NEC Unveils PHY Chip

SANTA CLARA, Calif., TOKYO, LONDON -- NEC Corporation (NEC) (NASDAQ: NIPNY, FTSE: 6701q.l, TSE: 6701) and its semiconductor affiliates in the United States, NEC Electronics Inc., and Europe, NEC Electronics (Europe) GmbH., today announced the release of a new asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) and packet-over-SONET (POS) physical layer (PHY) semiconductor device. The new uPD98413 PHY integrates four 622-megabit per second (Mbps) synchronous optical network/synchronous digital hierarchy (SONET/SDH) framer function channels on one chip, making it ideal for third-generation (3G) mobile base station, digital subscriber line access multiplexer (DSLAM) and other high-end wide-area network (WAN) edge equipment. "The number of people using cellular phones and mobile terminals to access the web is increasing at an astounding rate, causing a massive increase in the data traffic on mobile networks," said Ashok Bansal, marketing manager of the communications strategic business unit, NEC Electronics Inc. "With subscribers to xDSL and other broadband access services growing at a similar pace, data traffic on xDSL line concentrators is expected to become just as heavy. This product represents a significant step in NEC's commitment to delivering solutions to enable faster mobile base-station and DSLAM equipment to satisfy the demands of this growing customer base." NEC Corp.