SAN JOSE and MILPITAS, California, March 4 /PRNewswire/ --

Atmel(R) Corporation (Nasdaq: ATML) and Phoenix Technologies Ltd.
(Nasdaq: PTEC), announced today the integration of Atmel's FingerChip(R)
biometric security solutions in Phoenix's FailSafe(TM) and SecureCore
Pre-boot Authentication (PBA) products.

This first cooperative design effort between the two industry leaders
provides for significantly stronger multifactor authentication and enhanced
security and is designed to bring superior security solutions including
theft-deterrence and tracking for mobile PCs. Phoenix FailSafe will enable 
secure, remote tracking of fingerprint sensor data in the event of laptop 
theft/loss. SecureCore PBA integrated with Atmel's FingerChip Biometric 
Solutions provides for Biometric User Authentication at the preboot level, 
providing higher levels of security, since fingerprints demand a user's 
presence and cannot be shared, stolen or written down.

Atmel offers a very high performance, robust, and competitive range of
fingerprint-based biometric solutions for PC platforms, based on Atmel's
patented FingerChip Fingerprint sensors. These solutions offer industry
leading image quality, biometric performance and security. Phoenix SecureCore
PBA requires a user to authenticate identity before the computer boots up. It
also enables user authentication from core systems software (also known as
BIOS or firmware) to the operating system directly, to achieve single sign-on
into the Windows(R) O/S environment.

"Combining FingerChip solutions with the Phoenix products provides an
added layer of security which is vital for many enterprise and consumer
markets demanding increased security and privacy for stored data and logical
access," said Bruno Charrat, Director for Atmel Biometrics Business Unit.
"Our collaboration with Phoenix Technologies ensures the highest level of
secure authentication -- an increasingly important factor for any PC user.
Moving forward, we expect to see other collaborative initiatives by Atmel and
Phoenix, dedicated to bringing the best-in-class security solutions to the PC
market."

"Our work with Atmel to integrate their fingerprint sensors in our
FailSafe theft-deterrence platform enables an additional layer of tracking
methodology for mobile PCs. We not only want to provide critical
next-generation functionality to our PC OEM customers but also embed
certain features that will deter laptop theft," said Surendra Arora, Vice
President of Business Development at Phoenix Technologies. "Additionally, our
PBA collaboration with Atmel will ensure that our EFI and UEFI-based
SecureCore BIOS continues its feature-set dominance."

About Atmel

Atmel is a worldwide leader in the design and manufacture of
microcontrollers, advanced logic, mixed-signal, nonvolatile memory and radio
frequency (RF) components. Leveraging one of the industry's broadest
intellectual property (IP) technology portfolios, Atmel is able to provide
the electronics industry with complete system solutions focused on consumer,
industrial, security, communications, computing and automotive markets.

About Phoenix Technologies

Phoenix Technologies Ltd. (Nasdaq: PTEC) is the global market leader in
system firmware that provides the most secure foundation for today's
computing environments. The PC industry's top builders and specifiers trust
Phoenix to pioneer open standards and deliver innovative solutions that will
help them differentiate their systems, reduce time-to-market and increase
their revenues. The Company's flagship products, AwardCore, SecureCore,
FailSafe and HyperSpace, are revolutionizing the PC user experience by
delivering unprecedented security, reliability and ease-of-use. The Company
established industry leadership with its original BIOS product in 1983, has
155 technology patents and 139 pending applications, and has shipped in over
one billion systems. Phoenix is headquartered in Milpitas, California with
offices worldwide. For more information, visit http://www.phoenix.com.

(C) 2008 Atmel Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Atmel(R), logo and
combinations thereof, FingerChip(R), and others are registered trademarks or
trademarks of Atmel Corporation or its subsidiaries. Other terms and product
names may be trademarks of others.

Atmel Press Contacts:
    Nancy Moore, Marketing Communications Manager
    Tel: +1-719-540-3262, Email: nmoore@cso.atmel.com

    Helen Perlegos, Public Relations
    Tel: +1-408-487-2963, Email: hperlegos@atmel.com

    Phoenix Technologies Press Contacts:
    Shauli Chaudhuri, Phoenix Technologies
    Tel: +1-408-570-1060
    E-mail: public_relations@phoenix.com

    Cedric Vanhaver, GlobalFluency/Neale-May for Phoenix Technologies
    Tel: +1-650-433-4154
    Email: phoneix@globalfluency.com



    Web site: http://www.atmel.com
              http://www.phoenix.com