The aim of 38-year-old Ruediger Stroh, Systemonic chief executive, is to export his technology abroad. With a managerial record in San Jose, first with Siemens and then as vice president of Infineon (a spin-off of the former semiconductor division of the Bavarian multinational), Stroh now plans a return to the States.

In tangible terms, the expansion strategy consists of two products that have been launched today: HO1 Baseband Processor, a chip that supports data transmission of two broadband wireless standards that work on free 5 Ghz bandwidths (802.11a and hiperLAN/2); and a complete system that companies can personalize (HiperSonic Reference Design Platform) to roll out Wireless Ethernet (W-Lan).

The company, founded in ’99 as a spin-off of Dresden’s Technische Universitat, has been fortified by $30 million in second-round financing received last November. The financing came from a VC consortium headed by Apax Partners, joined by Sony’s investment arm in March. Systemonic will be able to count on a Californian base: “This is a strategic move, to say that Systemonic is a global enterprise”, emphasizes a company spokesperson. “Jim Bland, former Infineon VP and an old colleague of Ruediger Stroh will be in charge of US expansion”.

Systemonic’s technology, the company claims, is unique in supporting different communications standards on a single wafer. “In the chip industry" explains a spokesperson "it takes at least nine months before a product is compatible with a single standard. Whereas the reference design platform launched today is flexible: it allows data transmission to be adapted to the specific needs of companies, without modifications to hardware, simply reconfiguring software to comply with the standard adopted."

It also allows ‘platform upgrading’, in step with the technological evolution of wireless Lan networks. Systemonic is rumping up to enter the japanese market in the short term thanks to special relationship with Sony.

Possible applications for the new chip are downloading streaming content at speeds of 54Mbp/s. The residential market is another of the company’s objectives; it plans to target video-on-demand services. “Our potential clients – concludes the spokesperson – asides electronic equipment manufacturers such as Sony are suppliers of PCs, entertainment products and smart home devices, such as Electrolux”.

According to research by Frost & Sullivan, Wireless Ethernet could become the radio frequency communications standard most used by companies to increase personal mobility. The global 5 Ghz W-Lan market is set to reach $5 billion by 2005. In particular, the analysts of Frost & Sullivan forecast an increase in demand for “hotspots” or rather mobile Internet access points in public places and consequential rise in demand for smart cards for mobiles and Pda’s.