in the 4.9 GHz to 5.9 GHz worldband
frequency range, it supports the pre-standard IEEE 802.11n specification and
also can operate on the 20 MHz frequency channel to maintain legacy
interoperability.

For demanding HDTV distribution applications, the MtW8150 can be
used in an asymmetric topology with more antennas on the service side than
the client side, enabling designers to apply advanced techniques like beam
forming to increase throughput and quality of service (QoS) while reducing
overall equipment costs. To further increase throughput, multiple MtW8150
devices can be cascaded, using their integrated local oscillators (LOs)
combined with LO sharing to eliminate the need for any external components.
Throughput also can be improved using the device's 40 MHz channel-bonding
capability.

The MtW8150 is available today in sample quantities, with volume
quantities available in the third calendar quarter of 2005.

About Metalink

Metalink Ltd. (NASDAQ: MTLK) develops high performance silicon
solutions revolutionizing the broadband experience by facilitating the
convergence of telecommunication, networking and entertainment.

Metalink's DSL and WLAN technologies are designed to enable
true broadband connectivity in every home.

Metalink's DSL products offer service providers a
cost-effective network upgrade to support triple-play services. Using
Metalink's innovative VDSL technologies operators can deliver fiber-like
speeds over existing copper infrastructure. Metalink's chipsets are deployed
in millions of DSL lines by leading service providers worldwide.

Metalink aims to redefine the home broadband experience by
introducing WLANPlus(TM) - a high-throughput wireless LAN technology, 5-10
times faster than currently available wireless LAN 802.11a/b/g technologies.
Featuring MIMO technology adopted by the 802.11n standardization, WLANPlus
enables room-to-room networking of multiple high-definition video streams.

Metalink is a fabless semiconductor company headquartered in
Yakum, Israel. The company has subsidiaries in California, South Korea, and
Japan as well as offices in Beijing, China and Atlanta, Georgia. Further
information is available at http://www.metalinkbb.com

This press release contains "forward looking" information within
the meaning of the United States securities laws that involve risks and
uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those
in the forward looking statements. Additional factors that could cause actual
results to differ materially from these forward-looking statements are set
forth from time to time in Metalink's filings with the Securities and
Exchange Commission, including Metalink's Annual Report in Form F-20. Readers
are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. The
Company undertakes no obligation to republish or revise forward-looking
statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or to
reflect the occurrences of unanticipated events. The Company cannot guarantee
future results, events, and levels of activity, performance, or achievements.

US Media Contact:
Kelly Poffenberger
Weber Shandwick
+1-949-428-3868
kpoffenberger@webershandwick.com

Ranen Cohen-Orgad
Director of Investor Relations & Corporate Communications
Metalink Ltd.
Tel: +972-9-960-5450
Fax: +972-9-960-5399
US Tel: +1-678-325-5449
ranenc@metalinkBB.com

Tal Danziger
MarCom Manager
Metalink Ltd.
Tel: +972-9-960-5401
Fax: +972-9-960-5544
tald@metalinkBB.com

Source: Metalink Ltd.

US Media Contact: Kelly Poffenberger, Weber Shandwick, +1-949-428-3868, kpoffenberger@webershandwick.com . Ranen Cohen-Orgad, Director of Investor Relations & Corporate Communications, Metalink Ltd., Tel: +972-9-960-5450, Fax: +972-9-960-5399, US Tel: +1-678-325-5449, ranenc@metalinkBB.com . Tal Danziger, MarCom Manager, Metalink Ltd., Tel: +972-9-960-5401, Fax: +972-9-960-5544, tald@metalinkBB.com

-------
Profile: intent