BlueMoon Shines - Infineon Technologies first semiconductor company to receive Bluetooth Qualification for a complete system solution

Munich, Germany - October 27, 2000 - Infineon Technologies today announced that its BlueMoon I chipset has received Bluetooth qualification and will be included on the Bluetooth Qualified Product List (BQPL). Infineon is the first semiconductor company to receive Bluetooth qualification for a complete system solution including the baseband integrated circuit (IC), the radio frequency transceiver as well as the link manager (LM) and host controller interface (HCI) firmware. The qualified BlueMoon solution supports both voice and data.

The Bluetooth qualification provides Infineon's customers early access to officially proven and tested Bluetooth silicon. The complete test reports of the qualified BlueMoon components will be available from the Bluetooth Qualification Body (BQB) as a reference for Infineon's customers. Equipment manufacturers using Infineon's BlueMoon chipset can utilize the reports and do not have to repeat the time consuming compliance test procedures. This enables manufacturers to focus on developing and certifying value-added features at the Bluetooth application layers and achieving fast time-to-market.

In the Bluetooth qualification process for Infineon's chipset solution, 7 Layers AG, a test solution provider and accredited Bluetooth Qualification Test Facility (BQTF) in Ratingen Germany, performed the conformance testing and qualification. 7 Layers offers full scope Bluetooth conformance and interoperability testing as well as qualification services. The company has three manufacturer independent Bluetooth Qualification Bodies (BQBs) which are authorized to list the related products on the Bluetooth Qualified Product List (BQPL). This mandatory qualification is the most important step to the development of Bluetooth compatible end-products, labeled with the Bluetooth logo.

"The qualification of our BlueMoon components underlines our commitment to providing complete system solutions that enable our customers to achieve fast time to market", said Guenter Weinberger, senior vice president and general manager of the Wireless Systems Group at Infineon Technologies. "The combination of our versatile firmware architecture and long-term cooperation with 7 Layers will ensure a very short response time towards potential modifications in the Bluetooth specification. This guarantees our customers a continuous superior position in terms of time to market and quality."

"Our Bluetooth qualification program helps manufacturers to ensure that their products will be compliant to the Bluetooth specification and interoperable with other Bluetooth solutions", stated Carsten Kuhfuss, Bluetooth Manager at 7 Layers. "Due to the excellent cooperation and the flexible system architecture of Infineon's chipset, we completed the compliance process in a very short time and are pleased that the BlueMoon I chipset received the mandatory Bluetooth qualification."

The BlueMoon I chipset consists of two ICs, a versatile baseband IC and a highly integrated RF transceiver. The baseband IC integrates a program ROM containing the complete Link manager and HCI (Host Controller Interface) for lowest cost solutions as well as an external Flash memory interface for rapid prototyping and product adaptation. It supports both data and voice over the UART or voice over the PCM interface and its small outline makes it ideally suited for integration into portable devices. The transceiver integrates the full transmit and receive chains including the VCO (Voltage Controlled Oscillator), LNA (Low Noise Amplifier) and requires no external SAW (Surface Acoustic Wave) or ceramic filters. The excellent performance of the BlueMoon solution gives, at its output power of +4 dBm, a range of up to 100m. With the optional power amplifier PMB 6827 for Bluetooth power class 1 solutions, a range of up to 500m can be achieved.

The firmware includes additional manufacturer specific features such as low power standby mode, HCI flow control and software tuning of the integrated oscillator to ease development, system test and volume manufacturing.

Infineon has proven its system-on-chip expertise over 7 generations and in the production of more than 30 million transceiver chips for cordless DECT phones and WDCT systems, which operate in the same frequency bands as Bluetooth.

About Infineon

Infineon Technologies AG, Munich, Germany, offers semiconductor solutions for applications in the wireless and wired communications markets, for the automotive and industrial sectors, for security systems and chip cards as well as memory products. With a global presence, Infineon operates in the US from San Jose, CA, in the Asia-Pacific region from Singapore and in Japan from Tokyo. In the fiscal year 1999 (ending September), the company achieved sales of Euro 4.24 billion (US $ 4.51 billion) with about 26,000 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

*Bluetooth is a trademark owned by its proprietor and used by Infineon Technologies under license.

Background Information

Bluetooth is an emerging open industry standard which provides short range transmission between mobile PCs, phones and other electronic devices. This technology uses an unlicensed worldwide radio band in the 2.4 GHz frequency range. Initially conceived as a networking connectivity technology between unwired computers and cellular phones, the specification now includes profiles for many different types of home, business and general purpose electronic devices. Researchers at Cahners In-Stat (July 2000) estimate that Bluetooth radio sales could reach 1.4 billion units worldwide by 2005. To meet the projected growth of this market, effective Bluetooth solutions must be capable of deployment in a wide range of systems, enabling manufacturers to reach very high volume production levels.

Bluetooth is a specification for low-cost, low-power and small form factor radio devices supporting data links at speeds up to 721 kilobit per second (Kbps), including a 56 Kbps back channel or three voice channels. Defined by the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG), the specification is freely published and carries no licensing fees, helping to assure its adoption as a worldwide standard for device connectivity. Infineon, a member of the Bluetooth SIG since October 1998, has been working actively on the development of Bluetooth technologies for more than two years.