Press Releases

Kawasaki, Japan, Feb 10, 2010 - (ACN Newswire) - Fujitsu Laboratories Ltd. and the University of Toronto today announced their joint development of a new processing method for transceiver chips used in gigabit-class(1) high-speed data transmission over wirelines. The new technology employs digital circuitry to replace previously-required structures that used analog circuits. While analog processing require circuits that are adapted to the specifications of a signal being transmitted, such as transmission distance and amplitude, this new digital approach can perform these optimizations automatically, so that a single circuit could be used to accommodate a wide range of various wireline communications. Compared to conventional processing methods, this new digital-processing method makes it possible to shorten development periods by approximately half. It is anticipated that this new technology in the future could be applied to a variety of wireline communication applications, including 10 Gbps high-speed Ethernet in datacenters.

Details of this technology were presented at the IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference 2010 (ISSCC 2010) being held in San Francisco from February 7-11. (Presentation number: 8.7)

Background and Technological Challenges

File size data volumes for large photographic, audio, and video files are becoming increasingly larger, thus requiring a significant amount of bandwidth to transmit, leading to demand for ever-faster wireline data communications. Conventional transceiver chips rely on analog circuitry which needs to be optimized to accommodate specifications of the signal being transmitted - such as transmission distance and amplitude - and therefore require multiple transceiver chips to be designed in order to accommodate for various applications.

With a growing diversity of devices featuring high-speed data transmission, the need to optimize an existing technology for every new type of device or model has become a bottleneck in the development process. Efforts to develop transceiver chips within short development periods that can accommodate the wide range of different devices have been proven challenging.

Newly-developed Technology

Fujitsu Laboratories and the University of Toronto have developed a digital circuit-based transceiver chip. Featuring digital circuitry, the new transceiver chip can automatically optimize itself for a variety of high-speed communications circuits, thus significantly reducing development periods by approximately half compared with conventional methods.

This technology detects variations in the delay on the time axis of the input signal, caused during data transmission, and based on that can automatically adjust the timing it uses for judging whether an incoming signal is a 0 or 1 (Figure 1). Since variations in data transmissions increase along with faster transmission speeds, this new technology is essential for accurate data exchange. This is the world's first technology to achieve Gbps-class speeds without the use of analog circuitry elements, while offering fully-digital timing adjustments for signal-determination.

Results

As a world's first, by using digital circuitry-based high-speed transceiver technology, Fujitsu Laboratories and the University of Toronto's new technology makes it possible to reduce the design and development period for a gigabit-class transceiver chip by approximately one-half (1/2) compared with conventional methods. This suggests that transceiver chips for a wide range of communications devices could be offered in a timely manner.

Future Developments

Fujitsu Laboratories and the University of Toronto will continue with development of this technology to optimize the digital signal processing, to further reduce the transceiver's power consumption.

Glossary and Notes

1 Gigabit-class/Gigabits-per-second (Gbps):Gigabits-per-second (Gbps) expresses data rate and indicates how many gigabits can be transferred per second. 10 Gbps is 10 billion bits-per-second (10 billion bps) = 10,000 megabits-per-second (10,000 Mbps), and indicates that 10 billion bits of data can be transferred per second.

About University of Toronto

Established in 1827, the University of Toronto is Canada's largest university, recognized as a global leader in research and teaching. U of T's distinguished faculty, institutional record of groundbreaking scholarship and wealth of innovative academic opportunities continually attract outstanding students and academics from around the world. U of T is committed to providing a learning experience that benefits from both a scale almost unparalleled in North America and from the close-knit learning communities made possible through its college system and academic divisions. Located in and around Toronto, one of the world's most diverse regions, U of T's vibrant academic life is defined by a unique degree of cultural diversity in its learning community. The University is sustained environmentally by three green campuses, where renowned heritage buildings stand beside award-winning innovations in architectural design.

For more information: http://www.utoronto.ca/

About Fujitsu Ltd

Fujitsu is a leading provider of IT-based business solutions for the global marketplace. With approximately 160,000 employees supporting customers in 70 countries, Fujitsu combines a worldwide corps of systems and services experts with highly reliable computing and communications products and advanced microelectronics to deliver added value to customers. Headquartered in Tokyo, Fujitsu Limited (TSE: 6702) reported consolidated revenues of 4.6 trillion yen (US$47 billion) for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2009. For more information, please visit www.fujitsu.com.

Contact: Fujitsu Laboratories Ltd.
Design Solutions Lab.
Platform Technologies Lab.
Tel: +81-44-754-2635
E-mail:hsio_adc_pr@ml.labs.fujitsu.com

University of Toronto
Prof. Ali Sheikholeslami
Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Tel: +1(416)978-1681
E-mail:ali@eecg.utoronto.ca
Address: 10 King's College Road, Toronto, Ontario, M5S 3G4

Copyright 2010 ACN Newswire. All rights reserved.

Kawasaki, Japan, Feb 10, 2010 - (ACN Newswire) - Fujitsu Laboratories Limited and the University of Toronto today announced that they have jointly developed the world's first high-reliability read-method for use with spin-torque-transfer (STT) MRAM(1) that is insusceptible to erroneous writes. STT MRAM is regarded as a potential future form of non-volatile memory(2) that could be used as an alternative to flash memory. NOR flash memory that is embedded in microcontrollers widely used in mobile phones and other electronic devices is expected to reach the limits of its feasible miniaturization in the near future, which has led to the search for an alternative low-power non-volatile memory that will allow continued necessary miniaturization. By resolving one of the major obstacles to using STT MRAM, Fujitsu and the University of Toronto's new read-method marks a major step towards the practical implementation of STT MRAM as a necessary replacement for flash memory, in view of future requirements that will be necessary for compact and low-power electronic devices.

Details of this technology were presented at the IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference 2010 (ISSCC 2010) being held in San Francisco from February 7-11. (Presentation number: 14.1)

Background

Many electronic devices such as mobile phones or PDAs use microcontrollers with embedded flash memory, which allows onboard software to be rewritten. However, NOR flash memory used in such microcontrollers is nearing the physical limits of its miniaturization, which has led to research on various types of memory that could replace NOR flash memory.

STT MRAM, which uses magnetic materials as the memory storage element, is gaining attention as an emerging potential candidate to replace flash memory, as STT MRAM meets the needs for speed, low power consumption, and miniaturization that would make it a good candidate to replace flash memory.

Technological Challenges

STT MRAM uses memory storage elements that take advantage of the effect in which a current that is passed through a magnetic material - such as a magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ)(3) - reverses its direction of magnetization (Figure 1). Passing a current through the MTJ causes its direction of magnetization to switch between a parallel or anti-parallel state, which has the effect of switching between low resistance and high resistance. Because this can be used to represent the 1s and 0s of digital information, STT MRAM can be used as a non-volatile memory.

Reading STT MRAM involves applying a voltage to the MTJ to discover whether the MTJ offers high resistance to current ("1") or low ("0"). However, a relatively high voltage needs to be applied to the MTJ to correctly determine whether its resistance is high or low, and the current passed at this voltage leaves little difference between the read-current and the write-current. Any fluctuation in the electrical characteristics of individual MTJs could cause what was intended as a read-current, to have the effect of a write-current, thus reversing the direction of magnetization of the MTJ.

Newly-developed Technology

In a joint collaboration, Fujitsu Laboratories and the University of Toronto have developed an innovative circuit design (Figure 3) that for the first time resolves the issue of erroneous writes in STT MRAM during read operations.

The newly developed read-method uses a negative resistance(4) that is intermediate between the MTJ's high resistance and low resistance on a parallel circuit (Figure 4). If the MTJ is in a high-resistance state, this circuit exhibits negative-resistance characteristics. If the MTJ is in a low-resistance state, then it exhibits normal-resistance characteristics. These characteristics allow the resistance value to be read at lower voltages than before, suppressing the tendency of the read operation to reverse the direction of magnetization and avoiding the problem of erroneous write operations.

Results

The development of this new read circuit with negative resistance has resulted in STT MRAM that is insusceptible to erroneous writes caused by fluctuations in the electrical characteristics of the MTJs. It is anticipated that the STT MRAM used as miniaturized non-volatile memory would enable greater high-performance in mobile phones and other electronic devices.

Future Developments

Fujitsu Laboratories and the University of Toronto plan to continue with R&D related to STT MRAM to strive toward practical implementation, such as lowering write currents and developing process technologies for further miniaturization.

Glossary and Notes

1 Spin- Torque-Transfer MRAM:Spin-torque-transfer magnetoresistive (STT) random access memory. MRAM that uses the "spin-torque-transfer" effect to reverse the direction of magnetization of an element by passing current through it.

2 Non-volatile memory:Memory that persists even when electrical power is cut.

3 Magnetic tunnel junction (MJT):A tunnel junction that uses the magnetoresistive effect. Consists of a recording layer made of ferromagnetic material, an insulating film a few atoms thick, and a layer made of ferromagnetic material that will not change its direction of magnetization in the presence of a current.

4 Negative resistance:An element that has negative resistance value, in which its current decreases when voltage rises.

About University of Toronto

Established in 1827, the University of Toronto is Canada's largest university, recognized as a global leader in research and teaching. U of T's distinguished faculty, institutional record of groundbreaking scholarship and wealth of innovative academic opportunities continually attract outstanding students and academics from around the world. U of T is committed to providing a learning experience that benefits from both a scale almost unparalleled in North America and from the close-knit learning communities made possible through its college system and academic divisions. Located in and around Toronto, one of the world's most diverse regions, U of T's vibrant academic life is defined by a unique degree of cultural diversity in its learning community. The University is sustained environmentally by three green campuses, where renowned heritage buildings stand beside award-winning innovations in architectural design.

For more information: http://www.utoronto.ca/

About Fujitsu Ltd

Fujitsu is a leading provider of IT-based business solutions for the global marketplace. With approximately 160,000 employees supporting customers in 70 countries, Fujitsu combines a worldwide corps of systems and services experts with highly reliable computing and communications products and advanced microelectronics to deliver added value to customers. Headquartered in Tokyo, Fujitsu Limited (TSE: 6702) reported consolidated revenues of 4.6 trillion yen (US$47 billion) for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2009. For more information, please visit www.fujitsu.com.

Contact: Fujitsu Laboratories Ltd.
Technology Integration Lab.
Platform Technologies Lab.
Tel: +81(46)250-8379
E-mail:til-si@ml.labs.fujitsu.com

University of Toronto
Prof. Ali Sheikholeslami
Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Tel: +1(416)978-1681
E-mail:ali@eecg.utoronto.ca
Address: 10 King's College Road, Toronto, Ontario, M5S 3G4 Canada

Copyright 2010 ACN Newswire. All rights reserved.

LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

World Trust Fund announces that its unaudited Net Asset Value (NAV) per share in US Dollars, based on the closing prices of 09/02/2010 was 2.75 (Sterling equivalent rate being 1.75).

This NAV was calculated inclusive of current period income.

    Source: World Trust Fund

RANDERS SV, Denmark, Feb. 10, 2010 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Vestas will supply 33 V90-3.0 MW wind turbines to New Hampshire, USA, after receiving an order from Granite Reliable Power Windpark. The 99-MW project is majority-owned by Noble Environmental Power.

The turbines will be delivered in the first half of 2011, with project commissioning expected in the second half of 2011. The Granite Reliable Power Windpark, currently under development in Coos County, is the second -- and largest -- commercial-scale wind power plant in the state.

"This is a tremendous opportunity for Vestas to tap into New England's clean-energy potential," says Martha Wyrsch, President of Vestas Americas. "The Granite Reliable project demonstrates that wind power is becoming an important part of America's generating capacity."

The order also includes a two-year service and maintenance agreement.

"We are pleased to move forward with the Granite Reliable Power Windpark using the V90-3.0 MW turbines," says Walter Howard, CEO of Noble Environmental Power. "The turbines, which will be the largest-capacity units in Noble's fleet, will maximise the project's wind resource, providing clean, reliable electricity and economic growth opportunities for New England."

Headquartered in Essex, Connecticut, Noble has 726 MW of wind power plants currently in operation in New York and Texas. It also has 1,900 MW of wind power projects in development across the USA.

This is Vestas' second major project in New England, USA. Vestas supplied 22 V90-3.0 MW turbines for the Kibby I project in Maine that went online in October 2009, and is currently installing an additional 22 V90-3.0 MW units for Kibby II. Commissioning is expected in the first half of 2010.

The above order does not affect Vestas' expectations for 2010, cf. company announcement No. 3/2010 of 10 February 2010.

CONTACT:  Vestas Americas, USA
          Martha Wyrsch, President
          +1 503 327 7479

          Vestas Wind Systems A/S, Denmark
          Peter W Kruse, Senior Vice President, Group Communications
          +45 9730 0000

PARIS -- (MARKET WIRE) -- 02/10/10 -- Press Release

SCOR executes on its strategy: the successful outcome of the P&C 1/1 renewals combines growth and an increase in expected profitability

SCOR reaps the benefits of its focus on technical profitability and its improved position in the reinsurance industry, combining premium growth and improved underwriting profitability with overall positive price changes, achieving further diversification and ensuring that its capital is optimally deployed. In a generally balanced market, it has managed to pursue active portfolio management, cancelling and more than adequately replacing contracts not meeting the required profitability targets.

The key takeaways of this year's renewals are as follows:

- On average, 3 percentage point improvement in the expected gross pricing Underwriting Ratio;

- 7% rise in business volume at constant exchange rates to EUR 1,787 million, while applying an underwriting policy geared towards increased expected technical profitability;

- Positive weighted average price increase of 2% across the portfolio;

- 7% of total premiums up for renewal cancelled and more than adequately replaced by increased shares and new business showing better profitability expectancy, from existing and new clients;

- Reaffirmation of the strength and depth of SCOR's business franchise, with minimal cedent attrition of less than 1% and increased shares and new business from existing and new clients;

- Further increase in non-proportional business (36% vs. 35% in 2009) with improved geographical diversification through selective growth in the Americas (17% vs. 15%) and Asia-Pacific (5% vs. 4%);

- SCOR Global P&C's gross written premium projection for the 2010 accounting year is approximately EUR 3.5 billion (compared to the 2009 figure of ÂEUR 3.26 billion);

- Net Combined Ratio for the 2010 accounting year is expected to trend towards 96%.

Victor Peignet, Chief Executive Officer of SCOR Global P&C, comments: "Portfolio management, profitability and growth characterize SCOR's 2010 renewals. Further executing on portfolio management, SCOR Global P&C expects an improvement in the technical profitability of its portfolio, having withdrawn from business that did not meet profitability targets and more than adequately replaced it with business showing greater performance expectancy. I am satisfied that, thanks to our teams and in line with our original expectations for the SCOR Global P&C renewals, we have been able to achieve an overall positive change in prices. The performance at the 1/1 renewals comforts us in our projection of a net combined ratio for 2010 trending towards 96%".

Treaty P&C renewals

The total volume of premiums renewed at 1 January 2010 increases by 3% to EUR 1,315 million, against EUR 1,275 million up for renewal (76% of Treaty P&C annual volume).

8% (EUR 106 million) of Treaty P&C premiums up for renewal were cancelled, with a further 2% restructured, demonstrating our active policy of portfolio management.

SCOR Global P&C has compensated for this with new business acquired from existing and new clients (EUR 66 and EUR 34 million respectively) and with increased shares on renewed business (EUR 38 million).

The positive price impact, notably on non-proportional business (slightly above 3%), leads to an increase in premium volume of EUR 32 million.

Our continued portfolio management and drive for technical profitability generate an improvement in the expected gross pricing UW ratio of approximately 2 percentage points.

Geographic rebalancing of Treaty P&C portfolio towards the Americas and Asia-Pacific

SCOR records a stable business volume in the EMEA zone (Europe, Middle-East and Africa), with written premiums of EUR 1,020 million compared to EUR 1,021 million in 2009. There are, however, significant differences between markets due to local conditions and measures taken by SCOR to ensure that internal profitability targets are achieved.

In Germany and the UK, business declines by 14% and 29% to EUR 174 million and EUR 65 million respectively. The main reasons for this shift are voluntary reductions in German Property and Motor Proportional business and in British Motor Non-Proportional business, partly offset in Germany by some increases in Property Non-Proportional business.

In the Middle East and Africa, business volume increases by 19% to EUR 135 million, thanks to new developments in the Middle East (e.g. Saudi Arabia) and in South Africa on short-tail business.

Significant increases are also recorded in the Americas (+15%), concentrated in the US regional clients target segment. Canada and Central America renew within an unchanged positive profitability environment, whilst a careful stance is taken in the Caribbean and South American markets.

In Asia-Pacific, SCOR Global P&C experiences significant growth thanks to our re-established local presence in Australia and new developments in Pakistan. Underwriting in China remains very selective. Bearing in mind that in this region only around 27% of Treaty P&C premiums are up for renewal at 1 January 2010, since Japan, Korea and India will renew their programmes on 1 April 2010, volume increases by 19% to EUR 67 million.

Continued shift towards more non-proportional business in the Treaty P&C portfolio

Proportional reinsurance shows a slight increase from EUR 835 million to EUR 842 million, while non-proportional increases more significantly from EUR 440 million to EUR 472 million. SCOR Global P&C reduces the volume of proportional business in certain markets and lines (e.g. Germany Property and Motor), whilst increasing the non-proportional business volume (e.g. Germany, France and Benelux), applying a disciplined underwriting policy in accordance with its profitability objectives.

The natural catastrophe Property book, which represents around 15% of SCOR's total Treaty P&C volume, shows a significant increase of 9%, rising from EUR 175 million in 2009 to EUR 192 million in 2010 thanks to a positive balance between premium income growth in countries benefiting from a favourable pricing trend (such as France and Spain) and a reduction in territories offering less attractive terms (e.g. the Caribbean & South America).

Specialty Treaty

SCOR's franchise is once again fully affirmed and Specialty Treaty business has grown significantly, with premiums up by 20% to EUR 472 million from EUR 394 million up for renewal (62% of annual volume). SCOR's teams thoroughly compensate for 4% or EUR 17 million of business cancelled, by writing EUR 34 million of additional business with existing clients and EUR 11 million with new clients. New shares on existing programmes increase premium volume by EUR 28 million. Improved prices and market conditions lead to an increase in premium income of EUR 7 million.

The continued portfolio management and drive for greater technical profitability are expected to generate an improvement to the gross pricing UW ratio of almost 6 percentage points, mainly driven by improvements in Credit and Aviation lines.

Continued selective growth in Specialty Treaty business, leveraging on franchise, network and global approach synergies with Treaty P&C

SCOR exercises very active cycle management with regard to Specialty Treaty business, taking advantage of the diversification benefits offered by this business segment.

Credit & Surety business grows strongly from EUR 105 million to EUR 135 million, representing an increase of 29%. This segment is marked by double- digit price increases in Credit combined with a further reduction in acquisition costs. With premiums written in 2010 amounting to EUR 102 million, Engineering records an increase of 23%, driven by continued development in a stable pricing environment, albeit at a more challenging time in view of the worldwide investment slowdown. Transport & Marine and Agriculture lines also record strong premium volume increases (+20% and +18% respectively) to reach EUR 71 million each.

Aviation & Space Treaty business (excluding GAUM) benefits from better pricing, notably on proportional, and increases its volume by 11% to EUR 29 million.

In a competitive large corporate segment facing price reductions driven by over-capacity, following a year of very low claims activity, Business Solutions maintains the volume of its business (EUR 123 million for the fourth quarter 2009 and January 2010 renewals compared to EUR 120 million for the same period twelve months earlier).

SCOR Global P&C's gross written premiums for the 2010 accounting year are expected to grow at a pace similar to that of 2009, to reach approximately EUR 3.5 billion at today's exchange rates from EUR 3.26 billion in 2009. 2010 Net combined ratio is expected to trend towards 96%.

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Definitions:

- Total premiums up for renewal: premiums of all Treaty contracts incepting in January 2009 at the exchange rate as at December 31, 2009

- Cancelled/restructured: client or SCOR decided to cancel the business/programs and/or to change their programs (e.g. from proportional to non-proportional)

- Underlying volume x price changes: combined effect of variations in underlying primary volume, in exposures and/or in rates

- Exposure change: refers to the change in risk for the SCOR portfolio

- New business with existing clients: existing client decided to place new business/programs and/or to change their programs (e.g. from proportional to non-proportional)

- New clients: acquisition of new clients

- Share variation: client or SCOR decided to reduce or increase the share participation (e.g. SCOR increases share with client X from 10% to 20%)

- Total renewed premiums: premiums of all Treaty contracts incepting in January 2010 at the exchange rate as at December 31, 2009

- Gross Underwriting Ratio: for pricing purposes, on an underwriting year basis: the sum of the expected loss ratio and the acquisition cost ratio (cedent's commission and brokerage ratios), excluding internal expenses

- Net Technical Ratio: on an accounting year basis: the sum of the loss ratio after retrocession and the acquisition cost ratio (cedent's commission and brokerage ratios)

- Combined Ratio: on an accounting year basis: Net Technical Ratio plus internal expenses

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Forward-looking statements

SCOR does not communicate "profit forecasts" in the sense of Article 2 of (EC) Regulation n°809/2004 of the European Commission. Thus, any forward- looking statements contained in this communication should not be held as corresponding to such profit forecasts. Information in this communication may include "forward-looking statements", including but not limited to statements that are predictions of or indicate future events, trends, plans or objectives, based on certain assumptions and include any statement which does not directly relate to a historical fact or current fact. Forward- looking statements are typically identified by words or phrases such as, without limitation, "anticipate", "assume", "believe", "continue", "estimate", "expect", "foresee", "intend", "may increase" and "may fluctuate" and similar expressions or by future or conditional verbs such as, without limitations, "will", "should", "would" and "could." Undue reliance should not be placed on such statements, because, by their nature, they are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which may cause actual results, on the one hand, to differ from any results expressed or implied by the present communication, on the other hand.

Additional information regarding risks, uncertainties and pending litigations is set forth in the 2008 reference document registered with the AMF under number D.09-0099 ("Document de Référence") and subsequently updated in the half year report, both available on SCOR website www.scor.com. As a result of the extreme and unprecedented volatility and disruption of the current global financial crisis, SCOR is exposed to significant financial, capital market and other risks, including movements in interest rates, credit spreads, equity prices, and currency movements, changes in rating agency policies or practices, and the lowering or loss of financial strength or other ratings.

This information is provided by HUGIN

For further information, please contact:

Sylvain Fort
+33 (0)1 46 98 71 39
Head of Communications

Antonio Moretti
+44 (0) 203 207 8562
Investor Relations Director