Europe : Agere Systems announced that Sony Ericsson has selected Agere’s W-EDGE™ chip set and software for delivering high-speed wireless connectivity in notebook PCs. Agere’s Sceptre® HPU mobile platform, which offers dual-mode 3G/UMTS and EDGE capabilities, will be incorporated in Sony Ericsson’s new GC95 PC card, to provide laptop users with broadband-level data rates and global wireless coverage for accessing the Internet, e-mail and personal and corporate networks. Sony Ericsson’s GC95 card is part of a broad range of solutions the company is delivering based on wireless machine to machine (M2M) technology.

Within operators’ 3G service deployment plans, W-EDGE PC cards are being marketed for higher bandwidth services particularly in the lucrative enterprise market, and it is important that suppliers can demonstrate reliability and on-time delivery to meet operators’ service roll-out objectives. For business travellers and mobile PC users, these cards offer a hassle-free alternative that delivers true high-speed wireless broadband performance virtually anywhere in the world. Agere’s W-EDGE silicon and software ensures the fastest possible access speeds, delivering up to 384 kilobits per second (kbps) downloads in 3G/UMTS coverage areas and up to 247 kbps in GSM/GPRS/EDGE networks.

“We are developing highly specialized products for M2M applications that make it easy for our customers to get reliable connections at the fastest possible speeds,” said Anders Franzen, corporate vice president and head of Sony Ericsson M2M communications. “Quickly, we are reaching the point where it will no longer be acceptable for M2M solutions to be based on handset chips, and this collaboration between Sony Ericsson and Agere positions both companies to be performance leaders in the rapidly developing M2M space.”

Agere’s Sceptre HPU solution includes integrated baseband and power management functions, as well as a dual-mode software core leveraging a proven and tested GPRS and EDGE protocol stack used in millions of mobile phone handsets on the market today. Agere’s GPRS/EDGE/3G solutions have been designed in to more than 100 phone models across 70 networks worldwide, and Agere continues to actively develop mobile products that advance network technologies beyond 3G to HSDPA data services.

“Agere’s W-EDGE technology provides handset developers, card makers and operators with the high-performance, field-tested platform needed to ensure the best user experience in EDGE and 3G networks,” said Luc Seraphin, vice president and general manager of Agere’s Mobility division. “We are very excited to add Sony Ericsson to the list of tier-one customers developing mobile solutions with Agere chip sets and software.”

Agere expects to begin shipping its Sceptre HPU solutions in production quantities to Sony Ericsson in the second half of 2005.

About Agere’s W-EDGE Solution

The first in a portfolio of 3G/UMTS solutions, Agere’s Sceptre HPU is an integrated chip set and software solution for mass market mobile products enabling seamless handovers between 3G/UMTS and 2.5G/EDGE networks. The solution integrates a dual-mode software core based on a proven and tested GPRS and EDGE protocol stack and programmable processing technology that has been optimized for the size and low power consumption consumers expect from mobile devices. Delivering up to 384 kilobit-per-second (kbps) downloads in 3G/UMTS coverage areas and up to 247 kbps in 2.5G/EDGE coverage areas, Sceptre HPU supports the higher data rates required for such innovative multimedia services as CD-quality music and feature-rich video.