Company Files Statement with IEEE in Support of the Multiband OFDM Alliance Proposal
Austin, TX, November 8, 2003 - Alereon, a leading Ultra Wideband (UWB) semiconductor company producing chipsets for the personal area networking (PAN) market, today announced it is offering royalty-free licenses under essential patents for the IEEE 802.15.3a standard for high speed wireless PANs. Alereon filed a statement with the IEEE setting forth its intent to grant royalty-free licenses limited to the Multiband OFDM Alliance (MBOA) proposal in the IEEE 802.15.3a standard and only in the event that the MBOA proposal is adopted as the standard for wireless PAN.
"This is a crucial step toward ratifying the MBOA proposal as the standard for UWB wireless PAN," said Eric Broockman, chief executive officer of Alereon. "Alereon has the largest UWB intellectual property portfolio of any company working on wireless PAN chipsets. Our offer should enable consumer electronics, computer peripherals and mobile device companies to expedite the adoption of the MBOA architecture and accelerate the time to market for UWB chipsets."
If the MBOA proposal is adopted in IEEE 802.15.3a as the standard, Alereon expects to license on a royalty-free basis several patents to companies adopting the standard. MBOA companies? essential patents licensed royalty free will serve as the foundation for consumer electronics, computer peripherals, and mobile device companies to develop standards-based 2 products with interoperability among manufacturers and products. Alereon anticipates that a significant amount of its intellectual property will not be essential to the standard, but will cover important value-added features for UWB PAN solutions, enabling Alereon and its chip customers to differentiate their products from others.
Alereon is a founding member of the MBOA, which comprises 42 companies including seven of the world?s 10 largest semiconductor vendors, support from all of the world?s leading consumer electronics companies, five of the six USB Implementer Forum Director companies and seven of the IEEE 1394-TA Director companies. The MBOA represents a coordinated effort among the world's leading semiconductor companies and original equipment manufacturers to offer high speed connectivity among consumer electronics, personal computers, computer peripherals and mobile devices. Studies and analysis of different UWB standards proposals show that the MBOA proposed architecture achieves the best range/data rate performance, superior multi-path performance, and has the best flexibility in meeting anticipated UWB regulations internationally. The MBOA will have a draft specification completed in February 2004 and a final specification in May 2004. Alereon expects to be shipping MBOA-compliant chipsets to customers by the end of 2004.
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About Alereon, Inc.
Alereon, Inc., a new UWB fabless semiconductor company, is developing and deploying UWB chipsets for personal area networking applications that comply with the emerging IEEE standard (802.15.3a). The company is targeting high-bandwidth, low-power, low-cost solutions to connect wirelessly consumer electronics, computer peripherals, and mobile devices. Further information is available on the company?s website: www.alereon.com.
