REGISTRATION DOCUMENT AND FINANCIAL REPORT - Iliad

11. RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT, PATENTS AND LICENSES
11.1 RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT
11. RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT, PATENTS AND LICENSES
11.1 RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT
Iliad S.A. does not incur research and development costs, unlike Free, Freebox and Citéfibre whose research and
development costs include costs for creating new products and tailoring existing products for the Internet,
research and development or creation for new applications, as well as costs for developing marketing strategies
for new products.
The Group’s research and development policy was initially structured around two main objectives: offering
differentiated services to subscribers using dedicated equipment and reducing costs relating to the construction
and operation of its network.
It was with these two objectives in mind that Freebox S.A.S. developed the Freebox modems and the Freebox
DSLAMs installed by Free. The Group intends to continue to develop in-house the architecture of the equipment
used both in the operation of its network and in the provision of services to its customers, as well as the software
applications based on open source software such as Linux used by all Group companies.
The team responsible for the Group’s research and development is based at Freebox S.A.S. and is composed of
17 employees.
In 2007, the Group devoted €1.6 million to research work versus €1.4 million in 2006 and €1.3 million in 2005,
mainly relating to broadband operations.
The aim of the Group’s research and development policy is to develop network architectures and software
solutions that are tailored to specific offerings and needs, and to ensure that the corresponding equipment can be
easily assembled by third party manufacturers under optimal financial terms. The R&D team is continuing to
work on other technologies still in the experimental stage, while maintaining a technology watch on areas such as
the use of WiFi networks and the development of fiber-to-the-home technology.
11.2 INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
11.2.1 Patents
To date the Group has not filed any patents.
11.2.2 Trademarks
See Section 4.4.3.
Iliad – Registration Document 2007 - 77