Here's the "local" spin on the Siemens deal:
Nov. 13 (The Boston Globe/KRTBN)--Analog Devices Inc., the Norwood computer chip giant, is set to announce what it calls a major deal today to sell a package of microprocessors that German conglomerate Siemens AG will use in its top-selling line of wireless phones.
Terms are not being disclosed, but while Analog is on track to report gross revenues well over $2 billion this year, company president Jerald G. Fishman said that "even at our size, this is a tremendous revenue source for ADI."
Fishman expressed confidence the deal with Siemens, a German version of General Electric with operations in telecommunications, industrial, and medical devices, could widen market acceptance of its chipsets for cell phones. "This customer alone is very significant, but the significance goes well beyond just this product and just this customer," Fishman said.
Siemens has agreed to use an Analog package of chips, about half the size of a business card, in its new GSM mode phones, the most popular operating system in Europe and most non-US cell phone markets. Siemens ranks third behind Nokia and Motorola in the fast-growing European cell phone market.
Among other advantages, the SoftFone and Othello brand devices reduce power consumption so phones can operate on standby mode for up to 1,000 hours, allowing users to go a full month without recharging them.
Analog is set to announce quarterly earnings this week. In August, it said its fiscal third-quarter revenues hit $701 million, 85 percent above the same period a year earlier and 21 percent over the previous quarter, as earnings per share
tripled from a year ago.
By Peter J. Howe
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