CeBIT 2000 / Power Line Communication / Home Networking / Internet at a power socket - the reality

Munich 11. února (PROTEXT) - The Munich company, PolyTraxInformation Technology AG, is showing a world first at thisyear's CeBIT: Internet access through power sockets (hall 17,stand F08, Powerline Center). This entails connecting the phoneor ISDN connection to the 220 Volt electricity circuit within ahouse or flat via a special gateway. In this way, data from thephone line reaches all rooms through every power socket. A secondgateway on the computer picks out the data and makescommunication with the Internet possible. The technology developed by PolyTrax is the latest developmentin the Power Line Communication (PLC) field for home networking.Data transfer rates several times faster than ISDN are achieved.Depending on the respective standards, the rates in Europe areabout 155 Kilobits per second, whilst in the USA and Asia datatransfer rates of 2.5 Megabits per second are reached due to thewider frequency bands permitted. "Connecting the phone line to the existing electric cables inprivate households makes you independent from the location of thephone sockets," says company founder and CTO, Christian Seifert,explaining the advantages. Instead, every electrical socketbecomes an Internet connection. "Plug in and go, is our motto"says Seifert. PolyTrax will demonstrate the capabilities of this newtechnology at CeBIT Hanover(hall 17, stand F08, Powerline Center)for the first time, with its latest gateway products, illustratedwith various examples. As well as "Internet from power sockets","Intelligent Living" applications can be seen, such astransferring MP3 data directly from a CD player to loudspeakersvia the power cable. Plug-and-Play does not just apply to PCs and laptops, however.Telecoms equipment like phone systems and set-top boxes alsobenefit. Networked domestic appliances, HiFi and multimediadevices are now also becoming a reality with the help of powerline communication and fast gateway technology. The advantages ofPowerline Communication can be combined with the possibilities ofRF based networking applications. Seifert believes that connecting set-top boxes to the publicphone network via electrical sockets has great potential. Thereturn channel, which is necessary for interactive televisionservices and Internet-compatible televisions and requires asupplementary cable, can be realised extremely simply in thisway. Nevertheless, end users cannot buy this new technology fromPolyTrax. The Munich company, which was founded two years ago,distributes its high technology through exclusive licensingagreements with OEM manufacturers. The main areas of applicationfor the PLC gateways are home networking, automation andindustrial networking. In this respect, PolyTrax expects rapidgrowth over the next two years in the home networking marketalone: Whilst the value of the global market was about twomillion dollars in 1998, it could reach 7.6 billion dollars by2002. The fastest growth is taking place in Europe; from 776billion dollars to over three billion dollars in two years. Atthe same time, home networking for multimedia will increase morethan ten-fold, from 67 million dollars (1998) to about 740million dollars in 2002. About PolyTrax AG PolyTrax Information Technology AG is based in Munich and is aleading developer of power line communications (PLC) technologyworking to country-specific standards, such as the EuropeanCENELEC (CE) norm. The aim is to develop the fastest and mostreliable technology (gateways) for power line communicationwithin buildings by utilising existing power cables as thenetwork infrastructure. The PLC gateway technology developed byPolyTrax is marketed through licensing agreements with OEMsuppliers of equipment and devices for the fields of PCs andtelecoms, industrial automation, household appliances and homeentertainment. - The young hi-tech company was founded inNovember 1997 by Dr. Werner Pohl and Christian Seifert, whocurrently run the firm. Since June 1998 the Munich venturecapital company TVM and the London investment group Alta Berkeleyhave been shareholders in the start-up venture. At the end of1998 Deutsche Telekom also became an investor through itssubsidiary T-Venture (Bonn). Further investors are DeutscheAusgleichsbank tbg and Bayernkapital from Munich as well asVertex Management Singapore and Gilde IT Fund Utrecht. PolyTraxhas been trading as a public limited company since December 1998.A future listing on the stock exchange is foreseen. Internet:www.polytrax.com ots Original Text Service: PolyTraxInformation Technology AG Internet: http://www.newsaktuell.deFor more Information: Thomas Weninger (Manager Sales &Marketing D/A/CH) TEL

+49 89 42 71 65 - 0 FAX

+49 89 4271 65 -79 e-mail: thomas.weninger@polytrax.com

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