Philips acquires Systemonic, a technology leader in 802.11a/b and g wireless lan semiconductor solutions

The terms of the agreement are not disclosed, and closing is expected to take place within the first quarter of 2003.

Today, 802.11 wireless technology is experiencing tremendous growth in computing and networking products for home and office. This technology will be used in virtually every consumer and business product that needs high-speed wireless connectivity to digital content. Wireless products will include desktops, laptops, peripherals, handhelds, webpads, personal video recording devices and digital entertainment servers. The 802.11a/b and g wireless LAN standards are expected to dominate the wireless connectivity market in the next two years. Systemonic's products, intellectual property and systems expertise will add high-speed wireless capabilities to Philips Nexperia System-on-Chip solutions.

"The acquisition of Systemonic complements Philips vision of the "Connected Home". By adding high-speed wireless connectivity to our strong portfolio of audio/video, connectivity and broadband access technologies, Philips can now integrate all of these key technologies on a single chip so consumers can easily connect to information, entertainment and services anywhere in the home," said Phil Pollok, senior vice president of Emerging Businesses Unit, Philips Semiconductors. "Systemonic created unique technology resulting in one of the highest performance, most power-efficient 802.11a/b and g capabilities. It also serves as the ideal platform to rapidly incorporate new enhancements to 802.11 standards such as Quality-of-Service and security."

"Philips provides the consumer and communications expertise, global sales and marketing reach and manufacturing strength that will give our team the solid foundation to make our vision of wireless connectivity in the home, office and on-the-go come alive faster than ever," said Ruediger Stroh, CEO, Systemonic. "We have developed a unique, flexible platform that is ideal to support new features and wireless standards. Philips understands the value of our innovations, and we are looking forward to quickly incorporate them into sophisticated Nexperia System-on-Chip products."

Systemonic provides technology for a complete two-chip 802.11a/b and g solution that will offer a combination of performance throughput, power efficiency and range that is expected to lead the market. The technology offers better range of up to 70 meters, higher throughput of up to 72 Mbps, and lower power usage than most other products currently available. Systemonic developed a compelling configurable architecture optimized for multi-protocol 802.11 applications with the flexibility to extend to future enhancements of the standard. The architecture also incorporates sophisticated power management features that dynamically power-down functions in the chip that are not being used – dramatically reducing power consumption and extending battery-life for portable products. Systemonic's products, intellectual property and systems expertise will add high-speed wireless capabilities to Philips Nexperia System-on-Chip solutions.

Systemonic has 89 employees located in San Jose, California, Maynard, Massachusetts, and Dresden, Germany. The privately held company was founded in 1999. The company received funding from Apax Partners Funds, Atlas Venture, Bayview, Krone mt, and Lehman Brothers as well as from corporate investors Raytheon and Sony Ventures. Lehman Brothers served as financial advisor to Systemonic in the transaction.