VLSI Licenses Mediamatics' MPEG 1,2 Technology For Set-Top Box Chips; VLSI Uses Mediamatics' Scalable Sysetms Approach for Next Generation MPEG Silicon.SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 5, 1994--VLSI Technology Inc. (NASDAQ NASDAQ in full National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations U.S. market for over-the-counter securities. Established in 1971 by the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD), NASDAQ is an automated quotation system that reports on :VLSI VLSI: see integrated circuit. (1) (Very Large Scale Integration) Between 100,000 and one million transistors on a chip. See SSI, MSI, LSI and ULSI. (2) (VLSI Technology, Inc., Tempe, AZ, www.semiconductors. ) announced it has licensed Moving Pictures Expert Group (MPEG (Moving Pictures Experts Group) An ISO/ITU standard for compressing digital video. Pronounced "em-peg," it is the universal standard for digital terrestrial, cable and satellite TV, DVDs and digital video recorders (DVRs). ) 1 and 2 video decompression technology from Mediamatics Inc. of Santa Clara. This activity supports VLSI's position as a leading vendor in the cable/satellite set-top box market and direct broadcast satellite (DBS (Direct Broadcast Satellite) A one-way TV broadcast service from a communications satellite to a small round or oval dish antenna no larger than 20" in diameter. ) decoders. The license also enables VLSI to easily and cost effectively integrate video decompression technology conforming to the MPEG 1 and 2 standards. These dominant standards, used in consumer products for multimedia, games and home theatre applications, were recently adopted by the International Standards Organization See ISO. (ISO (1) See ISO speed. (2) (International Organization for Standardization, Geneva, Switzerland, www.iso.ch) An organization that sets international standards, founded in 1946. The U.S. member body is ANSI. ), making them the de facto [Latin, In fact.] In fact, in deed, actually. This phrase is used to characterize an officer, a government, a past action, or a state of affairs that must be accepted for all practical purposes, but is illegal or illegitimate. compression solution of choice worldwide for digital video solutions. Mediamatics' offering includes MPEG 1,2 hardware decoder technology and a suite of tools that will facilitate VLSI's implementation of MPEG-based Functional System Blocks (FSB (FrontSide Bus) See system bus. FSB - front side bus ). VLSI's Functional System Blocks are high-level, optimized system blocks for either ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit) Pronounced "a-sick." A chip that is custom designed for a specific application rather than a general-purpose chip such as a microprocessor. or ASSP (Application Specific Standard Part) An ASIC chip that is designed as a generic device for a particular market. Whereas an ASIC is typically used only by its creator, ASSPs are used by many different companies in the design of their products. See ASIC. solutions. They offer highly integrated, flexible system design capabilities and fast time-to-market for designers of complex digital systems. The MPEG-based FSBs will let designers create either highly integrated standard products or customer specific ICs for digital video decoding. According to Jeff Hendy, vice president of VLSI's Consumer Products Division. "We're very excited about this licensing arrangement with Mediamatics. It gives us a key enabling technology to get us quickly to volume production. The acquisition and use of system-level intellectual property in combination with our aggressive silicon roadmap permits the delivery of cost-effective, leading-edge, system-on-a-chip solutions to the digital video market." Mediamatics has developed a proprietary technology for the MPEG video compression standard, known as Collaborative Compression Architecture (CCA (1) (Common Cryptographic Architecture) Cryptography software from IBM for MVS and DOS applications. (2) (Compatible Communications A ). CCA is a Mediamatics' scalable systems approach to partitioning functionality between the CPU CPU in full central processing unit Principal component of a digital computer, composed of a control unit, an instruction-decoding unit, and an arithmetic-logic unit. (via software) and a hardware algorithm accelerator. Systems based on CCA will deliver cost-effective motion video in real-time, at prices lower than currently available solutions. "Our very compact implementation of the MPEG standard results from having looked at the problem of compression from a system and applications point of view," said Hemant Bheda, vice president engineering and founder, Mediamatics. "Such an approach allowed us to come up with a very flexible design that enables CSICs to be designed with rapid time to volume and at very low system costs." VLSI Technology Inc. (NASDAQ:VLSI) designs and manufactures application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) and application-specific standard products (ASSPs) based on its FSB building block library technology. Targeting its offerings towards the computing, communications and consumer marketplaces, the company offers its customers advanced system-level integration capabilities based on enabling technologies such as secure information, network and wireless communications, and RISC-based embedded control. VLSI's products are designed into desktop and portable computers, networks and wireless voice and data equipment, and other state-of-the-art systems. The company is based in San Jose, and has approximately 2,600 employees worldwide. Mediamatics, founded in 1992, provides high quality, innovative video and audio compression solutions for digital video markets. The company enables system designers to seamlessly integrate motion video with their current video and graphics products and software applications. Mediamatics offers highly refined compression technology based on its Collaborative Compression Architecture. This architecture employs a scalable approach to partitioning system functionality between the CPU and peripheral elements to achieve the highest quality while maintaining mass market cost objectives. -0- Note to Editors: FSB is a trademark of VLSI Technology Inc. CCA is a trademark of Mediamatics. All other trademarks mentioned herein belong to their respective companies. CONTACT: VLSI Technology Inc.
Tom Mahon, 510/937-4921
or
Mediamatics Inc.
Prem Nath, 408/496-6360
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