POWERED BY TI'S DSP, XCELIS' PANTHEON ENABLES USERS TO PLACE AND RECEIVE MOBILE PHONE CALLS FROM LANDLINE HANDSETS
Consumers will now be able to use landline handsets to place and receive calls over their cellular phones with a new device from Xcelis Communications, LLC. Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI) ....

Xcelis™ integrates your mobile and landline phones in a new way.
One Phone To Rule Them All
By Rafe Needleman 
I was indulging in an orgy of gadgets last week, at the Consumer Electronics Show. The show gave me hope, first, because the creativity and energy I saw there . . .

The Bluetooth®--Compatible “Pantheon™” Device Enables Users to Receive and Place Wireless Calls Over a Single Phone
WHAT: Manage incoming and outgoing wireless (and landline) calls from a single
landline handset with the compact Xcelis™ Pantheon™

BEN FRANKLIN AWARDS $1,750,000 TO REGIONAL COMPANIES
Seven southeastern Pennsylvania technology companies have been awarded $1,750,000 for prototype and product development by Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern Pennsylvania (BFTP/SEP).  Company profiles and investment information

Phone Device Draws Notice for Wayne Firm

POWERED BY TI'S DSP, XCELIS' PANTHEON ENABLES USERS TO PLACE AND RECEIVE MOBILE PHONE CALLS FROM LANDLINE HANDSETS

TI's flexible C54CST DSP Solution selected as the foundation for Xcelis Communications innovative mobile-to-landline product

HOUSTON and PHILADELPHIA (June 9, 2004) — Consumers will now be able to use landline handsets to place and receive calls over their cellular phones with a new device from Xcelis Communications, LLC. Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI) (NYSE:TXN) today announced that Xcelis has implemented TI's TMS320C54CST digital signal processor (DSP), a fully-optimized telephony solution, on Pantheon, a mobile-landline integration device.

Pantheon attaches to any single line landline telephone and, in addition to placing and receiving landline telephone calls, uses Bluetooth® connectivity to route outgoing and incoming voice calls and data from users' mobile phones to traditional landline phones. For more information and a product demonstration of Pantheon, please see www.xcelis.com/pantheon.htm .

The C54CST is a flexible, low-power digital signal processor (DSP)-based solution optimized for remote data collection. Complete with SPIRIT Corp.'s optimized software, which consists of the most demanded telephony algorithms, the flexible CST framework allows the user to easily control those algorithms on different abstraction layers. It is ideal for customers developing remote data collection applications that integrate industrial control, voice functionality or other specialized functions using the peripherals of the DSP, such as telephony signaling. For example, Pantheon uses the DSP and optimized software to send data from a field location to a central location. By using the C54CST, Xcelis will be able to take Pantheon to market faster and with greater feature functionality than was previously available on the market. Likewise, by using Bluetooth, Pantheon eliminates the need to carry multiple handsets in the home and the hassle of using a cradle—an enormous advantage over the "call forwarding" and "cradle-based" solutions currently in the market.

"With an advanced feature set and robust SPIRIT algorithm support, the C54CST was the natural choice for the Pantheon product," said Glen Alexis, chief technology officer, Xcelis Communications. "We evaluated other architectures and DSPs from several other providers, and none came close to the functionality of the telecommunication algorithms in TI's chip.”

The TI C54CST is the industry's first DSP-based single-chip remote data collection application solution, and is flexible enough to function as a chipset controlled by a host processor or as a FLEX chipset, programmed to perform customer user functions that take advantage of the optimized ROM contents. Its 14 on-board algorithms from SPIRIT are compliant with eXpressDSP ™ Software and Development Tools and capable of interfacing to industry-standard data access arrangement (DAA), and include four data, four telephony and six voice algorithms.

In addition to the C54CST, Pantheon uses other TI logic devices including the TPS78633, eXpressDSP-compliant algorithms in ROM and CSL and LIO standards for the UART, DAA and McBSP device drivers.

About Xcelis

Xcelis Communications, LLC, is an engineering company that develops and licenses innovative products that integrate communications services and devices. The company's patent pending UNUM(TM) Architecture is a cost- effective worldwide compliant communications system capable of integrating voice, data, IP, fax, cellular and video on a single platform enabling manufacturers to quickly bring valuable new or revitalized products to market. Pantheon is the first solution to be developed on the UNUM Architecture.

A privately held company, Xcelis is headquartered in Wayne , Pennsylvania with offices in Columbia , MD. More information can be found at http://www.xcelis.com .

About Texas Instruments Incorporated

Texas Instruments Incorporated provides innovative DSP and analog technologies to meet our customers' real world signal processing requirements. In addition to Semiconductor, the company's businesses include Sensors & Controls and Educational & Productivity Solutions. TI is headquartered in Dallas , Texas , and has manufacturing, design or sales operations in more than 25 countries.

Texas Instruments is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol TXN. More information is located on the World Wide Web at http://www.ti.com .

TRADEMARKS

All trademarks and registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

One Phone To Rule Them All
Xcelis™ integrates your mobile and landline phones in a new way.
By Rafe Needleman

I was indulging in an orgy of gadgets last week, at the Consumer Electronics Show. The show gave me hope, first, because the creativity and energy I saw there was infectious, and second, because there's no way all these cool gizmos will ever work together, which means that I'll have things to complain and write about for a long time.

I'll cover the very large and interesting problem of the collision of consumer electronics and personal computing in an upcoming column, but for now, I want to focus on a small yet annoying convergence complaint that almost everybody deals with: The problem of having two personal phone numbers—a mobile and a landline phone.

Startup company Xcelis™ has an interesting solution to this problem: It makes a device that uses Bluetooth® to redirect your mobile phone's calls to your home phone, which is likely more comfortable to use. It's not exactly a new concept, but the timing is right and Xcelis™'s business model is appropriate.

The Xcelis™ product I saw at CES, the paperback-sized Pantheon™, plugs into your desktop telephone or your home phone system, and allows your telephones to act as extensions to your mobile phone, for both incoming and outgoing calls. Your existing landline connection stays connected too, and a distinctive ring for mobile calls tells you which line is ringing. When you want to dial out, you use your home phone's keypad to select whether you want to call using the landline or mobile network. If you have free long-distance on your mobile plan, this lets you take advantage of it without having to go fetch your mobile phone when you want to make a call.

The Pantheon™'s interesting feature-set is what differentiates it from other mobile/landline combination products. For example, you can conference together a landline and a mobile call, and you can access you mobile's phonebook from your ordinary extension phone.

An alternative solution is to forward your calls from your mobile phone to your home phone when you're in the house. This is what I do—when it's off, my mobile forwards to another number (my home). Cingular's new 'Fast Forward' phone dock does the same thing, with the benefit of not using up your mobile phone minutes. But this halfway solution doesn't let you use your mobile plan for outgoing calls. (On the other hand, if you have poor wireless reception in your house, this solution is a better bet, since with the Pantheon™ all calls continue to go through the mobile phone.)

I saw the Pantheon™ demo in the CES booth of a large wired telephone manufacturing company, which requested anonymity. Xcelis™ is working to strike a deal with this company to sell the product under its brand.

This telephone hardware company is clearly interested in a way to fight back against the mobile business, which, because more people are using their mobile phones while they are home, is eating into its market. Xcelis™ COO Tim Reese and product managers from this phone company told me that down the line, they could see integrating the Xcelis™ functionality into their own phones. This could make the system easier to use, and tighter integration of the telephone and the mobile system could make it possible to, for example, send SMS messages, from the desktop phone.

There's also talk of using the Xcelis™ technology to link voice over IP (VOIP) telephony into home phone systems, again to allow the consumer to leverage their existing telephones to selectively access modern voice telecommunications services.

I don't think Xcelis™ could find a large market for the Pantheon™ by itself, so its strategy of partnering with a branded telephone manufacturer is smart—if it can get the deal. To Tim's credit, the manufacturer I met seemed extremely interested in rolling this type of technology into its product line. Yet to really get traction, Xcelis™'s solution also requires widespread adoption of Bluetooth® phones, and this is going to take some time.

I hope Xcelis™ manages to stay afloat while it waits for Bluetooth® to become commonplace, and while its manufacturing partner figures out if and how to market its technology, because I'd like to see how this technology will affect the traditional long-distance companies. They are already under major siege from the wireless carriers,
and a second front in the battle is opening up with VOIP. A phone system that allows callers to simply select which of these free (or very cheap) long distance services they want to use could make an impact on this already challenging business.

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Columnist Rafe Needleman has been tracking cool technologies and startups for many years, writing for Red\ Herring, Business 2.0 and now AlwaysOn. He is also emcee of the Under the Radar event series. E-mail Rafe.

Fast Facts
Xcelis™
CEO: Glen Alexis
HQ: Wayne, PA
Founded: 2000
Funding: Angel funded, amount not disclosed
Profitable? No
Market: Voice telecommunications products


***Media Alert***
The Bluetooth®-Compatible “Pantheon™” Device Enables
Users to Receive and Place Wireless Calls Over a Single Phone
WHAT: Manage incoming and outgoing wireless (and landline) calls from a single
landline handset with the compact Xcelis™ Pantheon™. Unlike “call
forwarding” solutions currently in the market, Pantheon™ enables incoming
mobile phone and landline calls to be answered on the same handset AND
provides a call-by-call option to place outgoing calls over either a wireless
OR a landline service.

Additionally, Pantheon™ doesn’t require additional phone lines to operate.
In fact, the Pantheon™ can operate with no landline connection at all,
enabling the growing number of people attracted to the convenience and
cost savings of having only wireless service the comfort of receiving and
placing their mobile phone calls over a traditional landline handset while at
home, office or home-office.

WHERE: CES 2004; Las Vegas Convention Center, Central Hall Booth
#13506
(Uniden)
WHEN: January 8th and 9th, 2004
WHO: Xcelis™ Communications, L.L.C., is a wireless broadband innovator that
develops and licenses products which connect communications devices in
the home and office. The company’s patent pending Unum™
Architecture, upon which the Pantheon™ is built, is a cost-effective
worldwide compliant communications system capable of integrating
voice, data, IP, fax, wireless and video on a single platform. The Pantheon™
is the first Xcelis™ product introduced to the industry.
WHY: Xcelis™ is previewing Pantheon™ and the power of the Unum™ Architecture
to select members of the press, device manufacturers, service providers
and retailers at CES 2004.

BEN FRANKLIN AWARDS $1,750,000 TO REGIONAL COMPANIES
PHILADELPHIA, PA- November 24, 2003 - Seven southeastern Pennsylvania technology companies have been awarded $1,750,000 for prototype and
product development by Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern
Pennsylvania (BFTP/SEP).  Company profiles and investment information are outlined
below. These companies now join Ben Franklin's portfolio of approximately 130
companies, representing more than $19 million currently invested in
southeastern Pennsylvania.

Acuity Pharmaceuticals Inc., Philadelphia County - $500,000
Using pioneering small interfering RNA (siRNA) compounds and technology
licensed from the University of Pennsylvania, Acuity develops treatments
to arrest and potentially reverse vision loss caused by age-related macular
degeneration and diabetic retinopathy.  BFTP/SEP's investment will
assist in the pre-clinical studies of a siRNA therapeutic.
www.acuitypharma.com

Appligent Inc., Delaware County - $250,000
Appligent Inc is a provider of server-based tools for the on-demand
customization, manipulation, and delivery of dynamically generated
electronic documents.  BFTP/SEP's investment will result in an
application including a server-based redaction engine incorporating natural language
processing, and a secure client-side editing station to demonstrate the
capabilities of the system.
www.appligent.com

Health Market Science, Montgomery County - $200,000
Health Market Science, Inc.'s mission is to leverage proprietary
technology to create customer information that enables clients to more effectively
deploy limited marketing resources. This project will result in the creation of tools that can rapidly construct an interactive web site allowing users to search, review, validate, add, and edit data.  BFTP/SEP previously invested $300,000 in the company.

Immune Control, Montgomery County - $500,000
Immune Control develops proprietary compounds for multiple myeloma,
transplant rejection, and autoimmune diseases as well as using serotonin
antagonists that have been previously approved by the FDA for other
applications.  The investment will assist the company in IND filing,
hiring personnel, research and development, raising funds, and establishing a
corporate headquarters.
www.immunecontrol.com

ScentSational Technologies, LLC, Montgomery County - $100,000
ScentSational adds FDA approved food grade FEMA-GRAS (Generally
Recognized As Safe) flavors to plastic closures, containers, fitments, bags, trays,
cups, bottles and other forms of packaging, during injection, blow,
extrusion and other methods of molding and manufacturing.  BFTP/SEP's
investment will result in the development of olfactory packaging
technologies for food and beverage applications to enhance the consumers
taste experience.

www.flavorpackage.com
TruTek Inc., Chester County - $100,000
TruTek, Inc. develops, manufactures, and markets thermometry products
that use infrared sensing.  BFTP/SEP's investment will result in the
manufacturing and distribution of an FDA approved working "oral"
thermometer.  BFTP/SEP previously invested $89,000 in TruTek.

Xcelis™ Communications, LLC, Chester County - $100,000
Xcelis™ Communications develops integrated telecommunications solutions
for existing global markets. Xcelis™' Pantheon™ device integrates landline and
wireless phones across a single platform for residential and business
users. The investment will result in a pilot production of 2,000
devices, the establishment of a communication link with all Bluetooth®-enabled
wireless phones and other electronics devices, and enable access to data
stored on personal computers and the Internet.
www.Xcelis.com


Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern Pennsylvania (BFTP/SEP)
is dedicated to growing the region through science, technology and
entrepreneurship.  Now commemorating 20 years of innovation excellence,
Ben Franklin provides entrepreneurs and established businesses the capital,
talent, and expertise they need to compete.  Like its namesake, Ben
Franklin invests in, builds upon and delivers solutions that grow communities and
create new wealth by supporting today's technological ideas and
tomorrow's scientific discovery.
On the Web: www.sep.benfranklin.org
Contact: BFTP/SEP
Kimberly Everett, Director of Public Relations
215-972-6700 x3989
mailto:kim@sep.benfranklin.org