Baby Divicom...........................................
newsalert.com
June 24, 2000 05:26
Boulder, Colo., Firm Raises $4.5 Million for Digital Camera in Development
By Susan Glairon, Daily Camera, Boulder, Colo.
Jun. 24--A Boulder firm developing a digital camera and a related software product received $4.5 million in financing, the company announced Friday.
Vivity Inc.'s line allows VCR-quality videos to be sent over computer networks.
Vivity Inc. has developed a prototype for its product MIPCAM, a digital camera that creates Motion Picture's Expert Group (MGEG) video -- compressed digital video of the same quality used in DVD, digital satellite, digital cable and HDTV systems -- and streams it over Ethernets, such as corporate networks. The company is about a year away from product release.
Palo Alto, Calif.-based Red Rock Ventures led the first financing round with $2.5 million, and private investors made up the rest.
"I've been interested in the intersection between digital video and Internet technologies and found an extremely good team to attack applications and opportunities in the corporate videos applications base," said Bob Marsh, general partner with Red Rock.
The money will be used to hire the initial team and to develop the product, chief executive officer Howdy Pierce said.
MIPCAM's output can be seen and heard through a Web browser on a desktop or PC without needing to install additional software. Multiple users can simultaneously view the video at different locations, but only one copy of the video streams across the network, reducing the bandwidth necessary to keep picture quality high.
"We believe we have a superior solution," said Rick Brantmeyer, vice president of sales of marketing. "Existing solution are not broadcast quality."
Because it is compressed, MPEG delivers higher picture quality and frame speeds at a certain bandwidth than competing technologies such as Wavelet, H.263 and Motion JPEG, Pierce said.
Vivity's system will deliver 30 frames per second of video, the same speed as a VCR. Typical products streamed over the Internet have a speed of five frames per second, Pierce said.
The company's third product, MIPEXEC server software, runs on Windows PCs and allows users to record and play-back video, audio and other data using their Web browser.
Pierce foresees the company's initial customers as public institutions such as airports or hospitals or large corporations that will use the system to monitor intruders, corporate visitors, hospitals or company day care centers, as well as for distance learning and corporate communications.
In the future, the company plans to develop technology for interactive video and teleconferencing.
Cameras will be priced at about $1,000 per camera.
Four former employees of Divicom -- John Jensen , Matt Osminer, Michael G. Perkins and Pierce- started the company in Boulder in September.
Divicom, a Silicon Valley company that develops systems used to put digital video on digital cable and satellite systems, invested $500,000 in the seed round financing in return for an equity stake in Vivity and a seat on Vivity's board of directors.
In September, the founders of Vivity and DiviCom completed a separation and investment agreement. Vivity has 15 employees.
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(c) 2000, Daily Camera, Boulder, Colo. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.
newsalert.com
June 23, 2000 10:25
Vivity Secures $4.5 Million in Financing
BOULDER, Colo.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 23, 2000--Vivity, a developer of easy-to-use solutions that allow corporations to cost-effectively route high quality video over IP networks, announced today that it has secured $4.5 million in a financing round led by Red Rock Ventures.
The investment will accelerate the company's vision for use of video over IP in the emerging enterprise video networking (EVN) market. The MIPTV solution for enterprise video networking includes the Vivity live or stored video and audio over a distance, storing video and audio content on a web server or CD for searchable access later, or integrating video and audio with other online media like web pages or transactional information. Examples of such applications include presentation or meeting recording, distance learning, monitoring and surveillance, and distance collaboration.
"Vivity's 'MPEG over IP (MIP)' solution is a bright new answer for applications in the Internet Video space. The founding team possesses expertise gained in building the dominant supplier of high-end digital video products, and their creation of Vivity to focus on the enterprise market seems a natural extension of that knowledge base," said Bob Marsh, General Partner, Red Rock Ventures.
"The Vivity team is excited to close this round of financing with a successful venture capital partner who demonstrates vision and commitment," said Howdy Pierce, President and CEO of Vivity.
"In the future, as corporations expand their global operations, EVN will enable them to use video to communicate more broadly and easily. The Vivity team is offering a visionary approach that will fulfill a critical need in the business world," said Tom Lookabaugh, President of Harmonic's Convergent Systems Division and member of the Vivity Board of Directors.
About Red Rock Ventures
Red Rock Ventures is an early stage venture capital firm focused on business-to-business Internet software and services. Founded in 1997 in Palo Alto, California, Red Rock has $130 million under management. For further corporate information, visit Red Rock's World Wide Web site at www.redrockventures.com. For press information, contact Diboll & Associates at 415/351-2043.
About Vivity
Vivity develops solutions that allow corporations to easily and cost-effectively stream high-quality video over IP networks. Vivity's MIPTV family of products, based on MPEG compression algorithms, brings revolutionary advantages to users in the enterprise video networking market.
Vivity's investors include Red Rock Ventures and Harmonic, Inc. (Nasdaq:HLIT). The company was founded in 1999 by a team of experts in MPEG video compression, and is based in Boulder, Colorado. For further information, visit Vivity's web site at www.vivityinc.com.
CONTACT: Vivity, Boulder
Rick Brantmeyer, 303/442-4972
www.vivityinc.com
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