| Toshiba and Siemens announce long-term alliance to drive development of third generation mobile phones 7 November, 2000 Toshiba and Siemens announce long-term alliance to drive development of third generation mobile phones. Toshiba Corporation and Siemens Information and Communication Mobile today announced to form a global long-term alliance which will place both companies at the forefront of the research and development of third generation (3G) mobile terminals. The alliance will pave the way for the development of cutting-edge 3G devices for this fast-growth, high-volume market, via the integration of the latest advances in Toshiba's W-CDMA and Siemens' GSM technologies. Both companies will design their own branded 3G devices, which will be marketed and sold independently. The companies will combine their respective R&D expertise, capabilities, and resources to ensure the availability of 3G terminals in early 2002. Toshiba and Siemens also see the long-term prospect for cooperation in future 3G terminals. Although primarily concentrating on the IMT 2000* 3G standard W-CDMA, the companies will also work together to develop mobile terminals for further upcoming 3G standards and next generation MPEG-4 devices, which will support such advanced services as moving picture distribution. Lothar Pauly, member of the board of Siemens Information and Communication Mobile, said, "Our joint vision for the future is to become a trail blazing force in the development of 3G technology. In Toshiba, we have a partner who, like us, wants to be a leader in this industry. We believe this combination will allow us to propel our combined talents forward with yet more speed." "Partnering with Siemens, a world leader in GSM technology, allows us to reinforce our presence and competitiveness in the rapidly growing mobile phone market," said Kaoru Kubo, Executive Vice President of Toshiba Corporation's Digital Media Network Company. "By allowing us to integrate the latest advances in W-CDMA and GSM into our products, the global alliance will put us in a position to respond more quickly and effectively to the needs of the 3G mobile phone market." Notes to editors IMT-2000 (International Mobile Telecommunication Standard 2000) is a family of standards for transmission methods in third generation (3G) mobile phones. IMT-2000 uses various transmission methods for transporting much higher data rates than previous mobile phone networks. In Japan and Europe, it will mainly be Wideband-CDMA while in North America in particular, CDMA-2000 will be used. Satellite transmission is also an option in the IMT-2000 family of standards. W-CDMA (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access or Wideband-CDMA) About Siemens Information and Communication Mobile The Siemens Information and Communication Mobile Group (26,000 employees, sales of 6 billion EUR in first 9 months of FY 2000) offers a complete range of mobile telephone products including devices, infrastructure and applications. Devices include mobile phones, ISDN phones, mobile organizers, cordless and corded phones. The infrastructure portfolio includes the complete range of network technologies from base stations and switching systems to applications and intelligent networks. About Toshiba Toshiba Corporation is a leader in information and communications systems, electronic components, consumer products and power systems. The company's integration of these wide-ranging capabilities assures its position as an innovator in advanced components, products and systems. Its next-generation MPEG-4 and wireless communications technologies have assured Toshiba's leadership in W-CDMA development in Japan, where it is the technology development partner of NTT DoCoMo - the country's leading mobile service provider. Toshiba has 191,000 employees worldwide and annual sales of over US$50 billion. For more information please contact:
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