31st August 2000, Austin, Texas, USA

Siemens' HomeRF Technology Development Efforts Bolstered by FCC-approved speed upgrade

Approval of Five-fold Bandwidth Increase a Boon to Application Development

A virtual ``high five'' was in order for Siemens and other members of the HomeRF(TM) Working Group (HRFWG) following a highly anticipated decision by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to remove a key restriction on frequency hopping radio technology, thus allowing much higher data throughput. The ruling clears the way for the HRFWG's Shared Wireless Access Protocol (SWAP) to advance to 10 Mbps, offering a five-fold increase in transmission speed.

The most significant provision of the rule change for Siemens is that, as part of the revised SWAP specification, support for telephony will be increased to eight cordless handsets - or voice enabled devices - with toll quality voice. With extensive experience in cordless telephony and as the leading authority in the HRFWG for the voice communications element of the HomeRF SWAP standard, Siemens can now integrate more of its industry leading technology into home networks and develop expanded applications to help consumers maximize their use of cordless communications. Siemens will work with the HRFWG to quickly complete revisions to the HomeRF SWAP specification to take advantage of the increased transmission speed.

The FCC rule change holds significant implications for the growth of the home networking market in which Siemens is a key player. With the five-fold speed increase approved, HomeRF networks will be able to support forthcoming streaming audio and video applications in addition to currently supported applications. Siemens and fellow members of the HRFWG can now deliver a variety of new products and devices designed to take advantage of the increased bandwidth.

``We applaud the FCC on its decision to expand the bandwidth parameters of HomeRF to truly unleash the power of home networking,'' says Kevin Duffy, director of product management for Siemens Communication Devices Digital Products, which develops HomeRF-compliant technologies. ``This rule change is significant not only for Siemens and the industry at large, but most importantly for consumers, who now stand to benefit even more from expanded access to broadband wireless access to information, education and entertainment.''

``Demand for our Gigaset (TM) cordless phone systems in the SOHO and active household arenas has been strong,'' Duffy continues. ``We are confident that the market will welcome networks where multi-handset capabilities and an extensive telephony feature set are integrated with wireless data.''

With its industry-leading experience in digital cordless telephony, Siemens is spearheading the HRFWG's efforts to implement high-quality voice communications and telephony features in HomeRF networks. From an industry perspective, the pivotal FCC ruling is seen as further evidence of the continued market viability of HomeRF as the only home networking standard to address integrating high quality voice and data across wireless networks.

``The FCC rule change enables HomeRF to provide an extremely competitive solution for high speed, broadband wireless home networking,'' says Kurt Scherf of Parks Associates. ``The ruling allows Siemens to really spread its wings and bring the full value of its cordless voice technology to bear in current and future wireless networking applications that offer practical, convenient communications solutions to end-users.''

Siemens leads the industry in HomeRF technology development

Since announcing in January its leading role in defining the voice component of the HRFWG's integrated voice and data wireless networking standard, Siemens has followed with two collaborative arrangements with other home networking leaders that demonstrate its recognized expertise and commitment to HomeRF technology.

In January, Siemens announced a partnership with Proxim to jointly develop integrated wireless voice and data network technology for home and small office users. Next, at SuperComm in early June, the company announced a new cooperative effort with fellow HomeRF member Cayman Systems to supply HomeRF-based technology for Cayman's integrated broadband gateway that will support cordless data and voice over DSL (VoDSL) networks.

Both collaborations are moving forward on schedule and will result in cost-effective, wireless networking technologies that positively impact consumer lifestyles and set the stage for further development of HomeRF-compatible solutions throughout the industry.

Siemens - a global leader in telecommunications

For more than 150 years, Siemens has been well known in Europe and around the world for high quality and finely engineered telecommunications products. Siemens Communication Devices Digital Products, a division of Siemens Information and Communication Mobile LLC, develops and markets feature-rich, digital cordless products for the North American market. Siemens is the leading provider of cordless phones based on the DECT (Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunication) standard, having shipped more than 20 million DECT phones in more than 50 countries. Taking the cordless market as a whole, Siemens ranks second in the world.

For more information about Siemens Communication Devices and to order Siemens cordless products, visit Siemens on the Web at siemenscordless.com.

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