Automotive Mobile Audio Video

Microsemi Corp. (Nasdaq:MSCC) announced today that orders are accelerating for its patented RangeMAX(R) backlight inverter technology destined for multimedia display systems of next-generation automotive applications.

Orders received over the last 3 months have reached $1.5 million. The company previously expected RangeMAX revenues from this automotive application of $1 million this fiscal year.

The ramp in production orders confirms the acceleration of Microsemi display products in the automotive market, as well as acceptance of the company's patented technologies which provide proprietary dimming and temperature-resilient features for cold cathode fluorescent lamps (CCFL).

The dominant portion of this business will be in support of navigation and Auto PC systems for the major German automakers.

Microsemi's RangeMAX product has wide market acceptance in the color PDA market where the company continues to provide efficient CCFL lighting solutions to Palm and Pocket PC manufacturers Compaq and Hewlett Packard as well as a number of notebook PC manufacturers. New applications in the Web pad and electronic book market are providing additional business growth for the RangeMAX line, Microsemi indicated.

"We are pleased with the rapid adoption of our lighting technologies for these mobile multimedia applications," commented Roger Holliday, vice president of product development for the Power Management Products Group that created the technology.

"Quite frankly, we did not expect orders for these applications to accelerate so quickly. In fact, the order rates we are receiving today are what we expected for next year!"

Commenting further on the acceptance of RangeMAX products, Holliday observed that high-end European automotive manufacturers like BMW, Audi, Porsche, and Mercedes plan to include these new multimedia display systems as standard features in their cars. A number of lower-priced vehicles will offer the navigation systems as options, he said.

Microsemi engineers have optimized RangeMAX inverters for automotive applications, providing wider-range dimming features (300:1), safety features, efficiency optimization as well as features designed to optimize performance in temperatures found in an automotive operating environment.

Microsemi also announced plans to introduce a new automotive backlight circuit, the LX1687, in the fall of 2001. The new circuit will add a number of "off-chip" functions to the current LX1686 chip, functions previously implemented using external discrete devices.

The LX1687 will provide a simpler solution that will sharply reduce the number components required to drive the lamps, again taking into account automotive safety requirements, and optimizing the full temperature operating properties of the patented product.

"We are pragmatically targeting and developing a complete set of product technologies for multimedia mobile and wireless applications," commented Manuel Lynch, Microsemi vice president of marketing and business development.

"Our ability to reapply intellectual property we developed for the laptop and PC marketplace to a virtually untapped market like automotive in-dash displays is typical of an emerging theme at Microsemi. We continue to be successful in identifying new applications and markets where we can be a market leader in providing system solutions.

"Our success in color PDAs is now being mirrored as leading automotive manufacturers begin to place initial production orders."

# posted by Medical Information : 3:10 AM