Philips and STMicroelectronics Collaborate On Developing MHP Technology Solutions for Digital TV and Set-Top Box Receivers

Business Wire, Feb 26, 2002

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

EINDHOVEN, The Netherlands & GENEVA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 26, 2002

STMicroelectronics(NYSE:STM):

Turnkey solutions to be developed and marketed for use in set-top

boxes and integrated digital television sets based on Philips'

superior DVB-MHP middleware technology and ST's single-chip

digital set-top box decoder platforms

Philips, an industry-leading provider of Multimedia Home Platform (MHP) software solutions, and STMicroelectronics (NYSE: STM), the world's number one supplier of set-top box ICs, have signed a collaboration agreement to develop solutions for applying MHP technology in set-top boxes and digital television sets.

Both parties will develop and market pre-integrated solutions of the Philips MHP 1.0.x Software Platform and ST's OMEGA family of single-chip digital set-top box decoder platforms. These turnkey solutions for building advanced digital set-top boxes and integrated digital televisions are aimed to dramatically cut back development and production times for consumer electronics manufacturers seeking to build MHP-compliant digital TV receivers.

DVB-MHP is the new open standard for interactive digital television across Europe and Asia, and provides a standardized platform on which software and content can be developed. MHP also forms the basis for the Open Cable Specification (OCAP) in the US. Philips Softworks, a Business Unit of Philips Digital Networks, has successfully developed and implemented an MHP 1.0.1-compliant software 'stack' offering full interactive digital television functionality.

STMicroelectronics and Philips will offer the Philips MHP 1.0.x Software Platform technology running on devices from ST's market-leading range of set-top box decoders, destined as the reference systems for use in DVB-MHP-compatible set-top boxes and televisions worldwide. The announcement emphasizes the growing market momentum of the DVB-MHP as an operating standard and Philips as the leading provider of non-proprietary MHP software solutions.

The reference systems combine hardware and software that are integrated for operation and will make use of both companies' existing technologies. Under the agreement, STMicroelectronics will work with Philips to jointly market MHP Reference Systems based on ST's OMEGA range of set-top box decoders. The focus of the two companies is currently demonstration models for the STi5512 and the STi5514 single-chip decoders using ST's STAPI (ST Application Programming Interface) driver suite to show the advanced functionality and advantages of the MHP Reference Systems to customers. It is scheduled to be available early in 2002. The complete MHP Reference System in product quality follows in mid -2002. A high-end solution including both ST's ST40GX1 and STi5514 chips is also being considered.

"The new MHP Reference Systems will be based around our MHP software bundles," commented Frank Bosveld, general manager of Philips Softworks. "These software bundles dramatically cut product development and production times for set-top box and TV manufacturers looking to enter the digital market in a fast and flexible way. It is a considerable endorsement that STMicroelectronics has agreed to work with us in such a huge potential growth area."

Christos Lagomichos, VP and general manager of the Set-Top Box Division at STMicroelectronics, added: "By partnering with Philips we have access to an enormous volume of expertise in the software arena for digital consumer products. This collaboration agreement will provide integrated, complete and tested-for-operation DVB-MHP technology based on ST chips, enabling our customers to bring new, feature-rich set-top box products and TVs to market quickly and at an attractive cost to consumers."

Philips licenses MHP middleware and application technologies to create added value for partners and customers among service and network providers, content owners, application developers and consumer electronics manufacturers. In so doing, Philips is one of the first companies to deploy MHP technologies to third parties and is generally acknowledged as the market leader in the MHP arena by the digital TV industry.

STMicroelectronics' STAPI libraries provide a suite of production quality software drivers for the OMEGA family of set-top box decoders. The drivers are not only tested together for a particular chipset, but they are also compatible across chipsets, optimizing the time to market for products built on new members of the OMEGA range. The latest member of this family is the STi5514 decoder, which integrates a programmable transport stream demultiplexer block, an ST20 32-bit system CPU, an audio/video MPEG-2 decoder, advanced display and graphics features, a digital video encoder and many system peripheral functions.

About Philips

Royal Philips Electronics of the Netherlands is one of the world's biggest electronics companies and Europe's largest, with sales of EUR 32.3 billion in 2001. It is a global leader in color television sets, lighting, electric shavers, medical diagnostic imaging and patient monitoring, and one-chip TV products. Its 189,000 employees in more than 60 countries are active in the areas of lighting, consumer electronics, domestic appliances, components, semiconductors, and medical systems. Philips is quoted on the NYSE (symbol: PHG), London, Frankfurt, Amsterdam and other stock exchanges. News from Philips is located at www.news.philips.com.