Frost & Sullivan: Video Compression Creates Opportunities for
Encoder And Decoder Vendors to Flourish
newsalert.com
Cube customers won the awards, but Cube not mentioned??
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Jan. 11 /PRNewswire/ -- Driven by the euphoria over Internet-related products
and technologies, video compression is a vital piece of the puzzle that pushes the Internet to new heights
in terms of viability as a communications and multimedia vehicle. Video compression enables high-quality
video to be enjoyed by a wide swath of end users, from an individual watching Titanic on DVD from his or
her home to a student in Europe watching a live lecture of a business class being taught at the University
of California at Berkeley.
The above applications are made possible through the advent of video compression technology. Video
compression dramatically reduces large video files into smaller ones so that they may be distributed over
such media as the Internet, CD-ROMs, or the corporate intranet. The most common codec
(compressor/decompressor) is that of the MPEG standard. More specifically, MPEG-1 is designed for
data rates of approximately 1.5 Mbps and a frame rate of 30 fps. MPEG-2, on the other hand, can handle
data rates ranging from 2 Mbps to 10 Mbps. MPEG-2 is the standard embodied in DVD video.
World Video Compression Technologies Market, published by Frost & Sullivan (www.frost.com), takes an
in-depth look at the products and vendors that comprise the market. In particular, the report dissects both
the encoding and decoding markets, analyzing the software and hardware solutions within each major
segment. The report is comprehensive in scope, covering all the aspects that may impact a product
manager or CEO's decision to enter or withdraw from a market. This includes market challenges, drivers,
restraints, pricing trends, geographic trends, and revenue forecasts, among others.
The video compression market is a developing one with room for much growth. Despite the relative
obscurity of video compression technology, an increasing number of end users are just now beginning to
realize the benefits of encoders and decoders and are buying products incorporating video compression
technology. Already, there is a salient trend toward the installation of DVD-ROMs shipped in PCs, which
is a boon to the software decoder market. And, the advent of streaming technology and video-on-demand
has proven to be solid applications for hardware encoders and decoders.
The competitive landscapes for the encoding and decoding markets are relatively consolidated. This is
especially so for the software space. Roughly half a dozen companies comprise the market for software
encoders and only four companies account for 90% of the market for software decoders. Hardware
vendors, on the other hand, are characterized by more players, but they tend to find their own niches to
play in. Thus, even within niches, the competition is sparse. As a result, vendors are able to stay afloat
financially by generating enough revenues from their particular space.
World Video Compression Technologies Market also contains an overview of the strategic market drivers,
as well as the challenges facing companies within the video compression market.
"The key drivers of the video compression market are the continued growth of the Internet, the desire for
better quality video, and the emergence of DVD as the next standard in digital distribution. Conversely,
major challenges lurk in bandwidth insufficiencies, a lack of consumer understanding about video
compression, and lingering patent issues," says Norvin Leong, Frost & Sullivan IT analyst. World Video
Compression Technologies Market offers compelling strategic recommendations on how to not only
integrate rapidly-changing technology, but also to stay ahead of the competition.
Frost & Sullivan bestows Market Engineering awards in recognition of those companies that have worked
hard to make a positive contribution to the industry. Winners are selected from an in-depth analysis of the
market, including interviews with the companies that comprise the industry. Frost & Sullivan is pleased to
announce FutureTel as the winner of the 1998 Market Engineering Leadership Award for its exhibition of
world-class leadership in the video compression industry and for taking steps toward becoming the
price-performance leader. In addition, the 1998 Marketing Engineering Competitive Strategy Award goes to
Quadrant International. Quadrant International has been able to create and implement an effective
competitive strategy integrating the elements of product features, price, marketing, and sales. Optibase
Inc. is the distinguished recipient of the 1998 Market Engineering Product Line Strategy Award for its
ability to develop new technology, introduce a robust product line, and make significant contributions to
the video compression market in terms of product performance.
Companies participating in this market include: 3DO Company, ACS Innovations, Inc., CeQuadrat, Inc.,
Darim Vision Co., Ltd., Data Translation, Inc., Dazzle Multimedia, Inc., Digigami, Inc., Digital Bitcasting
Corp., DV Studio Technologies, LLC, FutureTel, Inc., HEURIS, ImageMind Software, InnovaCom, Inc.,
InterStream, Inc., Ligos Technology, Mediamatics, Minerva Systems, Inc., Oak Technology, Inc.,
OmniMedia Technology, Inc., Optibase Inc., Optivision Inc., Quadrant International, Sigma Designs, Inc.,
Sony Electronics, Inc., STB Systems, Inc., Vela Research, Inc., VIC Hi-Tech Corp., Vitec Multimedia,
Inc., Willow Pond Corp., Wired, Inc., Xing Technology Corporation, and Zoran Corporation.
This IT industry study integrated the proven Frost & Sullivan Market Engineering philosophy into the entire
research process. Critical phases of this research included the following: identification of industry
challenges, market engineering measurements, strategic recommendations, planning, and market
monitoring. All of the vital elements of this system can help the market participants navigate successfully
through the video compression market.
Frost & Sullivan is an international marketing consulting company that monitors the IT industry for market
trends, market measurements, and strategies. The ongoing research is utilized to update a series of
research publications such as #5846-74, Video Servers, and to support industry participants with
customized consulting needs.
Visit the Frost & Sullivan web site at: frost.com
Report: 5380-70 Publish Date: January 1999 Price: $2950
SOURCE Frost & Sullivan
/NOTE TO EDITORS: Free executive summaries of all Frost & Sullivan
reports are available to the press./ |
