Siemens Switzerland Relies on Infineon’s Chipset for the High-Growth SHDSL Market: Extends Broadband Data Transmission over Copper Wire with the Industry’s Longest Range of more than 200 km

Munich, Germany – March 1, 2006 – Infineon Technologies AG (NYSE/FSE: IFX), a leading supplier of communications ICs, today announced that its “Socrates.bis” SHDSL (Symmetrical High-Speed Digital Subscriber Loop) chipset is being employed by Siemens Switzerland, Europe’s leading supplier of TDM (Time Division Multiplexing) systems in the network access area. The chipset will power the new ULAF+ (Universal Line-equipment Access Family) LongReach product line, which enables infrastructure providers such as energy suppliers and railway companies to efficiently use their telecommunications networks for broadband services.

 

Market research company Infonetics expects an average annual growth rate of 17 percent for SHDSL connections between 2005 and 2008. Due to its strong relationships with system manufacturers and its long-term commitment in the segment, Infineon has assumed leadership in the market for SDHSL ICs, delivering 2.6 million SHDSL-ports and achieving a market share of 51 percent in the first three quarters of 2005 (InStat, November 2005).

 

The SHDSL-based Siemens ULAF+ LongReach product line utilizes telecommunications networks along pipelines, highways and railroad tracks, and primarily addresses business applications in regions with weak infrastructure. In this way, companies can connect branch offices at remote locations to their corporate network and implement e.g. video telephony, Internet access, or data transmission via the existing copper-wire telephone lines.

 

ULAF+ LongReach features a simplex transmission technique that has been developed by Siemens Switzerland. The simplex method utilizes one wire of the twisted copper cable to transport data in one direction - in contrast to the duplex transmission technique that sends data in both directions via the same wire - thus tripling the reach of SHDSL with symmetric data rates of up to 2 megabits per second at approximately 25 km (at a cable cross-section of 1.2 mm). The signals can be amplified by a regenerator to further extend the reach. The Socrates.bis’ 500 mW low power consumption – which is approximately 50 percent lower than competing products – allows infrastructure providers to use up to eight regenerators without additional power sources thereby boosting the maximum range of the ULAF+ LongReach to over 200 km.

 

“Many customers want to replace the outdated carrier frequency systems equipment in phases,” said Ronald van der Meer, head of sales for the Business Innovation Center at Siemens Switzerland. “Since all of these systems are based on simplex transmission technology, deploying the ULAF+ Long-Reach product line enables our customers to implement a cost-optimized, gradual migration strategy instead of investing heavily in the installation of new cable bundles.”

 

“SHDSL chipsets supplement our comprehensive offering of broadband access solutions that utilize the existing copper-wire telecommunications networks,” said Christian Wolff, senior vice president of the Communication Solutions business group and general manager of the Wireline Access unit. “Consequently, Infineon offers chipsets and solutions for all xDSL flavors that complement each other, including ADSL with mid to high speed data rates and ranges of several kilometers for the mass market, VDSL with very high speed data rates over several hundred meters, and SHDSL with modest data rates but very long ranges.”

 

About Socrates.bis

 

The Socrates.bis SDFE-4/2/1 is the latest member of Infineon’s second generation SOCRATES® family of SHDSL transceivers designed for pure TDM applications. The SDFE-4/2/1 features full compliance with the ETSI TS 101524 and the ITU G.991.2 (G.SHDSL/G.SHDSL.bis) standards. It integrates a 4/2/1 channel transceiver solution, including DSP (Digital Signal Processor), microcontroller, AFE (Analog Front End), line driver and memory, in a single BGA (Ball Grid Array) package. The SHDSL chipset supports data rates from 144 kbit/s up to 6.392 kbit/s with 8 kbit/s granularity (exceeding G.SHDSL.bis) and integrates M-pair functionality. Advanced system functionality and cost-saving features continue to provide significant low BOM (Bill of Material) advantages in the SOCRATES tradition.

 

Press Contact for Siemens Schweiz AG:

Siemens Switzerland Press Office

Roland Bischofberger

+41 58 558 58 44

roland.bischofberger@siemens.com

Infineon Technologies AG, Munich, Germany, offers semiconductor and system solutions for automotive, industrial and multimarket sectors, for applications in communication, as well as memory products.  With a global presence, Infineon operates through its subsidiaries in the US from San Jose, CA, in the Asia-Pacific region from Singapore and in Japan from Tokyo.  In fiscal year 2005 (ending September), the company achieved sales of Euro 6.76 billion with about 36,400 employees worldwide. Infineon is listed on the DAX index of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and on the New York Stock Exchange (ticker symbol: IFX). Further information is available at www.infineon.com.