Tektronix is stepping up its commitment to digital video.
Tektronix Forms New VideoTele.com Business Unit to Plug Into High Growth Networking, Telecommunications, Broadcasting Markets
PR Newswire - May 28, 1998 08:18
BEAVERTON, Ore., May 28 /PRNewswire/ -- Tektronix, Inc. (NYSE: TEK), a world leader in digital video communications, will tap into high growth networking, telecommunications, and broadcasting markets through a newly formed business unit, VideoTele.com.
VideoTele.com is a focused business unit within the Tektronix Video and Networking Division (VND). The new business unit capitalizes on the company's rich heritage and leadership in the television broadcast and broadband conferencing industries. Today, Tektronix leads the video industry with leadership positions in key broadcast television and interactive video conferencing markets. VideoTele.com provides video communications products to service providers who can deliver Tektronix' broadcast-quality video as a service through their standard network infrastructure for their end users.
"We have formed a separate business unit because we view this as a great growth opportunity," said Tim Thorsteinson, president, Video and Networking Division, Tektronix. "With VideoTele.com, we have the benefit of a dedicated and focused group with the support and services of the industry's video leader."
Already, VideoTele.com products are being licensed by a major North American ATM switch supplier, installed throughout a major Florida-based news group, and were used by Vice President Al Gore at a national distance learning conference earlier this year in Washington, D.C.
"VideoTele.com will advance the world's video market with a growing portfolio of products that help telecommunications, cable, satellite, broadcasting, and other high growth organizations integrate video content into routine daily communications," said Stephen J. King, vice-president and general manager, VideoTele.com.
VideoTele.com head King was formerly VND vice president of operations for Europe, Africa and the Middle East. King reports to VND President Timothy E. Thorsteinson.
VideoTele.com offers a portfolio of synergistic products including software and hardware for "trunking" or managing distribution of video over private networks, for interactive conferencing, and for delivering video content to desktop computers via intranets. VideoTele.com products are used in schools and other government applications, television broadcasting and corporations.
The market for software and hardware products that manage video content over private networks is expected to grow by as much as 43 percent annually through 2002, according to industry and company estimates. This growth is fueled by rapid improvements in network bandwidth, maturing technical standards, rapid changes in the telecommunications marketplace and accelerating momentum for general purpose applications that employ video. Within this broad video communications market, Tektronix is currently represented in corporate desktop video distribution, terrestrial trunking and distance learning. Over the next five years, VideoTele.com will expand into other video communications applications.
VideoTele.com will function as an independent business unit of the Tektronix Video and Networking Division. The new unit leverages Tektronix' 40-year heritage in video communications and brings together products, services and personnel into a cohesive group from its Grass Valley video transport, Profile MPEG, ATM research, Spotlight intranet video and advanced development groups.
The unit's operations include existing facilities in Beaverton, Ore. and Nevada City, Calif. VideoTele.com products are sold worldwide directly by the company, its business partners and system integrators to service providers that work with broadcasters, corporations, educational institutions and government agencies. (See Press Release "Interactive Video Opens New Learning Opportunities in Wisconsin, May 28, 1998.")
Tektronix' legacy in video communications dates back to the dawn of the electronic age. The Tektronix 524D oscilloscope, the first model with video triggering, gave birth to the television test and measurement industry in 1952. The first processing amplifier, developed for ABC-TV for use in their coverage of the 1964 national political conventions, was built by the Tektronix Grass Valley Products group. The company holds more than 500 patents related to video and today derives more than 30 percent of its annual revenue from video-related products.
Tektronix is a portfolio of measurement, color printing and video and networking businesses dedicated to applying technology excellence to customer challenges. Tektronix is headquartered in Wilsonville, Ore. and has operations in 23 countries outside the United States. Founded in 1946, the company had revenues of $1.94 billion in fiscal 1997.
NOTE: Tektronix is a registered trademark of Tektronix, Inc. All other trade names referenced are the service marks, trademarks, or registered trademarks of their respective companies.
SOURCE Tektronix, Inc.
/CONTACT: Laura Barber of Tektronix, Inc., 503-627-6240, or
laura.barber@tek.com; or Elke Heiss of GlobalCom PR Network, 415-439-5305, or
elke.heiss@globalcom-city.com, for Tektronix/
/Web site: videotele.com |
