The bad boys team up -- ESST and Innovacom.........
More "panty-waving" from ESST and Innovacom. It looks like CUBE's competitors are so worried about CUBE's DVx products, that they decided to announce their own "new" MPEG2 products. Big difference, though -- CUBE's products were designed by engineers, whereas the competitor's new products were designed by marketing. Evidence? CUBE's new products are sampling now because they have already been designed and built. The competitor's products are sampling sometime in the future because they have not yet been designed and built.
If the competitors are worried, it's a good sign for CUBE.
ESS Technology and InnovaCom in Joint Development on MPEG-2 Product
FREMONT, Calif., Aug. 26 /PRNewswire/ -- ESS Technology, Inc.
(Nasdaq: ESST) and InnovaCom, Inc., Santa Clara (OTC Bulletin Board: MPEG)
today announced the signing of a joint development agreement for MPEG-2
solutions. InnovaCom and ESS will develop [better late than never] MPEG-2 encoding and decoding
solutions for DVD authoring systems and Digital Video Broadcast (DVB) Set Top
Boxes (STB).
The agreement calls for InnovaCom to provide a complete PC-based DVD
authoring system solution. These systems will utilize ESS' MPEG-2/DVD chips
and InnovaCom's DV2100/2110 encoder boards and content creation and mastering
tools; the systems are targeted to ship in the fourth quarter of 1997.
In addition, the agreement calls for InnovaCom to design and manufacture
DVB Set Top Boxes using ESS MPEG-2 chips. The DVB Set Top Boxes are also
targeted to ship in the fourth quarter of 1997.
"Our partnership with InnovaCom enhances our program to penetrate the
emerging markets for MPEG-2," said Fred Chan, ESS chairman and chief executive
officer. "InnovaCom is a leader in MPEG-2 encoding solutions with its
development of a single chip MPEG-2 encoder, the DVImpact(TM). This
arrangement allows us to leverage InnovaCom's encoding experience and
expertise in DVD, DVB, and PC-DVD applications."
Mark C. Koz, InnovaCom's president and chairman, commented, "We are very
pleased to have a partnership with a leading MPEG-2 chip supplier such as ESS,
especially in Asia. ESS' market leadership can expand the creation of content
with our encoding systems. The greater the market demand for ESS decoders,
the greater the need to create content for them. It also makes sense to find
a strong partner for decoding solutions, because future consumer devices, such
as recordable DVD players, will require MPEG-2 codecs (encoding and decoding)
for cost and space considerations."
ESS Technology, Inc.
ESS Technology, Inc. is a leading supplier of PC audio and digital video
semiconductor solutions for the PC and consumer markets. ESS designs,
develops, and markets highly integrated mixed signal semiconductor and
software solutions for multimedia applications. ESS, headquartered in
Fremont, California, has sales and technical support offices in Austin and
Houston, Texas; Irvine, California; Beijing and Shenzhen, China; Tokyo, Japan;
Taipei, Taiwan; and Hong Kong. ESS Technology is listed on the Nasdaq Market
System under the symbol ESST. World Wide Web site: esstech.com
InnovaCom, Inc.
InnovaCom, Inc. is a leading developer of MPEG-2 solutions for broadcast
quality video compression. InnovaCom's single-chip DVImpact MPEG-2 encoder is
scheduled for shipment the first quarter of 1998 and will be used in
satellite, cable, broadcast, and consumer applications. Visit InnovaCom's
website at innovacom-mpeg2.com. InnovaCom is located at 2855 Kifer
Road, Suite 100, Santa Clara, CA 95051. Telephone is 408-727-2447 (CHIP) and
Fax is 408-727-6625.
The matters discussed in this news release include certain forward looking
statements that involve risks and uncertainties, including the timely
availability and acceptance of new products, the impact of competitive
products and pricing, the dependence on continued growth in demand for PC and
consumer multimedia products, the management of growth of the company, and the
other risk detailed from time to time in the SEC reports of ESS, including the
report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 1996 and Forms 10-Q for
the quarters ending March 31, 1997 and June 30, 1997. [Why doesn't Innovacom have any SEC filings??] Actual results could
differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements.
SOURCE ESS Technology Inc.
CONTACT: Gary W. Breeding, CBC, Director, Marketing Communications of
ESS Technology, Inc., 510-492-1792, or Gary.Breeding@esstech.com |
