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To: Ian deSouza who wrote (28566)	1/23/1998 11:29:00 AM
From: BillyG	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 50808

Trident has trouble with graphics & multimedia IC biz........... techweb.cmp.com A service of Semiconductor Business News, CMP Media Inc. Story posted at 8 a.m. EST/5 a.m. PST, 1/23/98 Trident streamlines management to trim losses in multimedia ICs MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--Graphics and multimedia IC supplier Trident Microsystems Inc. said it saw sales plunge 48% in the last three months of 1997 compared to the previous year because of economic problems plaguing Asia. Trident said it lost $1.9 million vs. a net income of $5.4 million last year. The company said it restructured and streamlined management as part of cost-cutting efforts to deal with the tough market conditions in PC graphics and multimedia. "As we announced in December, the recent financial turmoil in Asia has affected the buying patterns of our Asia Pacific customers," said Frank Lin, president and CEO of the Mountain View-based company. "As a result, our revenue goals have been impacted. Especially in the desktop segment, there have been delays in the introduction and acceptance of some of our new 3-D products in the region." For Trident's second fiscal quarter, ended Dec. 31, revenues fell to $26.9 million compared to $51.9 million in the same period a year ago. The revenues were 30% lower than Trident's $38.5 million in sales during the previous quarter, ended Sept. 30. "Internally, it is our immediate goal to return to profitability by repositioning our 3-D desktop products and by reducing our operating expenses to the break-even level," Lin said. "We have taken a critical look at our internal processes and infrastructure, and implemented a streamlined senior management team through consolidation of compatible functional areas within the company."

To: Ian deSouza who wrote (28566)	1/23/1998 11:34:00 AM
From: BillyG	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 50808

More detail on Lucent encoders............. techweb.cmp.com Harris, Lucent join forces on digital-TV encoders By George Leopold and Nicolas Mokhoff WASHINGTON -- Harris Corp. and Lucent Technologies Inc. said on Wednesday that they have joined forces to provide broadcasters with digital-TV encoders. Harris said its Broadcast Division (Quincy, Ill.) will market MPEG-2 encoder boards that Lucent had unveiled last year. Lucent (Murray Hill, N.J) is credited with developing the first MPEG-2 and HDTV encoders. Affordable encoders are widely seen as a key element in the quick deployment of digital TV. "The lack of encoding equipment has been a major concern for broadcasters," said Bruce Allan, vice president and general manager of Harris' Broadcast unit. "This is another important step to help broadcasters move seamlessly" to digital TV. The partners said they have received orders for new encoders from A.H. Belo Corp., a leading U.S. broadcaster, and WSB-TV, a Cox Broadcasting station in Atlanta. Harris has provided digital-TV transmitter equipment for six of the seven experimental digital-TV stations in the United States. Observers said the deal with Harris is likely to give Lucent greater visibility among broadcasters as they prepare to deploy digital services. Unlike other encoders on the market, the FlexiCoder architecture developed by Lucent and Harris will feature module and system-level redundancy, and will also support hot-swappable modules that will allow in-service repair. The architecture will essentially allow any of the 1,648 U.S. broadcasters targeted by Lucent and Harris to ensure that the digital-video signal isn't disrupted from the transmitter to the consumer at the receiving end by chip or board failure. Lucent is using 1-for-N redundancy for the multichannel standard definition TV (SDTV) encoders, 1-for-1 redundancy for HDTV encoding groups, and 1-for-1 redundancy for both the controller board and power supply, all under software control. The mid-plane design of the FlexiCoder is a standard 19-inch rack that has 21 slots to accommodate the encoder, controller, controller/mux and monitor decoder boards on the front side of the plane, and video boards specific to a customer's transmitting requirements (MPEG, SDTV, HDTV video and others) on the other side of the plane. FlexiCoder uses a three-piece MPEG encoder chip set from IBM Microelectronics, which expects to integrate the set into a single chip in time for the fall introduction of the next-generation FlexiCoder. At that time, the FlexiCoder architecture will be able to accommodate a multiformat HDTV signal at both the 1,080 interlaced and 720 progressive-scan rates. Andreas C. Papanicolaou, president of Lucent Digital Video, a Lucent Technologies group, said that a full HDTV version of the FlexiCoder will be exhibited at the National Asscoaition of Broadcasters annual event in April, and will be available to broadcasters by the fall. "Broadcasters are looking for all kinds of ways to generate revenue on the local level," Papanicolaou said. "The FlexiCoder-with its multichannel SDTV and HDTV capabilities, as well as the built-in reliability based on redundancy and hot-swappable I/O boards-will allow them to choose the best configuration for generating digital TV over the air." By the end of 2001, according to a Harris Broadcast Division market research poll, 65 percent of all U.S. TV stations expect to be producing local digital-TV news.Today, 68 percent of U.S. stations produce local news.