Boston, MA - 16 November 2007 - The latest Strategy Analytics Automotive Electronics report, "Automotive Multiplexing Protocols: Cost/Performance Driving New Protocol Adoption," predicts strong demand for new automotive network protocols, facilitating car maker ability to meet increasing pressures from the consumer appetite for electronic features and reliable safety features mandated by legislation. Already, about 35 percent of the costs of car assembly come from electronics.

Vehicle OEMs and their suppliers will increasingly adopt new "application optimized" standard protocols, such as MOST for multimedia, DSI and PSI5 for passive safety and FlexRay for X-By-Wire, LIN for body sub-networks. These processes will accommodate system performance needs and will minimize the cost and complexity impact of a growing demand for convenience, entertainment and safety features on an already overstretched vehicle E/E (electrical/electronic) network. As a result some 2 billion nodes per year will be connected in car electronic networks by 2014.

According to the author of this Viewpoint, Kevin Mak, Industry Analyst of the Automotive Electronics Service, "High performance automotive networks will no longer be the preserve of the premium segment as consumers have become more discerning in their choice of in-car features while vehicle OEMs micro-segment their model ranges. Options such as in-car portable music players, rear-seat video entertainment and advanced active safety systems will begin to penetrate the lower segments. This will add pressure to increase the complexity and data bandwidth of these networks and thus prepare the ground for wider deployment of the optimized network protocols of the future."

Chris Webber, VP, Global Automotive Practice, added, "The additional vehicle networking will create an annual volume compound growth rate for semiconductor bus transceiver chips of 16 percent, resulting in a market worth $1 billion per year in 2014."