Singapore....................................................
nikkeibp.com
R Pakrisamy, Singapore
Firms Pushing DVD-ROM, CD-RW, Sound in 1998
Singapore multimedia companies, who are already among the leaders in sound, video and optical drives, have set the stage to push some leading-edge technologies into the forefront in 1998. Top of the list include digital video disk (DVD)-ROM, CD-Rewritable (RW) drives and 128-voice polyphony with these competitive offerings having emerged in the fall of 1997.
Some companies are seen developing niche products like desktop photo developers using universal serial bus (USB) technology and wireless media desktop PC keyboards. The key engine driving this innovation includes the forecast recovery in the global electronics industry coupled with the expected development of the sub-US$1,000 PC among other forthcoming Intel chips, say companies.
Companies said the emergence of the barebone sub-US$1,000 PC will give new multimedia technologies a boost. These PCs are basic computers and it will give Singapore multimedia makers a good opportunity to enable customers to "upgrade" their systems to include speakers, graphics boards and audio capabilities.
Companies also said that the stiff competition in the PC market will drive the need for these high performance PC peripherals. Top-tier PC names like Compaq Computer Corp and IBM Corp, both of the US, by virtue of their brandnames, may be slower adopters for some of the newer technologies like 32-speed CD-ROM drives and 128-voice polyphony cards.
"Second tier PC original equipment manufacturers (OEM) will need an edge over the top-tier brands and they will buy these leading-edge peripherals to differentiate themselves. This will drive the market next year," said K T Goh, a senior product marketing manager at Wearnes Peripherals International Pte Ltd.
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Eyeing the DVD-ROM Market
DVD-ROM drives are expected to take the centerstage in the PC multimedia market in 1998, say companies, although their views in terms of the extent the market will take off vary. One of the key players who will dominate and push the market for DVD-ROM drives is Singapore's Creative Technology Ltd.
<Picture: Creative's DVD-ROM Drive>
Creative's DVD-ROM Drive
On how the DVD-ROM market will develop in the next few months, Creative's Sim said "many companies want to come into the DVD-ROM market and most generally play in the multimedia upgrade kit market." Creative's first generation DVD-ROM drive didn't make major inroads into the market but the company was quick to develop a second generation drive, which doubles the speed over the first generation and offers 20 times the speed of CD-ROMs.
A lot of the first generation DVD-ROM drives will come onto the market in the next few months but Creative's second generation will lead the push, said Sim. What will give the added push in 1998 is that the drive is being packaged with an MPEG-2 card which brings "very good cinematic experience to the PC," said Sim.
One Singapore company expected to be on the DVD-ROM bandwagon by the first half of 1998 is Wearnes, said R&D head Foo Toon Jeow. While demand for DVD-ROM drives may be increasing, higher-speed CD-ROM drives will at the same time be part of the mainstream in 1998.
Wearnes believes that 32-speed CD-ROM drives, which it is now launching, will last for about 12 months during which CD-RW and DVD-ROM drives demand will continue rising. But the source of demand for these drives will be different, said Foo. Wearnes, a joint venture between Singapore's WBL Corp and Taiwan's Winbond Corp, aims to be one of the top three optical drive producers within a few years.
"We think that the business and corporate market is likely to buy CD-ROM drives while the home and entertainment market will focus on DVD-ROM drives," said Foo.
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40-Speed CD-ROM in Lab
"Wearnes is still committed to maturing CD-ROM technology. We have a 40-speed CD-ROM drive (running at 8,500 rpm) in the labs. It's a question of whether the market wants it next year. Some say the 32-speed is nearing the life of CD-ROMs while others say there is still room to develop higher speed products," said Foo.
While Creative is determined to dominate the market for DVD-ROM drives, Wearnes' Foo said commercialization rather than product development for DVD-ROM drives is still an issue. DVD-ROM technology is still tightly held by about 10 companies, mostly Japanese, and royalties is an issue, said Foo.
On the issue of whether DVD-ROM will replace CD-ROM, Creative's Sim said this will happen in 1998. "We want this to happen earlier than later," said Sim, adding that the company will be shipping a few hundred thousand DVD-ROM drives a month and the shipping rather vis-a-vis CD-ROM drives is increasing, said Sim.
Other companies which may be less ambitious but still set on capturing some of the action in the optical drive market in 1998 include Hewlett-Packard (HP) Co of the US and Singapore's ACS Innovations International Pte Ltd. Both companies have just launched CD-RW drives with the aim of capturing the market next year.
"CD-RW is a revolutionary technology whose time has come," said Chin Teik, HP's marketing manager for storage products in Asia. Using its network of worldwide distributors and resellers, the company wants to become a major player in the segment of the optical drive market next year, he said.
Pricing will be a key factor in driving the CD-R and CD-RW drive market in 1998, said ACS. The company, which develops and makes its drives in Japan, will use competitive pricing to gain market share, said marketing manager Thomas Chua. Also, the company is prepared to mix-and-match software offerings for the distribution and OEM markets to push its products, he said.
A segment of the multimedia peripheral market that is likely to be equally heated up is the audio segment as market players expect to develop the market in their own way in 1998. Market leader Creative, which now controls about 60% of the global market, is still bent on pushing its 64-voice polyphony in early 1998 and believes the volume demand is still in this segment.
Creative's Sim said its shipment of the 64-voice card has just surpassed its 16-bit audio card and is being sold to very large companies, including Dell Computer Corp of the US. "We are still pushing the AWE64 and the Japanese market is proving to be an early adopter in Asia," said Sim.
Taking a more aggressive view of the market, Aztech Systems Ltd is launching its PCI-128 Wave card featuring 128-voice polyphony now and expects the product to be in the mainstream by the first quarter of 1998. Marketing officer Kelly Long said "the sound card was developed in view of the first paradigm shift of the new audio market - a changeover from the industry standard architecture (ISA) to peripheral component interface (PCI) for backward compatibility."
"We expect the 128-voice card to be in the market for one-and-a-half years," she said, adding that "it is the right time for Aztech to come up with such a product."
"With the new PC '98 Audio guidelines excluding all ISA-based cards to be ready from July 1998, it is the right time for Aztech to come up with the next generation of PCI sound cards of better quality to replace the old ISA standard," she said.
She said the card will be pushed into both the OEM and retail channels in 1998 with high volumes expected from the PCI-related market which will support new DirectX games. |
