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.

VILNIUS, Lithuania--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

The Board regarding treasury stocks

On 9 February 2010, the Board of TEO LT, AB (hereinafter TEO or 'the Company') considered a matter of the Company's treasury stocks. TEO LT, AB has 38 095 242 treasury stocks that amount to 4.67 per cent of the total number of the Company shares. Treasury stocks were acquired during the Initial Public Offering (IPO) in year 2000 and they have no rights to exercise any property and non-property rights provided by the Law of the Republic of Lithuania on Companies.

The Board decided to prepare and propose for the forthcoming Annual General Meeting of Shareholders, which is planned to be held on 26 April 2010, to consider two alternative proposals regarding treasury stocks: (1) regarding sale of treasury stocks and set up of the procedure for sale of treasury stocks, and (2) regarding cancelation of treasury stocks and related to that reduction of the Company's authorised share capital.

The Board meeting which shall pass a decision regarding convocation of the Annual General Meeting and its agenda is scheduled for 25 March 2010.

    Source: TEO LT, AB

LEIDEN, THE NETHERLANDS -- (MARKET WIRE) -- 02/10/10 -- OctoPlus N.V. ("OctoPlus" or "the Company") (AMS: OCTO) announces today that its licensee Biolex Therapeutics (see separate Biolex press release on www.biolex.com) has been accepted to present interim results from two ongoing Phase IIb studies with Locteron® at the 45th Liver Congress on 14 -18 April 2010 in Vienna, Austria.

Simon Sturge, CEO of OctoPlus, says: "We are delighted that the interim data for Locteron have been one of few to be selected for an oral presentation at this prestigious conference. We look forward to seeing the data and believe that this is very good news for the future of Locteron."

--  Biolex will present interim results after 12 weeks of treatment from
    its two Phase IIb studies for Locteron versus PEG-Intron® at the
    International Liver Congress in April, organised by the European
    Association for the Study of the Liver (EASL).
--  The objectives of the two Phase IIb trials are to demonstrate viral
    kinetics and response that is at least equivalent to the PEG-Intron
    control, while also achieving at least a 50% reduction in flu-like
    adverse events.
--  The data have been accepted for both oral and poster presentations.
    Under the strict rules of the conference, the results are currently
    embargoed until publication at the conference.
--  The "SELECT-2" Phase IIb study is being conducted in the United States
    and Europe in 116 treatment-naïve, genotype-1, chronic hepatitis C
    patients. Patients have been randomised into one of four dosing
    cohorts, the 320, 480 or 640 µg dose of Locteron (administered once
    every two weeks) or a control arm consisting of PEG-Intron
    (administered every week), with all patients receiving weight-based
    ribavirin. Patients will be treated for 48 weeks and will be followed
    for an additional 24 weeks to determine the sustained virologic
    response (SVR) rate. The SELECT-2 Phase IIb clinical study started in
    April 2009, and patient enrollment was completed in June 2009.
--  The second component of the planned Phase IIb trial program for
    Locteron, the "480 STUDY", is designed to provide clinical experience
    with the same Locteron configuration that is planned for use in
    Phase III trials. The 480 STUDY was also initiated last year, is being
    conducted in Europe and Israel, and will include at least 72
    treatment-naïve hepatitis C patients with the genotype-1 variant of the
    virus.
--  Locteron's expected product profile was tested by Biolex in extensive
    market research in the first half of 2009, and the research results
    suggested that the potential tolerability and dosing convenience
    advantages of Locteron support a substantial commercial opportunity. It
    is estimated that worldwide sales of interferon products for the
    treatment of hepatitis C will approach US$6 billion by 2016.

Under its agreement with Biolex, OctoPlus is eligible to:

-- Milestone payments which may exceed US$ 135 million
-- Royalties on net product sales.
-- An equity stake in Biolex.

About Locteron

Locteron is a controlled release formulation of interferon alpha for the treatment of chronic hepatitis C. Locteron combines OctoPlus' controlled release drug delivery technology PolyActive® with Biolex' interferon alpha and is the most advanced product in clinical development incorporating one of OctoPlus' proprietary drug delivery technologies. OctoPlus licensed its commercial rights to Locteron exclusively to Biolex in October 2008.

About OctoPlus

OctoPlus is a drug delivery service company committed to the creation of improved pharmaceutical products that are based on OctoPlus' proprietary drug delivery technologies and have fewer side effects, improved patient convenience and a better efficacy/safety balance than existing therapies. OctoPlus focuses on the development of long-acting, controlled release versions of known protein therapeutics, other drugs, and vaccines on behalf of its clients.

The clinically most advanced product incorporating our technology is Biolex Therapeutics' lead product Locteron®, a controlled release formulation of interferon alpha for the treatment of chronic hepatitis C. OctoPlus licensed Locteron exclusively to Biolex in October 2008. Locteron is being manufactured for Biolex by OctoPlus and is currently in Phase IIb clinical studies.

In addition, OctoPlus is a leading European provider of advanced drug formulation and clinical scale manufacturing services to the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries, with a focus on difficult-to-formulate active pharmaceutical ingredients.

OctoPlus is listed on Euronext Amsterdam by NYSE Euronext under the symbol OCTO. For more information about OctoPlus, please visit our website www.octoplus.nl.

This document may contain certain forward-looking statements relating to the business, financial performance and results of OctoPlus and the industry in which it operates. These statements are based on OctoPlus' current plans, estimates and projections, as well as its expectations of external conditions and events. In particular the words "expect", "anticipate", "predict", "estimate", "project", "plan", "may", "should", "would", "will", "intend", "believe" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. We caution investors that a number of important factors, and the inherent risks and uncertainties that such statements involve, could cause actual results or outcomes to differ materially from those expressed in any forward-looking statements. In the event of any inconsistency between an English version and a Dutch version of this document, the English version will prevail over the Dutch version.

Click here for the press release in PDF: http://hugin.info/137076/R/1382575/341472.pdf

For further information, please contact:
Rianne Roukema
Corporate Communications
telephone number +31 (71) 524 1071
or send an e-mail to Investor Relations at IR@octoplus.nl

STOCKHOLM--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Regulatory News:

SSAB (STO: SSABA):

The quarter (Unless otherwise stated, the report relates to the continuing operations, i.e. excluding the tubular business)

-- Sales declined by 37% to SEK 8,284 (13,063) million

-- Operating profit of SEK 430 (979) million

-- Profit after financial items of SEK 348 (841) million

-- Profit after tax of SEK 350 (833) million, entailing earnings per share of SEK 1.09 (2.66)

-- Operating cash flow of SEK 799 (2,415) million and cash flow from current operations of SEK 856 (1,366) million

-- Net debt/equity ratio declined during the quarter from 52% to 49%

The full year (Unless otherwise stated, the report relates to the continuing operations, i.e. excluding the tubular business)

-- Sales declined by 45% to SEK 29,838 (54,329) million

-- Operating profit of SEK -1,592 (9,516) million

-- Profit after financial items of SEK -2,061 (8,953) million

-- Profit after tax of SEK -879 (6,508) million, entailing earnings per share of SEK -2.69 (19.90)

-- Operating cash flow of SEK 4,868 (9,085) million and cash flow from current operations of SEK 3,387 (5,387) million

-- Negative return on capital employed and on equity (last year 17% and 22% respectively)

-- A dividend is proposed of SEK 1.00 (4.00) per share, equal to SEK 324 (1,296) million

(In the report, amounts within brackets refer to the same period last year.)

Comments by the CEO

As we had previously announced, the fourth quarter was significantly better than the preceding quarter, supported by higher volumes, although almost half of the earnings for the quarter are due to items of a more temporary nature. The increased volumes are due in part to the fact that inventory liquidation at our customers has now ended, and in part to a certain upturn in demand. Prices continued to experience downward pressure during the fourth quarter.

The full year 2009 closed with an operating loss of SEK 1.6 billion. In response to the economic downturn which affected all of our markets and segments, we introduced a cost reduction program which helped to reduce our fixed costs during the year by 19% or SEK 1.5 billion. In 2010, there is expected to be a sustainable saving of approximately SEK 1 billion. The operating cash flow amounted to SEK 4,868 million, primarily due to a reduction in working capital in all divisions.

Gradually during the second half of the year, all blast furnaces in Sweden were restarted and thus our plants in both Sweden and the United States are now almost at full operation. In light of the improved market conditions, we have decided to resume the work on the investment program that we presented in the autumn of 2008. This primarily means that we are continuing with the construction of the new quenching line in Mobile, Alabama in order to considerably increase our quenched steel production capacity. We will also complete the investment to enable production of quenched steel at our plant in Borlange. Thus, of the original SEK 5.3 billion, projects of approximately SEK 1.5 billion have not yet been started. In light of the resumed projects, total capital expenditure payments in 2010 are expected to amount to almost SEK 3 billion, of which SEK 1.8 billion relate to strategic investments.

During the first quarter we expect our volumes to increase, but prices will be lower than during the fourth quarter. Production will be slightly below the normal level including a scheduled maintenance outage at our plant in Montpelier, Iowa. The outage will affect earnings by approximately SEK 250 million, of which just over half will be incurred in the first quarter. No new iron ore and coal agreements have been signed so far, but the market's assessment is that the prices will increase. However, over time we expect to be able to compensate for the higher raw material prices in light of the improving market conditions. Since our inventory levels of iron ore are low, the anticipated price increase will affect earnings for the first quarter, while an increase in the price of coal will impact earnings towards the end of the second quarter. The increasing price trend for scrap metal has thus far carried over into 2010. Changes in scrap prices have a relatively quick impact on earnings due to a high rate of inventory turnover.

It now appears that the bottom of the recession has been reached, but it is still difficult to assess the strength of the recovery.

Olof Faxander, President and CEO

SSAB is a global leader in value added, high strength steel. SSAB offers products developed in close cooperation with its customers to reach a stronger, lighter and more sustainable world.

SSAB employs 8 700 people in over 45 countries around the world and operates production facilities in Sweden and the US. SSAB is listed on the NASDAQ OMX Nordic Exchange, Stockholm.

This information is such that SSAB must disclose in accordance with the Securities Markets Act. The information was submitted for publication on February 10, 2010 at 08.00 am.

This information was brought to you by Cision http://www.cisionwire.com

    Source: SSAB