Philips and Possio Partner to Develop Wireless Solutions; Philips and Possio Partner to Develop Bluetooth and 802.11 Combination Solutions for OEM's

Royal Philips Electronics Recently Signed Licensing Agreement with Possio to Jointly Develop Bluetooth and 802.11 Combination Wireless Bridging Solutions for OEMs


STOCKHOLM, Sweden, Nov. 6, 2002 (PRIMEZONE) -- Possio:

As Wireless Local Area Networking (WLAN) is becoming increasingly common in many public spaces like offices, airports, shopping malls, hotels, hospitals and homes, it has become apparent that this opens new opportunities to expand offerings, based on this backbone. So far, the wireless access has been limited to users with power intensive devices like laptops who have been able to connect wirelessly to the Internet and home intranets. With the Possio/Philips technology this access is now widened to a larger selection of Bluetooth-equipped devices, like PDA's, which significantly broadens the uses of WLAN.

"This is a major breakthrough for wireless users. Possio and Philips, committed innovators of wireless technology applications, together can enable more users to benefit from new wireless networking solutions," said Johnny G. Capor, CEO Possio. "This is a winning partnership for Possio and Philips. By combining the Bluetooth technology from Philips with the Possio bridging capabilities, we see this partnership as a way to provide hi-tech solutions to a worldwide market. Philips low-cost and high volume manufacturing combined with its consumer expertise will make this product available in a number of markets including medical, enterprise, home and hotspots."

"Philips is dedicated to providing flexible and convenient wireless connectivity solutions using 802.11x and Bluetooth technologies to address users' requirements. We see the technology produced by Possio as another product offering Philips provides to OEMs that utilizes Bluetooth low power and personal area networking characteristics and combines them with 802.11b technology to benefit from Internet access. Our customers require the benefit of multiple networking capabilities in the mobile space," stated Engelbert van Pelt, Vice President, Connectivity, Philips Electronics.

The contract is undoubtedly a sign that coexistence, as well as bridging, between WLAN and Bluetooth, the two major short-range wireless technologies are more than passing. The basic bridging technology is complementary to future networking developments like UMTS allowing for lower access cost for handheld computers and other low power devices that want to benefit already today from high bandwidth capabilities.

About Possio:

Possio is active at the cutting edge of WLAN, Bluetooth and OSGi. Possio combines various technologies into unique products, software and service applications. The company was founded in the early 1980s and is based in Sweden, with employees from all over the world and sales in some 30 countries. The Possio name is associated with user-friendliness, innovative design and smart solutions. Possio focuses on product development and market growth in order to achieve its objective of becoming a leading provider of products for the wireless digital networks of today and tomorrow. Download product photos and texts at www.possio.com/press.

About Philips:

Royal Philips Electronics of the Netherlands is one of the world's biggest electronics companies and Europe's largest, with sales of $28.8 billion (EUR 32.3 billion) in 2001. It is a global leader in color television sets, lighting, electric shavers, medical diagnostic imaging and patient monitoring, and one-chip TV products. Its 189,000 employees in more than 60 countries are active in the areas of lighting, consumer electronics, domestic appliances, components, semiconductors, and medical systems. Philips is quoted on the NYSE (symbol: PHG), London, Frankfurt, Amsterdam and other stock exchanges. News from Philips is located at www.news.philips.com.

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The following files are available for download:


 www.waymaker.net/bitonline/2002/11/06/20021106BIT00240/wkr0001.doc
 www.waymaker.net/bitonline/2002/11/06/20021106BIT00240/wkr0002.pdf


            

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