FIRECOMMS UNVEILS WORLD'S FIRST MOST FOT BASED ON HIGH-SPEED RESONANT CAVITY LED

Tokyo, Japan — November 15, 2005 — Firecomms Ltd. unveils the world’s first MOST® fiber optic transceiver (FOT) based on a high-speed resonant cavity LED. Announced today at the MOST Interconnectivity Conference Japan, Firecomms’ FCM011 MOST FOT pair delivers an additional 8dB of optical power over the specification.

Firecomms’ FCM110R transmitter and FCM110D receiver are state-of-the-art four-pin, low-cost plastic packaged components that meet the MOST 1.1 physical layer specification for the POF optical interface. Digital input/output data conforms to TTL switching levels.

The transmitter uses a novel high-speed RCLED source with an integrated lens designed to maximize coupling efficiency. This source provides high optical power of greater than -7 dBm with a low operating current of less than 25 mA, and fast rising and falling optical edges of less than 4.2 ns.

The receiver uses an optimized low-cost CMOS design that achieves an industry-best minimum sensitivity of -28 dBm. The components, which operate over a temperature range of -40ºC to 95ºC, will enter into a low-power “sleep mode” in the absence of any optical data and exit “sleep mode” with the presence of an optical signal on the fiber bus.

“These devices have the best power budget performance in the world and are fully compliant to the latest MOST specifications,” says John Lambkin, Firecomms chief technical officer. “This increase in optical budget will enable our customers to use more in-line connectors in the POF harness, and guarantees robustness in the system. Our RCLED technology offers improved device efficiency, high bandwidth (to 250 Mbps), and excellent reliability.”

Says Firecomms CEO Declan O’Mahoney, “These devices are designed to provide customers with a robust and low-cost POF solution at 95°C. Because our core light sources are significantly faster than existing FOTs, we can provide our customers with the ability to migrate to next-generation systems while maintaining existing connectors and POF architecture.”

Firecomms leads the development of devices to drive POF, a low-cost optical alternative to copper cabling. Due to its ease of use, large core tolerances, and low costs, POF is enjoying a huge growth in a wide range of applications. In fact, POF is now used in millions of small area networks, such as those in use in many car models, and is rapidly gaining ground in home network and point-to-point interconnection.

Detailed specifications for Firecomms’ MOST FOT are available on the company web site at www.firecomms.com. This device can be ordered through Firecomms’ sales organization (sales@firecomms.com) in Japan, USA, and Europe.

About Firecomms Ltd.

Firecomms, a compound semiconductor company, develops high-speed light sources in visible range wavelengths. Firecomms' lasers and LEDs provide the groundwork that will revolutionize optical data communications for small area networks, such as in-car networks and home networks. Firecomms' low power visible lasers unleash the potential for advances in medical devices, barcode scanners, and optical storage devices.

MOST is a registered trademark of the MOST Cooperation.

Further Information:

Rene' Williams
Firecomms Ltd.
Tel. 949.360.7770
rene@firecomms.com