Home Appliance, Industrial Control Markets Figure Prominently Among Winners

SAN JOSE, Calif., Feb. 20 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- ZiLOG(R) (Nasdaq: ZILG) a leading provider of integrated flash microcontrollers, universal remote control and ARM-based solutions today announced the results of its new 16-bit ZNEO(TM) Design Contest -- co-sponsored by Mouser Electronics, one of ZiLOG's leading distributors -- which was announced last September. Open to the global design community, the contest was intended to highlight the design potential of ZiLOG's recently announced high-performance 16-bit ZNEO Flash-based, embedded microcontroller.

"I'd like to congratulate all of the participants and our three winners," said Dr. Norman Sheridan, ZiLOG's executive vice president and chief technology officer (CTO). "We had an awesome response from the embedded design engineering community with design entries demonstrating a wide variety of potential applications for our new 16-bit embedded MCU family. Our judges based their decisions on how well each entrant leveraged the capabilities of the ZNEO MCU, as well as the innovativeness, technical excellence, practicality and creativity of the designs submitted. Picking the top three designs was not easy."

The winning entries:

• First Place ($(US) 2,000 award) -- Automated Window Blind Controller, Todd Hochwitz, design engineer with Technical Mandala, Fort Collins, CO;
• Second Place ($(US) 1,000 award) -- Internet-Ready Refrigerator, Dustin Graves, computer scientist, Naval Research Lab, Arlington, VA; and
• Third Place ($(US) 500 award) -- Continuous Reciprocal Frequency Counter, Jim Granville, designer, MGE, Auckland, New Zealand.

Each of the next 25 runners up will receive ZiLOG ZNEO Limited Edition Contest shirts. Awards and contest shirts will be presented to the winners through the local ZiLOG field sales office.

ZiLOG's new ZNEO 16-bit Flash MCU features a 16-bit CPU optimized for near single-cycle instruction execution, yielding up to 20 MIPS at 20 MHz; large zero-wait-time internal Flash and RAM to support today's demanding controller requirements; a 32-bit ALU for powerful math functionality; a 16-bit bus for high performance; and a compiler-friendly instruction set for compact code. In addition, a rich array of peripherals and analog functions make ZNEO controllers suitable for a variety of applications -- from security panels to motor control.

Mouser Electronics, in addition to co-sponsoring the contest, offered participants a low-cost, fully-equipped contest design kit. It included a hardware development platform, ZiLOG's ZDSII development software and online sample applications.

About ZiLOG:

Founded in 1974, ZiLOG won international acclaim for designing one of the first architectures in the microprocessors and microcontrollers industry. Today, ZiLOG is a leading global supplier of 8-bit micro logic devices. It designs, manufactures and markets a broad portfolio of devices for embedded control and communication applications used in consumer electronics, home appliances, security systems, point of sales terminals, personal computer peripherals, as well as industrial and automotive applications. ZiLOG is headquartered in San Jose, California, and employs approximately 500 people worldwide with sales offices throughout Asia, Europe and North America. For more information about ZiLOG and its products, visit the Company's website at: http://www.ZiLOG.com.

About Mouser:

Mouser Electronics, Inc. is an electronic component distributor, focused on the rapid introduction of new products and technologies to electronic design engineers. Mouser.com features over 735,000 products online from more than 300 manufacturers. Mouser's 1,800+ page catalog is published every 90 days, providing designers with up-to-date data on the components now available for the next generation of electronic devices. Mouser ships globally to over 280,000 customers in 170 countries from its 432,000 sq. ft. state-of-the-art facility in Mansfield, Texas. For more information, visit http://www.mouser.com.

SOURCE ZiLOG 02/20/2007


CONTACT: Stew Chalmers of Positio Public Relations,
+1-408-453-2400, stew@positio.com, for ZiLOG
/Web site: http://www.zilog.com
(ZILG)


7387 02/20/2007 09:00 EST http://www.prnewswire.com