Hilversum, The Netherlands, April 12, 2006 – NEC Corporation and Royal Philips Electronics have completed the transaction regarding their joint venture in enterprise communications as announced in November 2005. With NEC holding 60% and Philips holding 40% of shares, the new company, NEC Philips Unified Solutions, has commenced operation as per April 3rd.

At a special Press briefing held today at the company’s headquarters in Hilversum, The Netherlands, Ad Ketelaars, CEO of NEC Philips Unified Solutions, mapped out the company’s ambitions.

Combining NEC’s strong technology base and market position in Asia Pacific and North America with Philips’ strong market presence in EMEA (Europe, Middle-East and Africa) provides sustainable competitive advantages and enables NEC Philips Unified Solutions to extend market reach and its share of the communications market.

The joint venture is part of NEC’s global strategy to achieve over 10% share of the enterprise communications market worldwide. To this end, NEC is investing significantly in the development of platforms and applications that can be sold on a global scale, as well as investing further in its routes to market.

Focussing on the EMEA market, NEC Philips Unified Solutions addresses the needs of organisations of all types and sizes, with the following spearheads:

• A dedicated division addressing the SMB (Small & Medium Businesses) channel is in place to further expand the existing network of reselling partners. Business partners can look forward to an extended product portfolio, to be sold in Europe under the Philips brand name. The Business Partner Program brings all essentials together - products, programs, people and processes - to help business partners offer best-in-class communication solutions to SMB customers.
• Enterprises will benefit from the combined R&D activities and resulting portfolio of platforms and applications. This results in the widest possible choice for IP-based communications, incorporating latest voice and data technologies available to the modern telecom world. Existing customers can continue to rely on the proven SOPHO iS3000 range of systems, which remains fully supported and enhanced with new functionality addressing latest market requirements
• Recognising the shift towards integrated solutions and services, a dedicated Solutions division has been established, serving clients on a global scale with integrated applications such as those around UNIVERGE. In addition to system integration and around-the-clock (managed) services, the offered range includes solutions like Microsoft’s LCS (Live Communications Server), available thanks to a recently announced partnership with Microsoft.

By unifying the strengths of NEC and Philips, unifying voice and data communications and by unifying platforms, applications and services, NEC Philips Unified Solutions has set out to deliver on its promise “Unifying enterprise communications”.