BEDFORD, Mass., Dec. 15 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Aware, Inc. (Nasdaq: AWRE), a leading supplier of wireline communications technology to semiconductor companies, applauds the International Telecommunications Union's (ITU) remarkable success in achieving the on-schedule consent of the new G.hn standard (G.9960) last week in Geneva, Switzerland. G.hn is a next generation home networking technology that enables users to share all varieties of digital content over any of the three most common wire-types found in homes worldwide: coaxial cables, electrical wires, and telephone lines. G.hn's three-wire capability and performance exceeds existing wired and wireless home networking technologies, making G.hn ideal for distributing all varieties of digital content, including multiple channels of high definition television (HDTV), throughout an entire home.

"Broadband access to the home has seen major advancements in the past few years," said Mario Finocchiaro, Director of Business Development at Aware, Inc. "Now, service providers have a reliable way to deliver their broadband content over the last '100 feet' throughout the home. G.hn is the natural next step for the broadband home and Aware plans to be a leader in this transition to a new level of home connectivity."

G.hn brings together requirements from service providers, consumer electronics (CE) manufacturers, semiconductor companies, and consumers under one of the world's foremost standards bodies. G.hn promises to reduce chip and equipment development costs by giving vendors a single standard that they can build to for virtually every type of digital home appliance from televisions and set-top-boxes to music players, personal computers, home automation and home security products. Multi-vendor interoperability will also be enhanced as vendors seek to deploy products that are easy for consumers to install and use. Combined, these factors signal the start of an enormous mass-market for G.hn chipsets.

With this consent, the ITU has produced the specifications that will allow semiconductor companies to begin developing G.hn chipsets immediately.

Aware plans to provide the G.hn silicon intellectual property (IP) and technical services that will enable semiconductor companies to develop G.hn system-on-chip (SoC) solutions rapidly and cost-effectively. Aware's G.hn IP will be available in both soft- and hard-IP formats and will include solutions for the digital and analog portions of the chipset. SoC vendors will be able to use Aware's IP to build stand-alone G.hn devices or to integrate G.hn functionality into new SoC designs. G.hn-enabled products are expected to reach the market in 2010.

Aware understands the needs of communications SoC vendors and is ideally suited to deliver G.hn technology on a broad scale. For over 13 years, Aware has been the premier supplier of standard-compliant and interoperable DSL technology to semiconductor companies throughout the world, and Aware's customers have shipped tens-of-millions of DSL ports worldwide. Aware has been a leader in the ITU Study Group 15 for over a decade and has participated in G.hn since its inception in 2006.

Aware is a member of the HomeGrid Forum and participates closely in HomeGrid's technical, marketing, and advisory activities. On December 19th, the HomeGrid Forum will host a webinar covering G.hn's consent and its implications for the consumer market. The event will begin at 10am PST. For additional details on the webcast, please visit: https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/110360035.

About Aware

Aware is a leading technology supplier for the telecommunications industries. For more than thirteen years, Aware has pioneered innovations at telecommunications standards-setting organizations and continues to develop and market DSL silicon intellectual property and test and diagnostics products. Its StratiPHY^™ IP product line supports DSL standards, including ADSL2+ and VDSL2, and has been broadly licensed to leading semiconductor companies. Telecom equipment vendors and phone companies use Aware's DSL test and diagnostics modules and Dr. DSL^® software to help provision DSL circuits globally. Aware is also a veteran of the biometrics industry, providing biometric and imaging software components used in government systems worldwide since 1992. Aware's interoperable, standard-compliant, field-proven imaging products are used in a number of applications, from border management to criminal justice to medical imaging. Aware is a publicly held company (NASDAQ: AWRE) based in Bedford, Massachusetts. www.aware.com

About G.hn

The members of the ITU-T's G.hn Rapporteur Group are creating a specification for a single MAC/PHY technology which can run over coaxial cable, phone lines, or power lines. G.hn participants include service providers, consumer electronics and information technology manufacturers, and component and intellectual property providers from around the world. More information can be found on the ITU's website at http://www.itu.int/newsroom/press_releases/2008/36.html

About HomeGrid Forum

HomeGrid Forum is a global, non-profit trade group promoting the International Telecommunication Union's G.hn standardization efforts for next-generation home networking. HomeGrid Forum promotes adoption of G.hn through technical and marketing efforts, addresses certification and interoperability of G.hn-compliant products, and cooperates with complementary industry alliances.

Safe Harbor Warning

Portions of this release contain forward-looking statements regarding future events and are subject to risks and uncertainties, such as estimates or projections of future revenue and earnings and the growth of the DSL market. Aware wishes to caution you that there are factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the results indicated by such statements. The DSL factors include, but are not limited to: we have a unique business model, our quarterly results are difficult to predict, our DSL licensing and DSL test and diagnostic businesses depend upon a limited number of customers, we derive a significant amount of revenue from a small number of customers, we depend on equipment companies to incorporate our technology into their products, we face intense competition from other DSL vendors, DSL technology competes with other technologies for broadband access, our business could be harmed if our test and diagnostic hardware and software products have quality problems, we depend on a single source contract manufacturer for the manufacture of our DSL hardware products, our manufacturing systems may not be adequate for our DSL test and diagnostics hardware products, we depend on single source suppliers for components in our DSL hardware products, and our business is subject to rapid technological change. We refer you to the documents Aware files from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission, specifically the section titled Risk Factors in our annual report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2007 and other reports and filings made with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Aware, StratiPHY and Dr. DSL are trademarks or registered trademarks of Aware, Inc. Any other trademarks appearing herein are the property of their respective owners.

SOURCE Aware, Inc.

CONTACT:
Danica Cheslofska
Aware, Inc.
+1-781-276-4000,
danica@aware.com