Fujitsu Joins-up With TVonics to Bring First of its Kind all-European Digital Terrestrial Set Top Box to Market

Fujitsu Joins-up With TVonics to Bring First of its Kind all-European Digital Terrestrial Set Top Box to Market

FRANKFURT, Germany, and PENCOED, Wales, August 23/PRNewswire/ --

- Available Exclusively Through a Major UK High-Street Electronics
Retailer

Fujitsu Microelectronics Europe (FME) has been working closely
with UK digital set top box (STB) manufacturer, TVonics Limited, who is
commencing mass production of its stylish, digital terrestrial set top box
for the UK and European markets. This unique, European designed STB uses key
components that have been either designed or manufactured within Europe. The
TVonics designed product, which delivers fast, responsive performance at an
affordable price, will be on sale from the end of September 2005.

This new STB, manufactured in the UK by Sony for TVonics, is
initially being rolled-out to serve the high-growth UK digital terrestrial
market for Freeview services. Offering a distinctive styling and form factor,
it offers end consumers a refreshing alternative to the traditional silver or
grey rectangular boxes currently on sale.

Designed to minimise ecological impact through the use of
lead-free components, a recyclable aluminium enclosure, and low power
consumption, it will conform to the Reduction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS)
EU mandate for products sold from January 2006 onwards. It is expected to be
in high demand by British consumers, eager to enjoy the popular range of
digital television programmes available on Freeview.

TVonics selected FME's 'SmartMPEG' MB86H25B decoder for use in
the new STB, due to its low power consumption & system cost, which was made
possible through its optimised silicon integration design techniques. The
chip was designed at FME's Multimedia Development Centre in Frankfurt,
Germany, and requires just one SDRAM and a Flash memory, consuming less than
700mW in full operation.

This 3rd Generation SmartMPEG device has enjoyed excellent
success around the world, with over 10 million unit deployments. The design
win at TVonics spearheads its expansion into the buoyant European digital
terrestrial television market.

FME's SmartMPEG family allows many different applications to be
executed - in this case an optimised DVB-T Adapter with interactivity - but
it is also suited to automotive applications; Personal Video Recorder,
Dual/Twin Receiver, Portable and semi-professional applications; as well as
satellite receivers, when used in combination with Fujitsu's QPSK Silicon
Tuner.

The two companies were able to combine their experience in order
to reduce the STB product development time to just 6 months. This was partly
due to the application software being based on the Cabot Aurora DVB
Middleware reference port, carried out last year between FME & Cabot
Communications.

Production of the circuit board, product assembly, test and
packing is being carried out by Sony Manufacturing, Pencoed Technology Park,
UK - a natural choice for TVonics which is based on-site within the Technium
Digital@Sony, technology incubation centre, established by Sony and the Welsh
Development Agency in 2004.

Paul Fellows, CEO of TVonics said, "The silicon chip technology
and technical support provided by Fujitsu, together with the software
technology of Cabot, has enabled TVonics to enter the market quickly with a
product delivering superior performance at a very competitive price. This
development has been an excellent example of how three European based design
groups can work together to deliver class leading products to market
quickly."

He continued, "The excellent co-operation from Fujitsu has led to
very close links being forged between the two companies resulting in the
perfect design mix. The new box will be announced and featured on our Stand
215, Hall 5 at IBC 2005 in Amsterdam from 9th-13th September."

Johannes Richter, Multimedia Business Unit Director at FME,
added, "The experience and professionalism from TVonics perfectly matched our
own when it came to the design of an elegant, unique product to bring to
market in the UK and Europe. We are extremely happy to have been part of this
design and look forward to a long relationship with Tvonics."

He added, "We were able to achieve this fastest turnaround time
from design start to production start in just 6 months including Cabot's
Pan-European Aurora DVB middleware stack with MHEG-5 functionality, because
of the skilled engineers at TVonics designing a right-first-time solution,
and the availability of Middleware from Cabot."

Darren Standing, Business Development Manager at Cabot
Communications commented, "Since being selected by TVonics in February 2005
to support its development programme, we have worked closely with engineers
at FME and TVonics to deliver for the first time, an Aurora DVB-T Middleware
market deployment running on FME's SmartMPEG technology. TVonics has used the
performance and flexibility of Aurora to rapidly integrate its own
innovatively styled user interface, system software and device drivers to
deliver a market leading DVB-T solution in record time."

There are up to 80 million TVs and VCRs in the UK, and the
British Government wants all receiving equipment to be able to handle digital
signals by 2012, when analogue broadcasting will be switched off. Throughout
Europe, an estimated 600 million units will need to be converted or replaced
with digitally-enabled equipment in the next 10 years.

Figures above are based on typical usage of 2.5 TVs or VCRs in
all registered TV households.

All product names and proper names mentioned herein are
trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.

About Fujitsu Microelectronics Europe

Fujitsu Microelectronics Europe (FME) is a major supplier of
semiconductor and display products. The company provides advanced systems
solutions to the automotive, digital TV, mobile telephony, networking and
industrial markets. Engineers from design centres dedicated to
microcontrollers, mixed-signal, wireless, FRAM, multimedia ICs and ASIC
products work closely with FME's marketing and sales teams throughout Europe
to help satisfy customers' system development requirements.

This solutions approach is supported by a broad range of advanced
semiconductor devices, IP and building blocks as well as leading-edge Plasma
Display Panels. For more information visit Fujitsu Microelectronics Europe's
website at http://emea.fujitsu.com/microelectronics

About TVonics

Based in South Wales, UK, TVonics Ltd. designs state-of-the-art
digital set top boxes and flat screen digital televisions for the European
market. Managed and staffed by a team of industry professionals, with
extensive product design experience gained previously at leaders in consumer
electronics, broadcasters and semiconductors, TVonics delivers production
line ready, digital television solutions.

TVonics specialises in the design of innovative digital set top
boxes which viewers find very easy to connect and operate. It also designs
modular components for integration into digital televisions. The company
additionally provides consultancy services to television, monitor and
personal computer manufacturers seeking to enter the digital TV market.
Services include product concept and design, out-sourced manufacturing,
product compliance, testing, marketing and training.

About Cabot Communications

Cabot Communications is a leading independent European supplier
of digital TV software for set top boxes and integrated TVs. Cabot's TV
middleware stack enables manufacturers to build and support cost-effective
and differentiated receivers for pan-European coverage of digital TV and
interactive broadcasts. With nearly three million deployments, Cabot delivers
a complete modular digital TV software solution for a wide range of CPU
architectures. Combined with Cabot's specialised digital TV services
including integration, design consultancy and field support, Cabot enables
OEMs to get compelling products to market quickly. Cabot's technology is
robust and deployed with over 20 major manufacturers. Cabot Communications
will be exhibiting at this years IBC show in Amsterdam and can be found at
stand number 1.130. For more information, visit www.cabot.co.uk.

Source: Fujitsu Microelectronics Europe

Fujitsu Microelectronics Europe, Jim Bryant, Tel: +49-6103-690-0. JDK Marketing Communications, Joanna Muggeridge, Tel: +44-870-787-9510. Tvonics Limited, Paul Fellows, Tel: +44-1656-868521. Entrepreneur Action PR, Nick Warr, Tel: +44-7787-593446. Cabot Communications, Louise Andrews, Tel: +44-208-339-4424

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