Director, Business Development and Marketing
Markham - Ontario Canada
The big idea: In 25 words or less, please tell us how this Fast 50 Nominee is helping to address the planet's problems.
Fresco Microchip has created an ultra-small, low-power chip that does the job of multiple components while enabling analog TV to co-exist with digital TV.
Please describe how this nominee is using business as a force of positive change. What technology, idea, or strategy is the nominee using -- and what problem, such as global warming, poverty, or pollution, does it address? (suggested length: 100 words)
Throughout the globe, television is recognized as a powerful form of communication, educating, informing and entertaining. In many ways TV is the lifeline of communications from the local community to the world. TV has become the medium of the masses through the wonders of technology. Now advances in technology are moving away from standard analog TV to digital TV and this transition poses a disruption to this vital form of communication. Particularly overseas in Europe, Asia and other countries which are centered on analog and do not have the massive infrastructure that exists in North America to make a formal switch to digital TV.
Simply put, there is a revolution taking place in the television industry which is driven by digital technology. Digital enables TV broadcasts to become more ubiquitous, available anywhere, anytime, any place. While digital transports TV content to a new level, Fresco is focused on embracing analog along with digital to foster an environment of co-existence. The vision of Fresco is that neither technology –analog or digital-- become a loser, but that both can exist to ensure access to TV broadcasts no matter where in the world you live.
Fresco is dedicated to bridging this analog-digital broadcast TV divide with its unique approach and patent-pending technologies. The company has already reached several key milestones including the release of their first chip mid last year, the FM2080, the world's first single-chip hybrid receiver for the DVB-T markets. By year’s end, Fresco introduced their next chip, the FM2050, a low power single-chip hybrid receiver for terrestrial and cable television. The FM2050 leverages their breakthrough agileDSP architecture and creates a new benchmark for high quality TV performance and significant cost reduction, which is of great value to consumer electronics manufactures.
Like any revolution, change agents are central to igniting the movement. For the digital television market, Fresco Microchip plays a key role in bridging the old, analog world to the new digital future.
What are the results, both financial and social? How has the nominee's business performed, and what impact has it had on the problem it addresses? (suggested length: 100 words)
Today, over 500 million TV tuners/demodulators are sold each year with close to 900 million units projected by 2011 globally. Significant growth is accelerated as consumers demand digital and analog reception across broader market TV platforms including PCs, set-top boxes, DVD-Rs, DVRs, and high performance televisions same time, analog TV systems continue to co-exist in Europe and North America and proliferate in the rest of the world. As these transitions unfold, hybrid (analog + digital) systems represent a significant market share as TV content is available anywhere, anytime, on any device.
To date, Fresco has developed several patent-pending design-wins with leading DTV and PCTV manufacturers around the world.
Comments that readers have made about this submission:
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Fresco Microchip is one of the leading emerging companies in the area of terrestrial and cable TV receivers. Their solution has superior performance, smaller form factor, and lower power than their competitors in the same class. This is truly a company worth keeping an eye on.
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Let's all not forget the significant reduction in materials required to make up the chip traditionally before their introduction of the hybrid receiver. This will be a significant impact on the environment over time in the future.
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Truly an impressive company!
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Excellent Technology !
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Fresco's products address both the consumer market of hybrid analogue-digital TV tuner and a society desire to conserve energy. It is positioned for a fast growth path in an extremely competitive market.
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Joe Cole, New Jersey, USA
Great Work Fresco. Clear vision and clear direction.
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Great company.
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With the TV tuner/demodulator market gowning so rapidly, these new product designs are perfect for our time.
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A Wonderful company !
Solutions that are by innovation, creating a better product, & cost reduction for the industry.
Out of the box thinking to reshape the demodulator paradigm combined with deep marketing, sales and organization capabilities, back by experienced investors will make this one of the fastest growing Fabless Semi-conductor companies ever.
Fresco's products are exactly what integration and innovation are all about, Complex Mixed Signal SOCs, low power, high reliability, a whole lot of technical know-how packed into a very small amount of space. I have watched this company grow and they keep on impressing me. Nice work Fresco, keep it up!
Innovative company with a great future.
A highly innovative, integrated and competitive solution with a tremendeous potential in the market. Definitely worth keeping an eye on.
Great company with impressive product
Great company and impressive product
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Fresco rocks!
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With such leading edge products for the TV market, I believe Fresco has great potential to be one of the fastest growing semiconductor companies.
