Metalink Ltd. (Nasdaq: MTLK;TASE: MTLK), Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. (KSX:5930) and STMicroelectronics Inc. (NYSE: STM) are jointly launching a set-top box that supports high-definition (HD) TV quality based on 802.11n wireless IPTV standard. The companies announced the cooperation agreement at CeBIT in Hanover, Germany.
Metalink will supply its 802.11n WLAN Plus chipset, which allows wireless delivery of multiple HD video streams throughout the home, for Samsung’s SMT-H6155 set-top box equipped with STMicroelectronics’ STi7109 chipset that provides the HD video decoding technology.
Metalink chairman and CEO Tzvika Shukhman said, “We are proud to work together with set-top box global market leaders Samsung and STMicroelectronics. This cutting-edge product, embedding our WLANPlus technology, represents an important milestone in making ‘service provider grade’ HD video networking over wireless LAN a reality.”
ABI Research says that Samsung had a 12.9% share of the global set-top box market in 2006, with $1.9 billion in sales, and STMicroelectronics holds the leading market share for set-top box decoders, with a 47.6% market share.
Metalink did not disclose how much revenue it expects from this new cooperation agreement, but the size Samsung and STMicroelectronics’ business suggests considerable potential for Metalink. Metalink already has cooperation agreements with China’s Haier, Japan’s Renesas Technology Corp., Dutch NXP Semiconductors and Korea’s LG Electronics Co. Ltd. (KSX:66570).
Metalink has a market cap of $120 million. The company posted a net loss of $16.2 million on $14.5 million revenue in 2006.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes.co.il - on March 19, 2007
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