COMPAQ LAUNCHES WIRELESS SOLUTIONS TO IMPROVE PRODUCTIVITY IN MANUFACTURING, SEMICONDUCTOR AND ELECTRONICS INDUSTRIES

Ybreo Newswire- Compaq Computer Asia Pacific Pte Ltd, a leading supplier of solutions to the semiconductor industry, announced today that it will offer wireless services and solutions for the semiconductor and electronics industries. The solutions, which have been designed to improve the productivity of manufacturing operations, were launched at the Semicon West trade show held in San Francisco in July amidst significant customer interest.

These solutions are based on Compaq's award winning wireless technology and iPAQ Pocket PC. This initiative from the #1 market share leader in semiconductor fab automation provides a series of wireless solutions to improve productivity and efficiency for all levels of manufacturing personnel. For example:

�h Operator productivity and quality can be improved by eliminating the time required to walk to a workstation to perform transactions. Critical information is now available in real-time at their fingertips anywhere in the fab to monitor status and perform transactions.

�h Technician productivity can be improved through real-time notification of production problems. Time to resolve such problems can be reduced with access to equipment and process specifications at the tool level as well as displaying spare parts inventory. Traceability will be provided. This ensures that corrective action is possible by authorized users. All this without having the need to stand by a terminal or a workstation.

�h Production Management will have greater visibility of equipment and work-in-progress and the ability to reduce time for making critical production decisions. Access to real-time information is possible around the plant, in meetings, at home or whilst traveling.

A significant cost savings benefit that can be realized right away is by eliminating workstations, which are used throughout the manufacturing area for performing transactions and monitoring the status of production equipment.

Compaq's wireless solutions enable a series of industry standard applications including Manufacturing Execution Systems and Supply Chain solutions with wireless capability. Examples of these include applications such as MES systems from Brooks Automation, Camstar, Consilium, PRI and Adexa for supply chain management.

"Wireless solutions are critical in today's environment to provide our customers with a competitive advantage to improve productivity and efficiency across their complete organization" said Dinesh Maheshwary, Worldwide Director & Managing Principal, Semiconductor & Electronics Industries Practice.

"The addition of wireless solutions to Compaq's portfolio of semiconductor and electronics solutions and services further establishes Compaq's leads in these key industries," said Andrew Low, Vice President of Compaq Global Services, Asia Pacific.

The solutions are available bundled with all necessary hardware, software, infrastructure and services for customers to launch wireless solutions to increase productivity and achieve cost savings. Components include plant-wide installation of wireless network, iPAQ Pocket PCs and accessories, wireless applications as well as systems integration and support services.