Philips Semiconductors: New Software Makes Philips Semiconductors One-Stop Shop For 1394 Products

Philips Semiconductors, an affiliate of Royal Philips Electronics, today introduced software that will make the company a one-stop shop for 1394 products. The new software along with the Philips Semiconductors' 1394 hardware will make it faster and easier to connect consumer devices such as set-top boxes, digital televisions, VCRs and DVD players. The software's full compatibility with Philips Semiconductors' growing family of 1394 hardware offerings will save developers months that they would otherwise spend writing and porting software for their hardware products. By providing customers with fully compatible software and hardware, Philips Semiconductors will make it easier and less expensive for the customer to adopt and implement this technology. Philips Semiconductors' extensive knowledge also accelerates the customer's learning curve for 1394. The 1394 software and hardware features 5C copy protection, which processes encrypted audio and video data. With the coming convergence of home theater, home audio and desktop PCs, this added security is more important than ever. Philips Semiconductors is helping to set the standard for home audio and video interoperability through its membership in the Home Audio Video inter-operability consortium (HAVi(tm)). Standardization will allow a consumer to control HAVi-compliant TVs, VCRs, Set- top boxes, stereos and other devices with a single remote control, regardless of manufacturer. ""Our 1394 software, along with the 1394 hardware helps product manufacturers to implement1394 technology faster and at a lower cost than ever before,"" said Tom Barber, International Product Marketing Manager for Networking Software at Philips Semiconductors. ""As a 1394 technology leader, we are helping to push the market toward technological standardization."" The new 1394 software will help to bring connectivity, high-speed data transfer and plug and play capabilities to a wide variety of consumer products. It will allow porting to a number of real-time operating systems and processors. The software supports a wide variety of protocols including AV/C, HAVi with optional 5C copy protection, and other protocols to be announced in the near future. The 1394 software stack and AV/C protocol will be available in April 2000. 5C will be available in the second quarter of 2000, and HAVi is expected to be available in the fourth quarter of 2000. More information can be found www.semiconductors.philips.com/interconnectivity. About Philips SemiconductorsPhilips Semiconductors, which has annual revenues of approximately US$5 billion, designs and manufactures semiconductors and silicon systems platforms. Philips Semiconductors is spearheading the emerging field of systems on silicon solutions with the innovative Nexperiaô platform and VLSI Velocityô tool set. The company's Sea-of-IPô design methodology allows plug and play intellectual property blocks for easily customizable products. The company is a leader in communications, consumer, PC peripherals and automotive semiconductors, which are key applications for convergence in end-user products. Philips Semiconductors is headquartered in Eindhoven, The Netherlands, and has operations throughout the world. For more information, visit www.semiconductors.philips.com.