Orange and Sagem Communications announce the signature of a strategic partnership to accelerate product eco-design

PARIS — Orange (NYSE:FTE) and Sagem Communications have announced a strategic partnership to design products with a greatly reduced impact on the environment.

This eco-design partnership concerns the entire range of liveboxes, TV set-top boxes and landline telephones that Sagem Communications supplies to Orange. Initially it will focus on:

• Designing equipment that consumes less energy,
• Using materials in the products’ manufacture and packaging that have a lower impact on the environment,
• Simplifying product recycling.

It will help to accelerate and broaden the work already achieved by both companies, particularly with the new livebox. Sagem Communications will implement the innovations produced by this collaboration in its R&D centre. Similarly, Orange will use the results of the partnership to extend the principles of eco-design to all its equipment.

Georges Penalver, executive director group Strategic Marketing and Orange Labs said: “By its nature, our activity contributes to environmental protection by developing means of distance communications. Yet we are constantly working to reduce our impact on the environment. We are delighted to embark on this new phase in close collaboration with Sagem Communications, which will reinforce the eco-design of our products. Indeed, by taking environmental issues into account from the design of a new product or service through to its operation and recycling, we will reinforce the level of trust and confidence of our customers”.

Patrick Sevian, CEO of Sagem Communications, commented: “Sagem Communications has always taken a close interest in the environmental impact of its products. Our proven know-how in this field has earned us the confidence of Orange, which has chosen us as its first eco-design partner, a fact we are very proud of. This partnership is the basis of a long-term shared approach. Today, this is necessary to respond to sustainable development problems involving planetary stakes”.