20,000 Square Meter and 63 Access Points: Siemens Sets up the Largest Wireless LAN Network in France.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

MUNICH, Germany--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 12, 2003

Wireless high-speed data transfer is now a reality in the Palais des Congres de Paris. Siemens Information and Communication Mobile (Siemens mobile) has fitted out the Paris congress center to make it the largest Wireless LAN (W-LAN) hotspot in France. The W-LAN network covers the entire grounds and all the buildings. With data transmission rates of up to 11 megabits per second (170 times the speed of ISDN), visitors can now surf the internet from mobile terminals, access e-mail or follow events on the notebook.

The Siemens W-LAN network covers with its 63 access points the entire 20,000 square meter area of the Paris congress center. Network coverage is provided not only in the exhibition areas, but also in the forecourt, the halls and passages, the atrium, as well as the shopping area of the congress center. Users can therefore access information and e-mail regardless of their location and connect to the internet or their company intranet from anywhere in the center.

The Siemens solution also offers customers new services, such as the transmission of events via streaming technology. For example, visitors or exhibitors being unable to attend a particular presentation in person can, thanks to the Siemens W-LAN network, view the event (either in real-time or delayed) from anywhere on the grounds.

Access to the wireless network of the Palais des Congres de Paris is possible both via public access or via a service package supplied by the organizer. The latter, for example, can be ordered as soon as the visitor registers for the event, while the first solution is based on access via the public network. In this case, payment for the service is made using prepaid cards that are available on-site or via online credit card payments.

"The Paris W-LAN solution is an example of our ability to implement end-to-end mobile solutions," says Lothar Pauly, board member of the Information and Communication Mobile Group.

"Supporting our visitors and exhibitors during their entire stay with us was a top priority for us," said Thierry Vaneycke, head of Information and Telecommunications at the Palais des Congres de Paris. "Up to now, it was only possible to access the internet and e-mail in designated internet areas, and this was limited to specific locations and to a limited number of PCs."

A photograph accompanies this press release. You can access the photo on the Internet at URL:

http://www.siemens.com/icm-picture/icm200305070

The Siemens Information and Communication Mobile Group (Siemens mobile) offers the complete range of mobile solutions including mobile devices, infrastructure and applications. Devices include mobile phones, wireless modules, mobile organizers and cordless phones as well as products for wireless home networks. The infrastructure portfolio includes GSM, GPRS and 3G mobile network technologies from base stations and switching systems to intelligent networks, e.g. for prepaid services. Mobile Applications cover end-to-end solutions for Messaging, Location Based Services or Mobile Payment. For the fiscal year 2001 (September 30), IC Mobile recorded sales of EUR 11.3 billion and employed 30,730 people worldwide.

You can access further information about Siemens mobile on the Internet at

http://www.siemens-mobile.com

You can access press releases, photographs and further information on the internet at:

http://www.siemens-mobile.com/press

The Paris congress center, the Palais des Congres de Paris, boasts four congress rooms with seating for between 400 and 3,723, 70 meeting rooms, 18 conference halls, two TV studios, three control rooms, one broadcasting system with eleven parabolic antennae and a 18,550m(2) exhibition area in ten halls spread over three floors. In addition, the "Atrium du Palais" offers visitors a 15,200m(2) shopping area. The congress center hosts some 600 events a year with over one million visitors. In addition to the patrons of these events, there are also many other visitors to the Atrium as well as residents who access public transport facilities via the passages of the congress center (subway, bus, local railway, Air France terminal).