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eFAB Alliance Entrusts Foundry Industry's
Electronic Communications
Standard Initiative to RosettaNet
Agilent Technologies, Chartered Semiconductor, Lucent Technologies and
Motorola award development of flagship standard to established industry
group
PALO ALTO, Calif. -- May 1, 2000 -- The eFAB™ Alliance, formed by Agilent
Technologies Inc., Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing, Lucent Technologies
and Motorola have selected RosettaNet to architect the first open industry
standard for secure electronic communications between foundries and their
customers, suppliers and marketing partners.
- The move potentially makes RosettaNet the semiconductor industry's
broadest sphere of influence in the creation of e-commerce and
e-communications standards spanning semiconductor manufacturing through
product distribution. By endorsing and accepting the eFAB Alliance, RosettaNet
will include foundries among its members with Chartered already being the
first. For its part, the current eFAB Alliance members will become
representatives working within the RosettaNet organization. As RosettaNet
members, they will work to expand participation in standards development to
include all other facets of the semiconductor manufacturing supply chain,
including fabbed and fabless semiconductor companies, foundries, and test and
assembly service providers.
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- The Fabless Semiconductor Association has also praised the move. "One of
the FSA's objectives is to make it easy for companies to utilize the fabless
business model," stated Jodi Shelton, executive director of the FSA. "Any
standard, such as e-Fab's e-commerce effort, that represents the interests of
fabless semiconductor companies is well-received by our organization."
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Foundry Standard Status
- To date, the eFAB Alliance has outline areas of immediate focus with
milestone dates for completion of each. These include online order entry,
tracking work in progress (WIP), engineering reports, project status, delivery
status, forecasting and planning, and payment. Initial guidelines for WIP have
been documented and agreed to by the eFAB Alliance members. The guidelines
will be turned over to RosettaNet for development and proliferation throughout
the industry. E-commerce standards efforts will be added to the body of work
under the auspices of RosettaNet.
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- The eFAB Alliance members are also members of RosettaNet and will lead
efforts within the organization to pace the standards efforts according to
industry need and ensure participation of other foundries.
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- Jennifer Hamilton, chief executive officer of RosettaNet, said, "The
mandate to create a standard for foundries gives us full purview over the
entire industry supply chain. With this range of responsibility, we have the
opportunity to create one of the most comprehensive electronic communications
systems utilized by any industry in the world."
-
- Commenting on behalf of the eFAB Alliance, Rob Baxter, Chartered senior
vice president of business operations, said, "The eFAB Alliance has entrusted
RosettaNet to become the architect of an electronic communications system that
is uniform, secure and readily adaptable to any company, regardless of size,
in the semiconductor foundry supply chain. As the torch is passed to this
independent organization, we look to our industry colleagues to dedicate their
energy and ideas to the effort. Our reward will be the beginning a new era in
electronic commerce that can potentially match the armchair electronics of
internet consumerism."
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Background on the eFAB Alliance
- Initiated in September 1999, the eFAB Alliance set out to create a model
for electronic commerce within the semiconductor foundry industry. By creating
an open standard, customers can communicate with any foundry using a uniform
electronic system. Since no such system exists today, companies are forced to
utilize different systems in different data formats. The result is that
customers must sort and reformat data before they can interpret and utilize
it. With the eFAB Alliance standard, companies will gain a single point of
access for communicating electronically with their foundry. The alliance's
goals are to ensure that the electronic communications methodologies are
secure, uniform, accurate, simple and complete so that companies of any size
can incorporate them with minimal effort.
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About Agilent Technologies Inc.
- Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: A) is a diversified technology company,
resulting from Hewlett?Packard Company's plan to strategically realign itself
into two fully independent companies. With 42,000 employees serving customers
in more than 120 countries, Agilent Technologies is a global leader in
designing and manufacturing test, measurement and monitoring instruments,
systems and solutions, and semiconductor and optical components. The company
serves markets that include communications, electronics, life sciences and
healthcare. The businesses comprising Agilent, a subsidiary of HP, had net
revenues of more than $8.3 billion in fiscal year 1999.
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- Information about Agilent Technologies can be found on the Web at http://www.agilent.com/.
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About Chartered
- Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing (Nasdaq:CHRT and SGX-ST: Chartered)
is one of the world's leading independent foundries providing wafer
fabrication services. Guided by the tenets of trust, service, partnership,
advanced technology and stability, the Company aims to provide world-class
semiconductor foundry services that enable customers to create and deliver
market-leading system-level solutions. Chartered operates five fabrication
facilities that serve high-growth, technologically advanced applications such
as communications and networking. Headquartered in Singapore, Chartered
employs approximately 3400 people at its 11 locations in North America, Asia
and Europe.
-
- Chartered completed its global initial public offering in October 1999 and
is traded in the United States on Nasdaq and in Singapore on the Singapore
Exchange Securities Trading Limited (SGX-ST). The Company reported 1999
revenues of US $694.3 million.
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About the Fabless Semiconductor Association
- The Fabless Semiconductor Association (FSA) was incorporated in July 1994
by industry leaders wishing to achieve a more optimal balance between wafer
demand and capacity for fabless companies. The FSA has over 240 corporate
members representing fabless companies, foundry providers, packaging and
assembly houses, investment bankers, providers of intellectual property (IP)
and a variety of other suppliers and partners.
-
- The mission of the organization is to support the fabless model by
encouraging the ongoing, symbiotic relationship between fabless semiconductor
companies and suppliers; facilitate productive business partnerships; create
awareness and promote the acceptance of the fabless business model;
disseminate relevant data; and nurture the creation, adoption and
implementation of standards and policies vital to the fabless model. To learn
more about the FSA, please visit http://www.fsa.org/.
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About Lucent Technologies
- Lucent's Microelectronics Group designs and manufacturers integrated
circuits and optoelectronic components for the computer and communications
industries. Additional information about the Microelectronics Group is
available from its web site at http://www.lucent.com/.
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- Lucent Technologies, headquartered in Murray Hill, N.J., USA, designs and
delivers the systems, software, silicon and services for next-generation
communications networks for service providers and enterprises. Backed by the
research and development of Bell Labs, Lucent focuses on high-growth areas
such as optical and wireless networks; Internet infrastructure; communications
software; communications semiconductors and optoelectronics; Web-based
enterprise solutions that link private and public networks; and professional
network design and consulting services. For more information on Lucent
Technologies, visit its Web site at http://www.lucent.com/.
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About Motorola
- As the world's #1 producer of embedded processors, Motorola's
Semiconductor Products Sector offers multiple DigitalDNA(tm) technologies
which enable its customers to create "smart" products and new business
opportunities in the networking and computing, wireless communications,
transportation, and imaging and entertainment markets. Motorola's worldwide
semiconductor sales were $7.4 billion (USD) in 1999. http://www.motorola.com/semiconductors/
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- Motorola, Inc. (NYSE:MOT) is a global leader in providing integrated
communications solutions and embedded electronic solutions. Sales in 1999 were
$33.1 billion. http://www.motorola.com/
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About RosettaNet
- RosettaNet is an independent, self-funded, non-profit consortium dedicated
to the development and deployment of standard electronic business interfaces
to align the processes between supply chain partners on a global basis.
Launched in June 1998, RosettaNet is currently in the pilot phase of its
implementation cycle.
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- More than 200 companies representing $1 trillion in annual information
technology and electronic components revenues currently participate in
RosettaNet's standards development, strategy and implementation activities. A
complete list of member companies and more information on RosettaNet can be
found at http://www.rosettanet.org/.
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