EL SEGUNDO, Calif. - January 2004 - International Rectifier, IR®(NYSE: IRF), a world leader in power management technology, today announced that The Company's IR2520D compact fluorescent lamp (CFL) ballast IC with adaptive technology has been selected as a finalist in the EDN Magazine Innovation of the Year Awards competition.

The editorial staff of the influential electronics trade publication selected the IR2520D as a finalist in the Power ICs category. EDN's awards program honors new products considered truly outstanding in the electronics industry.

The IR2520D includes an adaptive technology zero voltage switching (ZVS) circuit that maintains soft switching, regardless of supply voltage, frequency and lamp conditions, and includes internal crest factor over-current protection and an integrated bootstrap diode.

Other common compact fluorescent lamp ballasts that use the self-oscillating bipolar transistor solution are very simple, but are not self-starting, and require additional components such as DIACs and free-wheeling diodes. In addition, unreliable positive-temperature-coefficient thermistors are used for preheat, and they do not have protection against lamp non-strike or open filament conditions.

"Lighting consumes about 22% of the electricity in the US, according to Rocky Mountain Institute. We can save up to 60% of the electricity used for incandescent bulbs by replacing them with CFLs. Our high-voltage IC technology and adaptive control techniques will help make CFLs more reliable and easier to design," said David Tam, International Rectifier Vice President, Consumer and Industrial Sector Business.

A panel of EDN's technical editors selected the finalists in 13 product categories. Readers will select the winners through an online ballot ending on February 1, 2005. To place your vote, go to http://www.edn.com/innovationballot.asp

Last year, the International Rectifier XPhase™ scalable power management chip set won an EDN Innovation of the Year Award in the Power ICs category.

Finalists will be honored and winners announced at EDN's award ceremony on March 7, 2005 in San Francisco, and published in the March 17, 2005 issue of EDN. EDN, the premier electronics design magazine, is published by Reed Business Information, headquartered in Newton, Massachusetts.