MUST READ from Webnoize today.
San Diego-based hardware and software company e.Digital
Corporation has received a $3 million equity investment from
JNC Opportunity Fund, Ltd., the first institutional investor to
provide backing for the company. Facilitated by Jesup & Lamont
Securities, the financing will enable e.Digital to expand its
reach into the handheld device markets for music, voice and
data.
The company developed the MicroOS patented file management
system, which e.Digital considers ideal for applications
ranging from CD-quality stereo music to dictation and voice
memo products.
A special version of the file management system, known as
MicroOS Audio, is being incorporated into a solid-state,
portable music player that e.Digital is developing with Lucent
Technologies [see 4.21.99 Lucent, e.Digital Developing
PAC-Compliant Portable Device].
The player will allow consumers to play music files compressed
using Lucent's Enhanced Perceptual Audio Coder (EPAC), as well
as other formats, but not files compressed using the currently
popular MP3 audio scheme. The device will also be compatible
with the portable audio device specifications announced
yesterday by the Secure Digital Music Initiative (SDMI),
according to Fred Falk, chief executive officer at e.Digital
[see 6.28.99 SDMI Releases Portable Audio Specs].
With the SDMI specs having been released, e.Digital has also
pledged to use technologies from both Texas Instruments and
Liquid Audio in its player. Liquid and TI yesterday announced
licensing opportunities for a programmable digital signal
processor (DSP) -based blueprint designed to give consumer
electronics companies a way to develop secure digital players
in time for Christmas [see 6.29.99 Liquid, Texas Instruments
Release Portable Device Blueprint].
The technology from Liquid and TI saves e.Digital "a lot of
headaches," according to Falk, because "now there is a secure
screening mechanism that we can incorporate into our design."
The EPAC player will also use Celestial's Audio Library
software to manage digital music on PCs, function as a personal
jukebox and manage the transfer of digital music to the player.
EPAC provides copyright protection by way of digital audio
watermarking technology from Cognicity, Inc.
At this stage in the game, e.Digital and Lucent are in
discussions with several original equipment manufacturers
(OEMs), looking for a company to put its brand name on the
player, and then market and sell the device for the holiday
season, according to Falk.
The partners also plan to license their reference design to
other player manufacturers that have an interest in the market,
but that have not developed the technology expertise, Falk
said.
The JNC investment will allow e.Digital to further strengthen
its ties with technology and electronics partners, according to
Falk, and improve its financial results for fiscal year 2000.
In fiscal 1999, e.Digital reported a decrease in revenues from
the previous year, as well as a net loss of $2.6 million.
During the most recent fiscal period, however, the company made
"substantial progress in cleaning up our balance sheet and
reducing the company's liabilities," according to Falk's
statement to e.Digital shareholders.
Further music industry-related plans for e.Digital call for the
company and Lucent to offer OEMs a reference design for the
Internet music player, based on the device the partners are
developing. The design also includes a 32MB CompactFlash memory
card produced by SanDisk Corporation.
In addition to its portable music player, e.Digital has also
developed a portable digital voice recorder and computer
docking station for document management specialist Lanier
Worldwide; and a similar device using speech-to-text and
text-to-speech technologies for Intel.
Additionally, e.Digital is a member of the IBM-sponsored
VoiceTIMES alliance, an organization whose goal is to
coordinate the technical requirements needed for companies to
build and deploy solutions using voice technologies and
handheld mobile devices. Other members include Dictaphone, IBM,
Intel, Norcom Electronics, Olympus and Philips.
|
