Renesas Technology Expands Its Successful COMET Program to Further Accelerate the Development of Vertically Integrated, Advanced Telematics Systems.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 27, 2003

To enable a broad range of telematics design alternatives, phase

II enhancements to the COMET partnership program will provide

greater flexibility and range in choosing technologies

ported on SuperH based platforms

Renesas Technology America, Inc., a U.S. subsidiary of the new joint-venture semiconductor company established by Hitachi, Ltd. (NYSE:HIT) and Mitsubishi Electric  Corporation with the top microcontroller (MCU) market share, worldwide -- today initiated phase II of the Community Enabling Telematics (COMET(TM)) partnership program, a cooperative association launched in October 2002. To accelerate the proliferation of telematics and car infotainment system (CIS) products based on SuperH(R) (SH-4 series) RISC processors and chipsets, Renesas and its software and middleware partners are adding new, emerging technologies to the consortium, making it more comprehensive and up-to-date.

According to Tatsuo Yamamoto, vice president of the SuperH system solution business unit at Renesas Technology America, Inc., "The COMET program has been very successful, producing fine-tuned, automotive-grade reference platforms that let system engineers easily evaluate different system solutions for new designs. The COMET phase II program capitalizes on the success of the initial implementation, and further expands the range of partner solutions that runs on SH-based platforms. For example, planned new additions to our comprehensive one-box system development solutions for in-vehicle products include browsers, GUIs, embedded databases, and more."

"One of the most critical elements for developing advanced telematics systems is to have access to a complete set of end-to-end solutions that include a CPU processor, an operating system, other software and middleware," said Robert Schumacher, business line executive, wireless, Delphi Delco Electronics Systems. "This program has helped simplify our development process by making several options of software and middleware available on a single hardware platform so that we can easily evaluate various development methods and help speed up our development."

COMET status update

In the 12 months since the COMET program was launched, hundreds of COMET platforms (CIS "US7751R-HRP10D" and "Biscayne(TM)" types) and COMET kits have been shipped to customers all round the globe, increasing the design momentum in the telematics space for Renesas and its eight partners from Phase I: Clarity LLC; Extended Systems Inc. (NADAQ: XTND); Fonix(R) Corporation (OTC BB: FONX); IBM Corporation (NYSE: IBM); QNX(R) Software Systems Ltd.; SiRF Technology, Inc.; Stonestreet One, Inc.; and Wavemakers Inc.

Joint marketing activities like the well-attended COMET Conference 2003 (held in Detroit, Michigan in March 2003), as well as publications such as white papers and quarterly newsletters, have promoted the products and technologies offered by the members of the COMET association. The cooperative approach to serving the needs of the telematics market has resulted in innovations such as Demo Kits containing demonstration software that can be downloaded from the association Web site: www.comet-alliance.com. More importantly, it has produced design wins with integrated system solutions for key customers worldwide.

In Phase II of the COMET program, an evolutionary step, ten partners will be added, selected from an initial field of 23. Thus, the number of partners including Renesas will double to 20.

COMET members enthusiastic about program

Kiyo Oishi, President and COO of ACCESS Systems America, Inc., said, "ACCESS is pleased to join the COMET partner program, and we are committed to its success because we see it as a significant step forward in the evolution of the U.S. telematics market. We have optimized our NetFront(R) Internet browser technology for the SuperH environment, ensuring a powerful end-user experience."

Mark Vogel, founder and CEO of Encirq Corporation, a supplier of embedded database and streaming data management technologies, tools, and component libraries for the rapid development of embedded telematics systems, said, "We are thrilled to have been selected to join this select group of partners that are enabling an end-to-end telematics solution for the SuperH RISC processor. Through the COMET program, telematics device manufacturers can be assured that Encirq 3e is fully tested to be compatible with the platform and can be used to speed development to generate extremely compact, high-performance, application-specific data management components."

Joe DiNucci, VP of Sales for Immersion Corp. (NASDAQ: IMMR), a leading developer and licensor of haptic (touch) feedback technology, said, "Allowing drivers to get and use information through their sense of touch, rather than sight or sound alone is a growing trend in the auto industry. Immersion's participation in the COMET II Initiative will help automakers cost-effectively integrate touch technology in a broader range of vehicles. System engineers can easily use haptic technology to reduce the complexity of today's driving environment, potentially improving safety while adding a new sense of involvement and control for the driver."

David Tolub, vice president and co-manager, DiskOnChip business unit of M-Systems Flash Disk Pioneers Ltd. (NASDAQ: FLSH), which offers flash memory solutions for mobile and embedded systems, said, "We are very excited to join the COMET partnership program. Integrating M-Systems' DiskOnChip with Renesas' high-performance SuperH processor enables customers developing feature-rich applications to enjoy a high-density flash memory solution, uncompromised reliability and increased file-system functionality with the best cost structure in the industry."

Marc Dore, President and CEO of Mindready Solutions Inc., a leading supplier of automation, embedded and test systems of the automotive market and other markets, said, "We are pleased to participate to the COMET partnership. The combination of Mindready's IEEE-1394 products, systems and engineering services to the COMETpartners ' complementary technologies will fasten the adoption and the time to market of telematics applications in the automotive industry."

Alan Schwartz, General Manager of Embedded Speech Solutions at ScanSoft, Inc. (NASDAQ: SSFT), the leading supplier of speech solutions said, "We are using the COMET partnership with Renesas to develop our next generational speech applications for the automotive industry, such as voice destination entry (VDE). The software and hardware solutions available in COMET give us the power and flexibility to push the boundaries of what speech recognition and text to speech can do on embedded devices."

Malcolm Colton, VP worldwide marketing of Solid Information Technology Corp., which provides solutions for telematics data management within a single device and a data distribution mechanism for moving data between applications within the telematics infrastructure, said, " As a member of the COMET alliance, Solid contributes the first Autonomic Data Management Platform. Designed for distributed applications like telematics, Solid ensures that the data in telematics applications takes care of itself. Running on the high speed and highly efficient Renesas SuperH processors, Solid provides a reliable data storage and transport infrastructure that speeds time to market and lowers total cost of ownership."

Prosanto Sarkar, Director of Marketing at Tilcon Software Ltd., manufacturer of the Tilcon Interface Development Suite (IDS), noted, "The COMET program brings together a winning combination of tightly integrated hardware and software which will help automotive manufacturers and integrators reduce their development time, costs and effort. We are delighted to bring Tilcon's all-in-one user interface technology to the COMET initiative. Tilcon is looking forward to working with our partners on exciting new applications combining advanced instrumentation, GIS, telematics and multimedia interfaces."

"In working with the COMET Program, Wind River is furthering its commitment to delivering its customers integrated platform-based telematics & infotainment solutions that help them accelerate the development of automotive devices," said Marc Serughetti, director of marketing for automotive, industrial, aerospace and defense at Wind River Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: WIND). "We look forward to working with COMET to build solutions based on WIND RIVER PLATFORM for CAR INFOTAINMENT, that effectively accelerate time-to-market, lower costs, and reduce the risk associated within the integration process."

V.R.Venkatesh, Vice President, of Wipro Technologies (NYSE: WIT), a comprehensive supplier of IT and System Integration services, said, "As a System Integration partner, Wipro has both hardware and software platform expertise, and coupled with our embedded and product design skills we can support Renesas customers in building their Telematics applications around Bigsur and Biscayne platforms. This is an important milestone in our roadmap and enables us to provide effective and complete Telematics solutions."

Reader contact

For more information about the software and middleware products offered by the members of the COMET program, readers can visit the respective Web sites or contact the companies directly. For more information on the COMET program, readers can visit the COMET site at www.comet-alliance.com or contact Anand Ramamoorthy at 408-382-7624.

About Renesas Technology Corp.

Renesas Technology Corp. designs and manufactures highly integrated semiconductor system solutions for mobile, networking, automotive, industrial and digital home electronics markets. Established on April 1, 2003 as a joint venture between Hitachi, Ltd. (TSE:6501, NYSE:HIT) and Mitsubishi Electric Corporation (TSE:6503) and headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, Renesas Technology is one of the largest semiconductor companies in the world and the number one microcontroller supplier globally. Besides microcontrollers, Renesas Technology offers system-on-chip devices, Smart Card ICs, mixed-signal products, flash memories, SRAMs and more. www.renesas.com

Note: COMET is a trademark of Renesas Technology America, Inc. SuperH is a registered US trademark of Renesas Technology Corp. Other trademarks are the properties of their respective owners.