Showing posts with label 公司. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 公司. Show all posts

Tuesday, March 27, 2007

BroadLogic Named “Cool Vendor” by Leading Analyst Firm

關於公司最新的消息,資金的籌措大致上已經沒有問題了,
接下來就看我們如何表現,來回應金主們的期待了。

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--BroadLogic Network Technologies is among the Cool Vendors listed in the Cool Vendors in Carrier Network Infrastructure, 2007 report, by David A. Willis et al, published on March 19, 2007, by Gartner, Inc. This is the first time BroadLogic has been named a Cool Vendor.

BroadLogics TeraPIX processor enables cable operators to increase bandwidth and triple their digital spectrum. This additional bandwidth offers cable operators the equivalent of fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) network performance, and allows them to transparently deliver dozens more high definition (HD) channels, video-on-demand (VOD), VoIP, and ultra-high-speed cable modem services to subscribers, without the need for extensive network upgrades.

We appreciate the recognition as a Gartner 'Cool Vendor.' We have developed a breakthrough technology that cost-effectively solves a critical problem for an entire industry, said Danial Faizullabhoy, CEO of BroadLogic. In order to remain competitive, cable operators must find the bandwidth to offer additional services. BroadLogics processor is the only solution that offers sufficient bandwidth without the expense of ripping up streets or burdening consumers with additional equipment.

Cable systems in North America are in a bandwidth crunch. While satellite and telecommunications competitors offer more HD channels and new services over all-digital networks, 70 percent of a cable operators downstream bandwidth supports the analog channels used by a large percent of the existing customer base, which the operations cannot afford to lose. Operators have few choices. They can replace the cable running to homes, require a set-top box on every analog device in every home, and implement stop-gap measures that offer only short-term help, or deploy BroadLogic. With the BroadLogic solution, one Residential Gateway using the BroadLogic BL80000 TeraPIX is placed outside the home. The cable operator can then go all digital up to the home, recovering all the bandwidth dedicated to the analog signal, while the BL80000 can serve the entire digital lineup, as well as other services, to all the existing analog devices in the home without any set-top boxes.

About Gartner's Cool Vendors Selection Process

Gartner's listing does not constitute an exhaustive list of vendors in any given technology area, but rather is designed to highlight interesting, new and innovative vendors, products and services. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness of a particular purpose.

Gartner defines a cool vendor as a company that offers technologies or solutions that are: Innovative, enable users to do things they couldn't do before; Impactful, have, or will have, business impact (not just technology for the sake of technology); Intriguing, have caught Gartner's interest or curiosity in approximately the past six months.

About BroadLogic

Headquartered in San Jose, California, BroadLogic designs and supplies breakthrough video-processing technologies that enable broadband network operators to maintain their competitive edge by offering next-generation video-on-demand, digital-video, voice, and high-speed data services to more consumers. BroadLogics patented technologies power devices that simultaneously process an order of magnitude more video content than conventional approaches, helping operators maximize revenue gains while controlling operational and capital expenditures.

Friday, February 02, 2007

BroadLogic to Begin Cable Tests

沒想到,今天又看到一篇新的報導,身在公司,竟然還要靠外面的媒體才能知道
一些消息,另一個好消息是,我們終於收到來自Cisco的訂單了,雖然不多啦,
不過,還是一個蠻令人鼓舞的消息。



Startup will commence trial phase of technology that promises to change the way TV is delivered.

February 1, 2007

By Cassimir Medford

BroadLogic said Thursday it’s getting set to test its technology with at least five major cable firms, potentially saving cable operators massive expenditures on network upgrades.

The privately held San Jose-based company declined to name the cable companies involved, but said it has commitments to conduct both lab and field trials to test whether digitizing cable transmission streams can indeed triple the cable firms’ available bandwidth.

‘The more choice consumers have, the more bandwidth is needed.’

-Thomas Ayres,

BroadLogic

One of the commitments certainly came from Time Warner, which is one of the two most recent investors in BroadLogic.

Time Warner, which owns Time Warner Cable, the second largest cable operator in the United States, and Rho Ventures plunked down $20 million in the company about two years ago (see BroadLogic Boosts Cable).

At that time BroadLogic estimated it would be in field trials by mid-2005. The degree of difficulty has ratcheted up since then because of the increased network demands of HDTV and video-on-demand.

Much to Prove

BroadLogic will have to prove its processor-based technology can hold up under the rigors of increasing consumer demand for high bandwidth-consuming services.

Another key factor will be determining whether the new technology will require expensive add-on devices, particularly at the customer end of the cable connection, where upgrades can be very costly.

BroadLogic’s processors promise to digitize traffic streams on the cable network. Digital transmission is far more efficient than analog transmission, which eats up huge amounts of bandwidth in the cable firms’ hybrid fiber-optic/coax networks.

But BroadLogic is not alone in offering the cable industry bandwidth-saving options. BigBand, a marketer of switched digital video technology, has just completed successful field tests with Cablevision.

Comcast has also confirmed that it is involved in testing switched video (see Comcast Makes the Switch).

No Competition

But BroadLogic does not see video switching as solely a competitive technology.

“Switched video has its strong point in infrequently viewed content such as video-on-demand,” said Thomas Ayres, BroadLogic’s vice president of engineering. “If you look at channels that are highly watched, switching does very little for you, so we are very complementary technologies.”

“We are in the age of consumer choice,” he added. “The more choice consumers have, the more bandwidth is needed, and that choice can be video or data. It’s about pleasing the consumer.”

The company will enter the market as a cable upgrade, but according to BroadLogic CEO Danial Faizullabhoy, it will not be limited to just cable operators.

“We bring efficiencies to any pipe that’s carrying analog traffic, whether it’s fiber-coax hybrid or fiber only,” Mr. Faizullabhoy said.

“As a matter of fact, fiber is very unfriendly to analog, so by pulling analog off of fiber, you relax some of the design constraints and you make the network that much more efficient,” he concluded.

Sunday, January 28, 2007

Comcast Makes the Switch


星期五(1/26/2007)我們公司的CEO 丹尼爾又很興奮地把正要去倒水的我攔下來,
接著要我跟著他,一路上把看到的人都叫了出來,就在公司的走道上開了一個臨時會議,
原來,他是要跟我們報告這個好消息,Cablevision已經正式宣佈要採用我們的晶片,
而Comcast也正式跟我們簽約,進入晶片測試階段...
生性多疑的我(因為就是覺得公司的老闆都只會劃大餅)馬上就來google一下,
沒想到,果然,真的找到了新聞稿,在這裡讓大家分享一下囉。

附註:Cablevision 是全美第五大cable公司,Comcast 是美國第一大的cable公司


Comcast Makes the Switch

Cable TV giant follows Cablevision and a band of startups in freeing up bandwidth for HDTV.
January 26, 2007

By Cassimir Medford

Comcast confirmed Friday that it is testing the real-world reliability of switched digital video, a TV service delivery technique that could delay the need for heavy expenditure on overall network upgrades.

The technology promises to breathe new life into the cable operator’s fiber-optic/copper hybrid networks. Those networks are beginning to wilt under the immense bandwidth demands of HDTV.

Comcast, the largest cable TV operator in the United States, is at least the second major cable carrier to test the technology. Shares of Comcast fell $0.10 to $43.39 in recent trading.

Cablevision, the fifth largest cable operator in the U.S., said this week it has successfully completed the biggest-ever deployment of switched digital video in the country. The rollout occurred in the New York area.

The testing and deployment of switched digital video is extremely good news for a small clique of privately held firms such as BroadLogic, of San Jose, California, and BigBand Networks, of Redwood City, California.


BigBand’s life as a private company is on life support since the six-year-old company filed for an IPO in December.

BigBand, which is in a quiet period, counts nine of the top 10 largest cable operators as its customers. The company provided the key pieces of technology in Cablevision’s deployment of switched video.

Analog to Digital Switch

In November, BroadLogic said it began marketing a video processor technology that promises to triple cable operators’ network capacity. The company’s TeraPIX technology increases the bandwidth to the home by digitizing the video streams (see BroadLogic Boosts Cable).

Analog transmission eats up 500 megahertz of a typical 750 MHz connection, while digital transmission makes much more effective use of bandwidth. By freeing up bandwidth, cable operators can better serve their HDTV customers.

Cablevision announced nine international packages on foreign language channels that will be delivered via its switching technology. The channels will be presented in Spanish, Russian, Italian, Chinese, Korean, Hindi, and other languages.

With BigBand’s switched broadcast system, only digital TV programs currently being requested by customers will be delivered on the network.

In the current state of the art, all programs are sent to all homes on the network simultaneously even if no one is watching a majority of the programs. In the switched system, only programs that are being watched will be sent, freeing up bandwidth.

Comcast is currently testing switching technology in two undisclosed markets. The carrier said it plans to implement the technology later this year, but refused to disclose which vendor’s technology is being used.

Saturday, January 27, 2007

BroadLogic Boosts Cable

去年11月,公司正式在各大媒體發表我們的產品,開始增加我們的曝光率,
當然,我們也開始興奮起來,畢竟,這事關公司生死,未來會如何就看這一次了,
這裡我大概解釋一下我們到底做的是啥碗糕好了,
基本上我們的產品是把數位的電視訊號轉成類比訊號,
或許你會說,這個不是到處都有了嗎?
沒錯,但是,要把80個頻道的數位電視節目,同時轉成類比訊號,
這就是需要一點技巧了。

在美國,電視節目主要是來自有線電視跟衛星電視,
最近竟然連電話公司也想加入這個戰場,
而且他們是直接把光纖鋪到你家門口,
於是這個舉動震撼了長久以來獨大的有線電視公司,
目前美國的電視族群大概是 21%是有線數位電視,
20%看衛星數位電視,45%看傳統有線電視
各大家爭食的大餅當然就是那些45%看傳統電視的族群,
電話公司跟衛星電視公司都想引誘
這些人來看數位電視節目,你沒有數位電視,
他就然後免費送機上盒(STB),
而有線電視公司為了因應數位化的需求,
(因為全面數位化不但是趨勢,更能節省成本),
但是又為了保住他原本45%的顧客群,
也不得不在全面更新他的系統之前,尋找適合的方案,
而目前似乎也只有贈送機上盒給簽約的顧客,才能解決。
問題是FCC今年宣布,機上盒裡頭的 cablecard 必須用third party,
讓原本STB的成本反而增加....
這些機上盒的維修,回收等等又是另一個頭痛的問題。
目前看來,我們的產品似乎解決了他們的問題,
對於電話公司來說,這是一個進攻傳統有線電視族群的利器,
對於有線電視公司,卻又是讓他們保住原本客戶,
然後安心地全面系統數位化的解決方案,
讓他們可以安心地全面把系統數位化,
於是在這個全面電視數位化的轉型期,我們找到了一個生存的空間....



BroadLogic Boosts Cable

Startup wants to triple cable TV bandwidth by reclaiming analog capacity with digital efficiencies.
November 6, 2006

On the eve of the United States mid-term elections, BroadLogic, a startup focused on the cable industry, rolled out on Monday its “November Surprise,” a video processor technology that promises to triple cable operators’ network capacity at a time when bandwidth is in massive demand.

It is BroadLogic’s second November Surprise in two years. In November 2004, the company announced that it had received a $20-million third round of investment led by the U.S.’s second largest cable operator, Time Warner, and another New York City investor, Rho Ventures (see Time Warner's Expensive Upgrade).

San Jose, California-based BroadLogic announced the availability of TeraPIX, a processor that will be the key component in a gateway device that could be installed at each subscriber’s residence.

Analog to Digital

Because of the popularity of cable-ready devices, many subscribers today receive roughly about 80 channels without the benefit of set-top boxes. But analog delivery of 80 channels eats up a significant amount of bandwidth: 500 megahertz of a typical 750MHz network.


By switching to digital delivery, cable operators can get back a lot of that bandwidth because of the efficiencies inherent in digital delivery. But that would require the distribution and installation of a set-top box and a remote control for each TV in each home—an expensive proposition.

The BroadLogic gateway allows the cable companies to apply the efficiencies of digital delivery without installing set-top boxes at each TV set. However it does involve the installation of a gateway either inside or outside the customer’s premise, an expensive but longer-term solution.

If the TeraPIX technology works in the field and can be installed at a reasonable cost, it will allow cable operators to gain significant bandwidth without having to invest billions of dollars on an overall network upgrade.

Winning Ticket

For eight-year-old BroadLogic, this could be a winning ticket in a very expensive lottery that started more than two years ago when the cable operators invaded the turf of the phone companies by offering voice service.

The two largest phone companies responded by investing billions in fiber-optic upgrades of their networks, to offer pay TV service.

The demands of high-definition TV and on-demand TV, both of which consume additional bandwidth, have placed additional stress on the cable TV networks.

Cable operators have been casting about for novel ways to make the delivery of these new services less bandwidth-consuming. BroadLogic’s new processors offer an option—an option that has been pending for some time.

In August 2002, BroadLogic received a $12-million cash infusion from a team of investors led by Cisco Systems, Intel Capital, August Capital, CDIB Venture, and Walden International.

In November 2004 the company got a $20-million investment from Time Warner and Rho Ventures.

Tuesday, October 03, 2006

公司夏末出遊

難得有這種機會,我當然要來試試看開帆船的滋味,怎麼說呢,當船長的感覺實在是太棒了。
衝阿,衝阿,Let's go to Hawaii today !! 不小心就脫口而出,哈哈!




出發前清點人數,講解注意事項





在甲板上跟同事閒聊





在浮標上休息的海獅

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2006 公司夏日出遊

寫在頭前
隨著夏天的結束,公司再次招待我們慶祝夏日結束,
這次在新的CEO的帶領之下,
公司決定帶我們坐帆船出海一天,這比去年到賽車場開車好玩多了.
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出發的前一天,同事們就已經迫不及待地開始上網研究我們要搭的帆船,
到底是什麼樣子的船,中午吃飯的時候,有人還把照片印出來給大家看,
感覺就很像國小遠足前一樣的那種期待,
當天一大早就有一台遊覽車在公司路邊等我們,
雖然說今天是放假,但是有些人還是早上先到公司工作了兩個小時,
才下樓去集合,全員到齊之後,車子開了大概1個多小時之後到達Santa Cruz 的海邊,
說真的,我也是第一次坐這種大帆船,雖然我以前在學校學過帆船,
不過那個都只能坐1,2個人而已,跟這個沒得比,
其實公司的人也沒很多,28個人一艘船還有剩,
船一開出去,就有一些人迫不及待要到船頭表演鐵達尼號的招牌動作,
唉,幾歲的人了,還這樣,

這時候,船長跟美女大副也開始拿出各種酒來讓大家品嚐,
躺在甲板上,迎著海風,喝著紅酒,真是享受阿∼
大家一邊喝著酒,一邊聊著天,趁這個機會培養一下員工之間的感情,
對於公司的招待,我們大家也是讚不絕口,看來公司的向心力也增加了不少。
唯一美中不足的是,船上雖然有一堆酒可以喝,
午餐卻只有Pizza ,我忙著拍照的時候,就已經被搶光了,
害我後來肚子餓的要死....
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後記
我是不知道為何要特別慶祝夏日的結束,對我來說,
好玩活動固然很好,免費去玩的活動,更是只有一個爽字囉。
當然,高興之餘,回來之後還是要認真工作啦,小公司成功不易,
就像小孩子一樣,容易傷風感冒,一不小心就掰掰了,
現在的公司,本來還以為沒希望了,準備想便宜賣給大公司,
誰知道做好的IC竟然成功,最近還到處發新聞稿...
而之前台灣那家公司,從一開始的明日之星,金雞母型的公司,
轉眼變成現在拼了4年都還沒賺回成本,收掉一個產品線,
到未來可能變成背後金主的燙手山芋,雖
然說很多事情都有跡可尋,但是商場的變化莫測,
實在是太難預料了。