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To: BillyG who wrote (33872)	6/16/1998 9:53:00 AM
From: Don Dorsey	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 50808

More encoders/decoders needed in the future. Jun 15, 1998 (VIDEO TECHNOLOGY NEWS, Vol. 11, No. 12) -- With broadcasters' continuing demands for faster and cheaper ways to move video over LANs, and the Internet and corporations' use of video as a training and ad mechanism, the market for networking new compressed video technologies is rapidly expanding. Within the past several weeks, two new companies have formed to take advantage of this emerging market, both drawing on the talents of former executives from Sony [SNE] and Tektronix [TEK]. Omneon Video Networks, temporarily based in Sunnyvale, Calif., is a start-up involving former senior executives from Sony, Tektronix and Grass Valley. The company is getting on the ground floor of what it claims to be a potential $1 billion market segment within the next five years - networking products for video applications. They estimate they will generate revenue approaching $20 million in 2000, increasing to more than $100 million in 2002. While the transition to DTV may be the impetus for the company's formation, Ed Hobson, Omneon's vp-marketing and sales, says DTV is only the icing on the cake. "Even if nobody does ATSC transmission, facility infrastructure is still going digital," he says. Compression is the key to the market and Hobson says MPEG-2, DV, DV50 and others are improving almost daily along with the means to transport video, including fiber optics and ATM. For example, Lucent Technologies [LU] recently introduced AllWave Fiber, which provides 50 percent more usable wavelengths than today's conventional fiber. Spokesman Roger Frizzell says such improvements could allow cable companies to use a broader range of the light spectrum for cable TV distribution. Hobson says whether it's copper or fiber that moves compressed video, it won't matter much to Omneon. "I would rather be generic," Hobson says. "There's not a lot of fiber installed right now and copper's been around for awhile. We don't want to tell a facility they have to re-wire. We want to move forward in a migration path." Despite the myriad of questions still surrounding the transition to DTV, broadcasters agree on one thing - compression technologies is a great business to be in. "Digital and analog will have to co-exist for a number of years and broadcasters have to make the transition with finite resources," says Joe Balkan, NBC's manager of digital technologies (stations division). "These guys have a pretty good feeling for where this industry is heading." The company has temporary quarters in Sunnyvale, but is also building another facility in Beaverton, Ore., also home to a branch of Craig's former employer, Tektronix. Hobson says they have disclosed their plans to a number of key potential customers from major networks and will announce several new products in time for NAB99 next April. The 'Best Video Nerds in America' While broadcasters are Omneon's main target, Tektronix is counting on the increasing use of video in applications - including distance learning, telemedicine, corporate conferencing and intranet video. The company recently announced the format of VideoTele.com, a business unit within the company to focus on moving video across networks. Drawing from their own numbers and analysis from Frost and Sullivan, Videotele.com GM Stephen King says they're tapping a $190 million market in interactive video that they estimate will grow to $3 billion by 2003. The company plans to sell its products to service providers involved in developing infrastructures for video networks, corporations using intranet to transport video as well as broadcasters. The company has such an extensive history of innovation in the video industry, they consider themselves "the best video nerds in America." VideoTele.com products include the DCC 45, a DS-3 switch providing 45 megabit video service, software for scheduling video conferencing between multiple sites, Spotlight intranet video products and video edge devices that deliver real-time MPEG2 digital video over LANs and ATM networks. Florida's News Channel, a Tallahassee-based cable news service providing locally originated news programming to six locations throughout the state, plans to have Tektronix's M2 series MPEG-2 video edge device installed by the end of June and in operation by early August. Andy Bundschuh, director of network and special operations for Florida's News Channel, says the advent of MPEG-2 video will allow the company to send four signals over Tektronix's DS-3 switches, something unheard of when the company was in the development stages three years ago. "We would not have been able to do the project as well without the capabilities of their codec," Bundschuh says. (Omneon, Ed Hobson, 408/616-6279; Video Tele.com, Stephen King, 800/547-8949; Florida's News Channel, Andy Bundschuh, 850/222-6397) The Brains Behind Omneon President: Larry Kaplan, former snr. vp of Sony Electronics, Broadcast and Production Systems and a former snr. executive at Tektronix. VP-Engineering: Don Craig, formerly of Tektronix. VP-Marketing: Ed Hobson, former Sony vp of production systems and professional audio, also held engineering sales and marketing positions with the Grass Valley Group. VideoTele.com's 'Video Nerds' GM/VP: Stephen King, former vp of Europe, Africa and Middle East operations for Tektronix's Video Networking Division. Engineering Director: Chuck Van Dusen, has over 20 years of experience in video compression. Marketing Director: Lee Rainey, previous Tektronix' Director of Marketing for Network Displays, Intranet Video and the Profile disk servers.

To: BillyG who wrote (33872)	6/16/1998 1:32:00 PM
From: DiViT	Respond to of 50808

"Ultimate DVD PC".... techweb.com Intel Board Would Enable "Ultimate DVD PC" (06/16/98; 11:49 a.m. ET) By Aaron Ricadela, Computer Retail Week At PC Expo Tuesday, Intel will announce plans to bundle a software DVD package with its Express Graphics video boards sold at retail stores, industry sources said. Express Graphics is an accelerator board marketed by Santa Clara, Calif.-based Intel (company profile) that uses the Intel740 2-D/3-D graphics processor. The product began shipping to original equipment manufacturers last month, but isn't yet available as a boxed product for retailers. However, sources said Intel plans to ship an Express Graphics retail package that would enable value-added resellers and specialty retailers to help customers build the "ultimate DVD PC," according to one source familiar with Intel's plans. Corporate IT managers convene June 16 to 18 at New York's Jacob Javits center to scope out the latest products and vendor strategies in enterprise computing. Intel will reportedly bundle a combination of products, including a software package that allows DVD decoding on the system's central processing unit, with its Extreme Graphics video cards. It's likely that Intel partner Zoran, also in Santa Clara, Calif., will supply the software DVD solution. Intel's Retail Products Division wants to differentiate Express Graphics from cards made by other manufacturers, such as Diamond Multimedia Systems and STB Systems, that also use the 740 chip, a source close to Intel said. "The graphics board business is extremely competitive," he said. "One edge is a nice compatibility with a soft DVD product. Intel declined to comment on Tuesday's announcement. Strategically, Intel supports software DVD, because it drives demand for faster processors and reduces the need for costly add-on boards to decompress the MPEG-2 and AC-3 audio code in DVD movies. Rajesh Shakkawar, Intel's technology development manager for DVD and digital TV, said decoding DVD playback in software lets PC manufacturers offer DVD at less than 10 percent of the cost of hardware decoding. Soft DVD requires at least a 266-MHz Pentium II processor, he said. In the channel, a value-added bundle could fuel sales of Intel's product. Michael Warner, director of purchasing at Datel Computer Center, based in San Diego, said consumer response to boards using the 740 chip has been lukewarm so far.

To: BillyG who wrote (33872)	6/16/1998 7:19:00 PM
From: J Fieb	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 50808

This is really good news BillyG!! For a couple reasons. techweb.com March 30, 1998, TechWeb News ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Taiwan DVDs stress supply -- Rollout may cause key component shortages By Sandy Chen Taipei, Taiwan- After knocking a big dent into the CD-ROM drive market, Taiwan manufacturers are making an aggressive move into the exploding DVD business, further straining component supply. Acer Inc., Acer Peripherals Inc., Asustek Computer Inc., Lite-On Technology Inc., Tatung Co., and other Taiwan companies will roll out DVD systems as early as the third quarter of this year. Local companieswill sell these DVD players under their own logos, as well as to foreign OEMs. Taiwan's entry into the DVD business will step up the competitive pressure on their rivals in Japan and South Korea and ultimately push down product prices at a rapid rate, analysts said. But sourcing problems may offset market gains. Aside from the continuing standards battles in the DVD market, Taiwan companies must purchase nearly all of their key components from foreign sources, mainly in Japan and Europe. That means Taiwan manufacturers could have difficulty obtaining a sufficient supply of key DVD components, according to Alan Liu, an analyst at the government-sponsored Market Intelligence Center (MIC), in Taipei. "Japan's capacity is limited for DVD components," he said. In addition, licensing fees will increase costs. Local companies had to negotiate similar hurdles when they entered the CD-ROM drive arena in the mid-1990s. Still, the MIC now ranks Taiwan second behind Japan in total worldwide market share in CD-ROM drives, tracking an increase from 0% to 23% between 1994 and 1997. As with CD-ROM drives, local companies are now going after DVD business. Last week, for example, Taiwan's Tatung Co. selected C-Cube Microsystems Inc.'s DVD decoder chip for a new line of DVD products that the Taipei company will roll out in the third quarter. Taipei-based Acer, the island's largest PC maker, plans to roll out its first DVD-ROM line of systems in the third quarter. Market watchers say Acer's product, called the DVD-9432, will be sold as a stand-alone DVD player as well as an internal storage subsystem for PCs A PC/CE win at the same time?. WIll it be in Acer brand PC's????? Hopefully the DVD-9432 will have other's names on it and hopefully when Acer builds PC's under contract they'll use this product also. To get an idea of the scope of their OEM activity read http:// www.techweb.com/se/directlink.cgi?EBN19980511S0089 Fast-food' approach hits the spot at Acer -- Assembly strategy paying off as Taiwan's CEM business explodes By Mark Lapedus And Sandy Chen In the early 1990s, Stan Shih adopted a radical approach to PC manufacturing for the company he heads: Acer Inc., Taiwan's largest computer maker. Shih, the Taipei-based company's chairman and chief executive, deployed what he called a "fast-food" PC assembly strategy as a means of reducing the cost and delivery time of PCs made for itself and for its OEM customers. Under a complex procedure, Acer ships printed-circuit boards from Asia by air to assembly sites worldwide. Cases, monitors, and other items are shipped by sea. Processors, DRAMs, and disk drives are sourced locally. A full-blown PC is assembled at sites in Taiwan in a matter of days. What was once viewed as a gamble has become a successful model. Acer's global manufacturing strategy has won the company PC contracts from large OEMs, including Fujitsu Ltd., IBM Corp., and, most recently, Siemens Nixdorf. Consequently, Acer has watched its OEM-based contract manufacturing revenue soar from practically zero in the late 1980s to a projected $3.78 billion, or 60% of sales, this year...................