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Airbee Teams with Infineon on 16-Bit Industrial ZigBee Solution.


SAN JOSE, Calif. -- At the Embedded Systems Conference here, Airbee Wireless (OTC:ABEW) announced that it is teaming with Infineon Technologies (FSE/NYSE:IFX) to bring a ZigBee wireless networking system solution to industrial automation and motor control systems. The system solution adds a ZigBee wireless interface to the Infineon 16-bit XC164CM microcontroller, using the Airbee-ZNS ZNS - Zenger News Service
ZNS - Zentrales Nervensystem (German: Central Nervous System)
(TM) software stack. The resulting solution is ideal for easily adding a wireless communication link in industrial motor control and automation applications, as reuse of the application code for Infineon's 16-bit microcontrollers enables a jump-start of the ZigBee application.

Airbee focuses on customizing its protocol stack The Protocol Stack
Using TCP/IP as a model, the sending application hands data to the transport layer, which breaks it up into the packets required by the network. It stores the sequence number and other data in its header. The network layer adds source and destination data in its header, and the data link layer adds station data in its header. On the other side, the corresponding layer reads and processes the headers and discards them.
 to the needs of a particular application, and has optimized it for the XC164CM. In the target applications, the application software (e.g., a motor control algorithm) must run in parallel with the wireless protocol stack. The XC164CM offers enough performance headroom to handle even highly demanding control algorithms (e.g., field-oriented control) together with the protocol stack. Unique features, such as its integrated MAC unit for DSP operations and its optimized and autonomous peripherals for motor control (e.g., capture-and-compare unit, A/D converter, general-purpose timer unit), allow a single XC164CM to do this in an ideal manner.

"Infineon brings more than 35 years of automotive and motor control experience to developing microcontrollers dedicated to industrial applications," said David McCartney, Airbee's Vice President for marketing and Sales. "We're excited to be able to work with Infineon to provide developers of industrial systems an easy and reliable path to ZigBee networking."

In the industrial market, reducing cost and enhancing flexibility are key drivers. Adding a wireless interfacing solution to a 16-bit microcontroller addresses both of these needs by reducing cable cost - in both materials and installation labor - and increasing flexibility, especially when relocating equipment. For example, in a manufacturing plant using conveyor belts, as many as 1,000 motor drives need to be synchronized to ensure proper flow. Wireless connectivity eliminates running cables between the motors, adding tremendous flexibility to reconfiguring lines quickly and with minimum impact. The low cost of ZigBee systems and their ability to form wireless mesh networks that require no central master or repeater make it ideal for such applications.

"Working with Airbee to create a solution for integrators and OEMs looking for turnkey ZigBee solutions will greatly expand the market opportunities for the XC164CM," said Chin-Yen Shih, Senior Director, Industrial and Multimarket Microcontrollers, at Infineon Technologies. "Airbee is very well positioned to address the different wireless networking requirements of the industrial market, and we're very pleased to be teaming with them to enhance the capabilities of our product offerings."

In addition to the Airbee-ZNS ZigBee-certified protocol stack, Airbee offers customized software development through it service business unit to assist ZigBee implementers with stack modifications, application deployment and real-world network deployments.

About Airbee

Airbee is an innovator of intelligent software solutions for unwired voice, data and video networking. Products include embedded software, management platform, development tools and services. Airbee technology is licensed by OEMs, silicon providers and integrators. All products are designed and engineered to comply with ZigBee/IEEE 802.15.4 global standards. Airbee technology offers affordability, greater flexibility and shorter time to market, unlike anything else now available. To learn more about Life Unwired(TM) with Airbee technology inside, please visit www.airbeewireless.com, or call +1 (301) 517-1860.

Legal Notice Regarding Forward-Looking Statements: "Forward-looking statements" may be included in this news release. These statements relate to future events or our future financial performance. These statements are only predictions and may differ materially from actual future results or events. Airbee Wireless, Inc. disclaims any intention or obligation to revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise. There are important risk factors that could cause actual results to differ from those contained in forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to risks associated with changes in general economic and business conditions (including in the information technology and financial information industry), actions of our competitors, the extent to which we are able to develop new services and markets for our services, the time and expense involved in such development activities, the level of demand and market acceptance of our services, and/or changes in our business strategies.
COPYRIGHT 2006 Business Wire
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Copyright 2006, Gale Group. All rights reserved. Gale Group is a Thomson Corporation Company.

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Publication:Business Wire
Date:Apr 5, 2006
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