ITRI Labs, Lite-on, Ritek Admitted to DVD Alliance
December 8, 1997 (TAIPEI) -- Two companies and one
research institution in Taiwan have been admitted as "Class
A" members to the international group of electronic equipment makers
which standardizes digital video disks (DVDs).
They are the Opto-Electronics Systems Laboratories (OESL) of
Taiwan's Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI), Ritek Inc.
and Lite-on Technology Corp.
The DVD alliance was set up in December 1995 by Philips Electronics
NV, Sony Corp., Pioneer Electronic Corp., Toshiba Corp., Hitachi
Ltd., Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd., Mitsubishi Electric Corp.,
Time Warner Inc. and Victor Co. of Japan.
Six working groups were set up under the alliance to establish the DVD
standard, and the alliance began recruiting members in August 1997.
OESL, Lite-on and Ritek applied to participate in the DVD alliance in
August and received approvals in October.
Spokesmen of the OESL said their labs are now members of five
working groups under the DVD alliance, which means that they can join
in the setting of standards for products such as DVD-ROM,
DVD-RAM, DVD-R and DVD-Audio.
It is reported that Taiwan's Acer Inc. and Advanced Information Inc. --
both affiliates of the Acer Group -- are also applying to enter the
alliance as "Class B" members.
Such members are ineligible to participate in the making of DVD
standards, but they do have access to all information on the results of
related meetings.
Membership in this international standard-setting body will help
upgrade the local DVD industry.
Taiwan's DVD player market is gradually shaking off domination by
Japanese products because several local companies have been devoted
to the making of such products.
Acer introduced a DVD player to the market in December. The
product, with components from Japan's Hitachi Ltd. and software and
cases made by Acer, will officially become available on the market
around the end of the first quarter of 1998.
Tatung Co. is slated to begin promoting its DVD player in March 1998.
Esonic Corp. is planning to enter the market in mid-1998 and Sampo
Corp. will be another potentially strong competitor in this area.
The company has successfully developed most components for DVD
players, with the exception of integrated circuit chips and optical
pick-up heads.
(Commercial Times, Taiwan)
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