STMicroelectronics Reinforces Commitment to Open Mobile Alliance Becoming Sponsor Member and Joining Board of Directors
GENEVA--Oct. 2, 2002--Created in June 2002 to foster interoperability in mobile services, the Open Mobile Alliance will stimulate growth in the mobile
market, including semiconductors for wireless terminals and
infrastructure
STMicroelectronics , the world's third largest semiconductor maker, has reinforced its commitment to the Open Mobile Alliance by upgrading to Sponsor Member status, the highest level of membership, and joining the OMA Board of Directors. As an early participant in the Open Mobile Architecture initiative, STMicroelectronics became a Full Member when the initiative and WAP Forum merged in June 2002 to form the Open Mobile Alliance.
Including more than 200 companies and organizations, the Open Mobile Alliance delivers open standards for the mobile industry, fostering interoperability across services, countries, networks and terminals. The goal of OMA is to accelerate the introduction of new mobile services by eliminating technology barriers, so that any operator can provide any service to any user, regardless of bearer technology, hardware and operating system.
"By joining the board of Directors ST underlines its support for the goals and principles of the Open Mobile Alliance," commented Guy Lauvergeon, ST's representative on the OMA Board of Directors and Vice President, Multimedia in the company's Telecom, Peripherals and Automotive Groups. "The creation of a world of mobile communications, information and entertainment services without boundaries or frontiers is coherent with the company's strategic mission to become the leading system-on-chip (SoC) provider for the convergence consumer/telecom market."
In the past the company has actively participated in other open standards initiatives such as the Motion Pictures Experts Group (MPEG), which generated the MPEG2 standard used in set top boxes and the MPEG4 standard for streaming video to mobile terminals, an enabling technology for new mobile multimedia services.
"As a leading supplier of semiconductors to the mobile industry," continued Lauvergeon, "ST will benefit from the open standards generated by the Open Mobile Alliance because end-to-end interoperability will bring new multimedia services to the market much more rapidly, stimulating demand for new terminals and infrastructure equipment. This evolution favors ST because we have a strong base of know-how in all of the key areas, including digital audio and video coding, system-on-chip integration, video camera chips and flash memory."
Rapid deployment of new revenue-generating services will also enable service providers to ramp up investment in new hardware. In addition the creation of global standards reduces development and manufacturing costs because the same hardware can be used in all markets.
One of the key enabling technologies for affordable multimedia terminals is the ability to integrate very complex system-on-chip components that deliver reduced manufacturing cost and also very low power consumption. By merging know-how in wireless terminals, digital consumer, deep submicron technology and system-on-chip integration ST aims to provide handset makers with the fundamental building blocks for new generation terminals.
About the Open Mobile Alliance (OMA)
The Open Mobile Alliance (OMA) delivers open standards for the mobile industry, helping to create interoperable services which work across countries, operators and mobile terminals and are driven by users' needs. To expand the mobile market, companies supporting the Open Mobile Alliance will work to simulate the fast and wide adoption of a variety of new, enhanced mobile information, communication and entertainment services. The Open Mobile Alliance includes all the key elements of the wireless value chain, and contributes to the timely and efficient introduction of services and applications. For more information, please visit www.openmobilealliance.org.
About STMicroelectronics
STMicroelectronics, the world's third largest semiconductor company, is a global leader in developing and delivering semiconductor solutions across the spectrum of microelectronics applications. An unrivalled combination of silicon and system expertise, manufacturing strength, Intellectual Property (IP) portfolio and strategic partners positions the Company at the forefront of System-on-Chip (SoC) technology and its products play a key role in enabling today's convergence markets. The Company's shares are traded on the New York Stock Exchange, on Euronext Paris and on the Milan Stock Exchange. In 2001, the Company's net revenues were $6.36 billion and net earnings were $257.1 million. Further information on ST can be found at www.st.com.
Trademarks: The Open Mobile Alliance name is a trademark of Open Mobile Alliance Ltd