Jennic Limited and Kvaser AB Announce Technology Partnership on BlueCAN Wireless CAN Solutions

Jennic Limited and Kvaser AB Announce Technology Partnership on "BlueCAN" Wireless CAN Solutions EMBARGOED UNTIL Wednesday 7th March Sheffield, UK Jennic Limited ("Jennic"), headquartered in Sheffield, England and Kvaser AB ("Kvaser") headquartered in Kinnahult, Sweden have today announced "BlueCAN", the world's first wireless controller area network ("CAN") solution combining Bluetooth and CAN technology. A Memorandum of Understanding ("MoU") was signed by the parties on December 12th 2000. The parties have been cooperating with each other to develop intellectual property ("IP") and system-on-chip ("SoC") solutions featuring Jennic's Bluetooth IP and Kvaser's CAN IP. The parties have been sharing systems knowledge and merging their respective IP to enable CAN to function over a wireless link. The CAN protocol is an ISO standard (ISO 11898) for serial data communication. The protocol was originally developed for automotive applications. "Automotive manufacturers are continually under pressure to reduce vehicle emissions," says Brian Bennett, Head of Marketing at Jennic. "anything that can be done to remove heavy wiring will bring benefits. This is where BlueCAN fits in." Although BlueCAN utilises standard Bluetooth technology, additional functionality was required in order to make it suitable for wireless CAN systems. "Jennic's Bluetooth controller incorporates our patented Streaming Data Controller ("SDC") architecture which enabled us to incorporate time-triggering in the baseband device," says Norman Thompson, Jennic's Head of Wireless Engineering. "Time-triggering is particularly important for wireless CAN in automotive applications, it's essentially a priority interrupt for time-critical systems. This feature is not supported in the standard Bluetooth specification (v1.1)," he adds. "Jennic is pleased to be working with Kvaser on BlueCAN," states Jim Lindop, Jennic's CEO. "They are a world leader in CAN technology and I am confident that this is just the beginning of what will become a long and successful partnership". This sentiment is echoed by Kvaser. "We see Jennic as an important extension to our own capability. With Jennic, we can expand opportunities for Kvaser's CAN technology by opening up new markets," states Lars-Berno Fredriksson, Kvaser's President and CEO. About Jennic: Jennic is a 'chipless' semiconductor company which designs and develops complex, leading edge semiconductor solutions precisely tailored to individual customer requirements. Leveraging proven expertise in systems and in system-on-chip design, Jennic enables its customer to incorporate state-of-the-art technology into wired and wireless applications. Jennic was founded in 1996. The company is headquartered in Sheffield, UK and has design centres in Sheffield and Milton Keynes. Jennic remains a company privately owned by its founders, investors and staff. About Kvaser: KVASER is a leading technology provider of CAN software, hardware and services to the global market of CAN developers, specifically in the automotive, industrial automation and mobile machine industries. ------------------------------------------------------------ This information was brought to you by BIT http://www.bit.se The following files are available for download: http://www.bit.se/bitonline/2001/03/06/20010306BIT00100/bit0002.doc http://www.bit.se/bitonline/2001/03/06/20010306BIT00100/bit0002.pdf