Affärsstrategernas subsidiary company FreeHand Communication signs license agreement with RealChip Communications Inc. o

Affärsstrategernas subsidiary company FreeHand Communication signs license agreement with RealChip Communications Inc. of Silicon Valley. FreeHand Communication has licensed its DSP solution to semicondutor RealChip Communications. RealChip will license FreeHand's DSP solution consisting of an application specific programmable DSP core and application firmware. RealChip and FreeHand will jointly adapt this solution for integration into RealChip's media-over-net system-on-chip (SOC) applications. By using a platform and accelerator based approach for designing DSP cores, FreeHand can reach high performance at very low power consumption. The FreeHand IP (Intellectual Property) cores are fully synthesizable and can be implemented in any digital process technology. "We selected FreeHand's application specific programmable core because it is optimised for the line echo cancellation (LEC) requirements of the voice communication markets," said John Zucker, president and CEO of RealChip Communications. "As we are poised to enter the media-over-net marketplace with innovative SOC solutions, FreeHand's special purpose DSP core with small gate count and low power consumption requirements enables us to offer solutions that have high voice quality, smaller form factor, higher port density, and better price performance that any product on the market today. With this core among our technology mix, RealChip is in the unique position to provide best of class media-over-net solution suites." "We are very excited to work with this client. With their extensive experience of system on silicon integration we will get invaluable feedback in order to further enhance our IP products" says Harald Bergh, CEO of FreeHand Communication. As part of this agreement RealChip will also become a minority owner in FreeHand Communication. FreeHand Communication AB is a chipless semiconductor company providing virtual hardware cores and firmware for wireless and infrastructure applications. The main product is a family of DSP cores, each optimised for application specific tasks. FreeHand is based in Sundbyberg, Sweden. Affärsstrategerna holds 62 percent of the capital. RealChip Communications (www.realchip.com), a Silicon Valley semiconductor company founded in 1998, develops and markets custom and standard communications chips to connect voice and data over packet-based networks. To achieve its mission to become the industry's leading supplier of media- over-net processor chips, the company has built and integrated a flexible, multi-functional team of world-class engineers with communication systems, DSP algorithms, semiconductor hardware, application-specific SOC, and software expertise, complemented by an executive management team of industry veterans with proven track records. For further information please contact: Harald Bergh, CEO of FreeHand Communication AB phone +46 8 662 40 30, Mob: +46 708 194041 e-mail: harald.bergh@freehand.se Robin Sukhia, Investment Manager at Affärsstrategerna AB Phone: +46 8 545 831 91 e-mail: robin@astrateg.se Affärsstrategerna is a leading seed investment venture capital company listed on the OM Stockholm Stock Exchange O-list. Affärsstrategerna invests value-added capital in innovative start-ups, operating in IT/Internet, Wireless and Life Science/Medical Technology, and has the potential to become market leader in its niche. Some of the companies in the portfolio are A Brand New World, Alpha Helix, Arctic BioPharm Production, Artema, A3TL, Chemel, European Institute of Science, Fingerprint Cards, FreeHand Communication, InfiniCom, Mainbox, Mocat, Musicbrigade, Naty, Netbaby World, Picron Microarrays, RaySearch Laboratories, RSC Technology, Samba Sensors, SWATS, Webupdate Scandinavia, Widermind, Wireless Assets, Inc. and Yesitworks Sweden. ------------------------------------------------------------ This information was brought to you by BIT http://www.bit.se The following files are available for download: http://www.bit.se/bitonline/2001/02/27/20010227BIT00650/bit0002.doc http://www.bit.se/bitonline/2001/02/27/20010227BIT00650/bit0002.pdf