Comet Newsletter
 
 
 
 COMET™ (Community Enabling Telematics Objectives)


What is COMET™?
COMET™ is an acronym for Community Enabling Telematics. It's a community-based initiative aimed at efficiently delivering comprehensive telematics solutions to the market.

Renesas Technology America Inc. has long worked with a various strategic middleware partners in the telematics space. In order to deliver complex systems more efficiently, we are formalizing these existing relationships, taking them beyond conventional "third-party relationships," so that both our partners and customers can benefit from coordinated development efforts. By working together with a selected community of partners, Renesas (formerly Hitachi) can offer vertically integrated platform-based solutions for next-generation telematics systems.

When was COMET™ established?
The COMET™ initiative began during the 2nd quarter of 2002.

How many members do you currently have? Who are they
The community currently has 19 members:

  1. Stonestreetone
  2. Renesas
  3. QNX
  4. Wipro Technologies
  5. Tilcon Software Limited
  6. Mindready Solutions
  7. Fonix Corporation
  8. Access Systems America, inc
  9. Extended Systems
  10. Scansoft
  11. Immersion
  12. Wavemakers
  13. Clarity
  14. M-Systems Flash disk pioneers, ltd.
  15. Solid Information Technology
  16. IBM
  17. SiRF
  18. Encirq Corporation
  19. Wind River Systems

How can customers take advantage of this program? What are the benefits to customers?
Our customers (mainly Tier-1 firms) have previously had to work separately with individual third-party suppliers to complete their system development. The COMET™ initiative eliminates some development steps and allows customers to access multiple technologies integrated on a suitable hardware platform in a much more timely fashion. Hardware/software selection and validation processes are consequently made significantly easier. Simultaneously, the coordinated COMET™ integration efforts produce a more flexible system design environment so customers can modify and complete their designs more easily and in less time.

What are the advantages of the initiative to the members?
By joining the program, the COMET™ members get early access to Renesas's technology and product roadmap. This access allows them to ensure that their products run on the Renesas platforms as early as possible, so they can achieve a head start in the market.

What overall objective do you plan to achieve with this initiative?
TThe COMET™ initiative is designed to reinforce the achievements and commitments of Renesas and its partners to the telematics market. The unified goal of the COMET™ members is to deliver turnkey solutions to customers as quickly as possible. To achieve this, we can now work more closely with each other to ensure that right resources are allocated to meeting customers' specific needs. We want each telematics solution to be optimized so that our customers' system development process will have fewer, simpler steps. Significantly, we expect that our partners' development process will be quicker and more efficient too. This is truly a win-win situation for both our customers and partners.

What platforms will be supported by this program? Which partners are supporting which platforms?
There are two phases to the COMET™ initiative. In the initial phase (up to now), we have been focused on porting middleware on the Car Infotainment Systems (CIS) platform (US7751R-HRP10D). In Q4 2002, we will start porting operating software and middleware to the telematics (Biscayne™: US7760-HRP13E) platform. Our partners will support both platforms. Further, we plan to add more partners during COMET™ Phase II.

What are other upcoming platforms you plan to include in this program? Schedules?
Our short-term focus is on the Biscayne™ platform, which is based on the Camelot™ SoC device, the SH7760.

What is Renesas's market share worldwide for automotive applications? Telematics?
According to a report published by Gartner in August 2001, Renesas (formerly Hitachi) was ranked 10th in the worldwide general automotive semiconductor supplier rankings.

Does this program cover the worldwide market? How are you going to deal with regional partners?
At this point of time, COMET™ is a North American initiative. However, we plan to eventually extend the program to other regions of the world including Japan, Europe and Asia.

Do you and your partners share the same customers? If so, who are they?
Telematics is a small world. There are about ten tier-1 customers in North America. We have some form of relationship with most of them so that all the COMET™ members share the same customer base. In some cases, there are opportunities to leverage the specific relationships of member firms.

How long will the COMET™ initiative be valid?
COMET™ is a strategic initiative. The plan is to have it in place for the foreseeable future, as long as we are serving customers in the telematics business. In the coming years, if customer preferences and market trends change, some partners might leave the initiative, while new ones might join. Renesas (formerly Hitachi) will be working with appropriate key partners to help all thrive.