Micronas gewinnt "Product of the Year" Award

Micronas Wins Prestigious Product of the Year Award


UAC 355xB Family of USB Audio Controllers Selected "Product of the Year" by Elektronik Readers


Freiburg, Germany - March 13, 2003 - Micronas (SWX Swiss Exchange: MASN, Prime Standard Segment Frankfurt: MNSN) today announced that the UAC 355xB device family of Universal Serial Bus (USB) audio controllers has won the prestigious Elektronik "Product of the Year" award. The UAC 355xB is a highly integrated audio codec interfacing to USB systems.

The editors of Elektronik, Germany's leading biweekly magazine covering the electronics industry, selected 111 top products out of the huge number of products launched in 2002. Five thousand readers then voted in a survey, and the UAC 355xB from Micronas placed number one in the active components category.

Dr. Peter Weigand, head of the multimedia unit at Micronas, who accepted the award from vice editor-in-chief Gerhard Stelzer, expressed his thanks to Elektronik readers and editors.

"I am very pleased that the innovation and the effort of the Micronas multimedia team to establish our product in the market have been recognized by the very people this product is designed for and used by. The UACB family of controllers aims to give end users a greater degree of comfort and connectivity in a variety of applications, for instance when streaming and accessing PC audio files via USB from their home stereo system."

Micronas' UAC 355xB family of USB audio codecs

Micronas' highly integrated family of USB controllers aim at a wide range of applications. For example, Microsoft selected the UAC 355xB series of audio controllers for the Live Kit for their XboxTM game console. The controllers integrate all mixed-signal components such as A/D and D/A converters along with the microphone and headphone amplifiers in a small form factor for such headset applications. This unique implementation enables each game player to interact with other users on the system around the world using their voices. Sales of the Xbox Live Kit started successfully in the US in November 2002, and the Live Kit will be launched in Europe later this month.

The UAC 3553B is a member of this family recently introduced and optimised for applications in mini and micro stereo systems. The controllers allow the consumer to stream digital music files from the PC directly into the stereo and control those via the USB interface by using the existing buttons on the stereo. The consumers can use the displays on their stereo systems to show digital play lists independently from the PC display in the home. This takes the emphasis away from the PC and allows the end user to control a variety of additional functions from their stereo systems. Typical stereo system user interfaces such as play, pause and title selection are extended to the USB link and can be comfortably accessed via the stereo remote control.

Last year, Micronas also introduced the world's smallest soundcard, designed small enough to fit into the palm of a hand. Fitting into a USB connector, it integrates complete soundcard functionality enabling system manufacturers to develop a huge variety of new digital headsets, independently from integrated soundcards. Possible applications cover voice transmission, based on standards like VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) and high-quality music and voice recognition solutions.

The latest development for the UAC 355xB family is designed to facilitate audio integration into existing PC peripherals such as keyboards. Following Microsoft's Real Time Communications (RTC) strategy, the UAC 3556B USB audio PS/2 keyboard bridge provides a dedicated voice and audio channel separately from the soundcard. By establishing a separate line for the voice functionality, any interference through other PC-generated audio signals, like voicemail notification and gaming sounds, is eliminated. Consumer convenience achieved by shifting the audio interface to the user's fingertips is another key aspect of the design.