EO Inc. Announces Partnership with AT&T, Matsushita and Marubeni to Build First Personal Communicators

October 1, 1992 — EO Inc. Thursday announced a partnership with AT[T] Matsushita, and Marubeni to design, build and market the first generation of a new class of products called personal communicators.

These products are expected to revolutionize person-to-person communications by combining the power of cellular phones, fax machines, modems and pen-based computers into portable communications devices. EO will announce specific product plans by the end of the year.

“Personal communicators provide users with an integrated solution to keep in touch with their business associates any-where, anytime,” said Alain Rossmann, chief executive officer of EO Inc.

“Personal communicators integrate telephony, messaging and computing to create a compelling new device which will have as much impact on person-to-person communications as the telephone had in the early 1900s.”

“Their unique combination of communications and computing capabilities make them the device of choice to send and receive electronic messages and faxes, to manage phone calls, to capture, analyze and transmit information, to edit and create documents and to manage personal information.”

“Over time, personal communicators will become accessible to people everywhere,” said Robert Kavner, group executive of Communications Products, AT&T. “They will be exceptionally useful and versatile because they are being de-signed as communicators that make use of computing capabilities, rather than as computers which can also communicate.”

An integral part of EO’s strategy is its partnerships with AT&T, Matsushita and Marubeni. AT&T, the world leader in communications, is providing key microelectronics components. Matsushita, the world’s largest manufacturer of consumer electronics under the Panasonic, Quasar and Technics brands, is providing advanced manufacturing and component technology and high volume consumer electronics expertise.

Marubeni, one of the world’s most powerful trading companies, and its subsidiary Marubeni America, are providing global sourcing and distribution support.

“Personal communicators will drive a new global industry,” commented Takashi Yamamoto, senior vice president and general manager, Marubeni. “Global partnerships and worldwide sourcing will be key to success in this new industry.”

In addition to developing product, the partnership between the four companies was created to define open standards for this new industry. “Our partners are market makers. They are the world leading companies in their respective fields and have the market clout to make standards happen,” noted Rossmann.

The partners recognize that standardization around a core set of technologies is key to attracting software vendors and information providers to the personal communicator market.

The partners have agreed to promote a platform centered around GO’s PenPoint operating system and AT&T’s Hobbit microprocessor. Manufacturers are expected to announce their support for this open personal communicator (OPC) platform within the next 12 months.

EO intends to extend the partnership with AT&T, Matsushita and Marubeni with a European partner. This will complete a global alliance with major partners in each of the largest economic blocks, the United States, Japan and Europe.

EO estimates that more than 100 million personal communicators will be sold by the year 2000, representing $20 billion in annual device sales. These estimates are driven by the trend toward an increasingly mobile lifestyle and by the recent rapid growth of personal communications devices such as of fax machines, e-mail, cellular phones and personal communications services.

Several technical breakthroughs are enabling EO to develop the first personal communicator. Key technologies include AT&T Microelectronics’ Hobbit microprocessor, a high performance RISC-based processor and the PenPoint operating system from GO Corp.

Digital signal processing (DSP) technology provides affordable, fast data communications. Emerging standards in wire-less data communications will allow access of information anytime, anywhere. And improvements in electronic mail technologies will make personal messaging more flexible and easier to use.

“We see this field evolving very quickly,” noted Rossmann. “EO will continue to be on the leading edge of this new industry by expanding the functionality and increasing the performance of future EO personal communicators.”

EO Inc. was founded in 1991 to produce and market personal communicators. The company has received funding from Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers, AT&T, Matsushita and Marubeni. EO employs approximately 90 people at its headquarters in Mountain View and European office in Cambridge, England.

Note to Editors: For more information, or to set up interviews with industry executives, please contact Mark Smotroff at 415/904-7070 ext. 270 or Sharon Miller at 415/904-7070 ext. 272 at Access Public Relations, 101 Howard St., second floor, San Francisco, CA 94105, fax: 415/904-7055.

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