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May 1 2006

Ten years have passed since the highly successful DECT (Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications) standard for cordless telephony was first launched. In 1996, there were approximately 15 million DECT-compliant devices in Europe, and 12 million of them in Germany alone provided users with a new freedom of movement during telephone conversations.

Ultramodern semiconductors provide interference-free digital transmission of telephone calls for distances of up to 300 meters (over 300 yards) from the base station. According to estimates, there are currently over 220 million of these cordless telephones in use today, and there is no slow-down in demand in sight.

The American market research company Instat predicts that, this year alone, 40 million new DECT customers will realize the benefits of cordless, which have been constantly improved and now offer advantages such as long standby times and lower cost. The integration of Internet services such as the transmission of news and music programs or alphanumeric access to data bases as well as the exchanging of text messages (SMS) in DECT devices will also help to ensure further demand.


There are, therefore, good reasons for the Munich-based chip manufacturer Infineon (NYSE:IFX)(FWB:IFX), which has already sold over 180 million chipsets in this segment, to continue to drive the enhancement of this technology forward. At the world's most important conference on DECT Internet solutions, which concluded today in France, the company presented its eigth generation of DECT phone chips, which make it possible to build devices that cost less than today's digital cordless phones and feature new functions such as polyphonic ring tones and control of color displays.

 Simultaneously, Infineon announced a technological revolution: Before the end of this year, all the DECT-relevant functions that are currently spread out over three special chips are to be innovatively integrated into a single component. For the first time, such different tasks as voice processing, wireless transmission, and signal amplification would be accomplished using one tiny piece of silicon. This will enable telephone manufacturers to reduce the production costs for a DECT telephone by approximately 40 percent.

"Responding to the opportunity in worldwide market growth, especially in the USA and Asia, requires inexpensive solutions with top quality and a great variety of functions," said Michael Neuhaeuser, who is responsible for Infineon's business with chips for cordless telephones, emphasizing the significance of this development. "And Infineon is ideally positioned to reach these goals by concentrating all functions on a few square millimeters of silicon that we produce millions of times over."

It appears certain that cordless phones will continue their successful advance, and in this process they will be driven by innovations from Europe, since the semiconductors are developed in Munich and in Kista / Sweden, produced in Dresden.

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