Equator Releases Fully Interactive Broadband VOD Reference Design on New Tetra Hardware Platform
CAMPBELL, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 20, 2002--Equator Technologies, Inc., a leading provider of high performance, programmable and power efficient System-on-a-Chip (SoC) processors for video streaming and image processing applications, today announced the immediate availability of a new Broadband Video-on-Demand (VOD) Reference Platform based on the recently introduced Tetra(TM) Hardware Platform. Powered by Equator's high performance BSP(TM)-15 processor, the new reference design combines a comprehensive suite of software for a fully interactive IP set-top box and a modular, super compact and cost effective hardware platform, resulting in a solution with an unprecedented combination of price/performance and programmability resulting in a significantly reduced total cost of ownership.
"Our BSP-15 processor is a complete video-centric SoC that greatly reduces complexity and overall system design costs. The need for either an additional host processor or additional fixed-function ASICs are eliminated, as the BSP-15 processor runs all of the major software components needed by a fully interactive set-top box, which include, among others, low-bit rate codecs, operating systems, web browser and content security software," said Frans Sijstermans, Vice President of Engineering, Equator Technologies, Inc. "With the new Tetra Hardware Platform, we've introduced a modular design that enables our customers to build their variant of a set-top box in less time. This low-cost, compact, and flexible design really appeals to savvy customers who demand it all."
The new reference platform provides a comprehensive suite of software for a low-bit rate IP-based set-top box. Key features include a sub-1Mbps streaming video decoder, digital PVR functions such as recording and time-shifting, web browser, electronic programming guide and an infrastructure to support end-to-end content security. The software architecture of this reference platform is codec-agnostic, thereby allowing customers a wide range of choice for codecs from unique specialized proprietary algorithms to well-established industry standards such as MPEG-2 and MPEG-4.
The Tetra Hardware Platform provides the hardware reference design for a range of ultra compact and low-cost set-top boxes. Including the Tetra CPU board, an open peripheral interface, and an add-on "personality" module, the modular design of the Tetra Hardware Platform allows its adopter to rapidly deploy a variety of set-top boxes from diskless streaming systems to advanced system with PVR functionality.
About Equator Technologies, Inc.
Equator Technologies is a leading provider of high performance, programmable, power efficient System-on-a-chip processors designed for video streaming and image processing applications across a wide range of consumer and enterprise end markets. Equator offers the BSP family of Broadband Signal Processor chips, the iMMediaTools® software development toolkit, media libraries, and reference platforms for development and deployment of video streaming and video processing systems. With more than 130 customers worldwide, Equator provides solutions to the digital media, digital video communications, video security and surveillance, digital imaging, and automotive video markets. Based on a high-performance VLIW core and optimized for video processing, the BSP-15 family of chips delivers up to 40 GOPS of video processing power. Utilizing Equator's optimizing compiler technology, BSP-15 chips are 100% programmable in C/C++, enabling rapid deployment and field upgradeability of new applications and devices. A software programmable BSP-15 chip can replace multiple fixed-function ASICs, thereby reducing both complexity and cost of system designs. Winner of the "2001 Fabless Semiconductor Association Best Financial Performer -- Private Company" award and picked by Cahners Research as the top private company on the list of 30 best small electronics companies, Equator is a recognized leader in video processing solutions. Founded in 1996, Equator is a privately held company headquartered in Campbell, Calif., with additional offices worldwide. More information about Equator is available at www.equator.com.
The following are trademarks of Equator Technologies, Inc., and may be used to identify Equator products only: Equator, the Equator logo, Equator Around, the Equator Around logo, MAP, MAP1000, MAP1000A, MAP-CA, MAP Series, Broadband Signal Processor, BSP, FIRtree, DataStreamer, DS, iMMediaC, iMMediaTools, iMMediaToolsLite, Media Intrinsics, VersaPort, SofTV, StingRay, Dolphin, Tetra, and Barracuda. Other product and company names contained herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.
