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Austriamicrosystems Becomes Premium Associate Member of Flexray Consortium

Posted on: Thursday, 19 January 2006, 03:00 CST

austriamicrosystems (SWX:AMS), a leading global designer and manufacturer of analog integrated circuits (ICs) for communication, industrial, medical and automotive applications, gained Premium Associate Member status in the international Flexray consortium, effective January 1, 2006. With this significant upgrade to its previous membership status austriamicrosystems increases its influence on the development of the Flexray protocol, a future standard managing the communication between networked components in coming generations of automobiles. Established by leading car manufacturers such as BMW, DaimlerChrysler, GM, and Volkswagen, as well as top suppliers, the Flexray consortium defines the standard taking into account the requirements of manufacturers, system integrators, component producers and networking experts.

Due to the growing number of networked automotive systems which results from increasing comfort and safety requirements, existing networks reach the limit of their capabilities. Both insufficient bandwidth as well as missing deterministic abilities force automotive OEMs to define a new platform for network structures in vehicles. The Flexray standard has been chosen as this future platform. Offering bandwidths of up to 10Mbit/s and the possibility of deterministic and redundant communication, Flexray not only overcomes the barriers known today, but also lays the ground for complex X-by-wire applications such as Brake-by-wire or Steer-by-wire.

A key component in Flexray nodes is austriamicrosystems' AS8221 transceiver which forms the physical interface between the protocol controller and the network cabling. austriamicrosystems is one of currently only two manufacturers worldwide offering a specification-compliant transceiver. Together with its longstanding experience in time-triggered technologies, this advantage qualified austriamicrosystems for Premium Associate Member status, the highest status a non-founding member can reach within the Flexray Consortium.

"Gaining admission to the inner circle of the Flexray consortium allows us to offer our experience to the consortium through working groups, at the same time we can align our own developments even better with the Flexray specifications. As a Premium Associate Member, we safeguard our successful positioning in the automotive on-board network market for the future", explained Bernd Gessner, General Manager Business Unit Automotive at austriamicrosystems.

Over the coming years, austriamicrosystems will continuously expand its product family of Flexray transceivers in order to further consolidate its leading position within the Flexray segment. Presently, a number of transceiver types are being developed, which are optimized for various functionalities and specific local requirements.

About austriamicrosystems

austriamicrosystems is a leading designer and manufacturer of high performance analog ICs, combining more than 20 years of analog design capabilities and system know-how with its own state-of-the-art manufacturing and test facilities. austriamicrosystems leverages its expertise in low power and high accuracy to provide industry-leading customized and standard analog products. Operating worldwide with more than 800 employees, austriamicrosystems focuses on the areas of power management, sensors & sensor interfaces, portable audio and car access through its business units Communications, Industry & Medical, Automotive and Full Service Foundry. austriamicrosystems is listed on the SWX Swiss Exchange in Zurich (ticker symbol: AMS). For more information, please visit the web site at www.austriamicrosystems.com.

Source: Business Wire

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