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Spotlight
Patenting tomorrow’s growth
Having established itself as a core DSP technology vendor
in a short time, Ittiam sees new growth coming from mobile platforms and home
entertainment, says Vinutha V
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We are planning to file 10 patents every year in our
domain
Srini Rajam
Chairman and CEO
Ittiam |
In his earlier stint Srini Rajam was the managing director of Texas Instruments
India. Known for his passion for Digital Signal Processor (DSP) technology,
in Ittiam he has managed to build a world-class DSP software and systems company
with capabilities in wireless, broadband, audio (MP3), imaging and Voice over
Internet Protocol (VoIP).
Seven men, single goal
Rajam and six others left Texas Instruments in 2000 to float their own venture.
Knowing the potential of DSP—a core technology in communications and programming—they
co-founded Ittiam Systems in January 2001.
Despite the initial challenges of identifying markets and
building a talented team from scratch, Ittiam has come a long way to prove that
India could well be the next destination for building Intellectual Property
Rights (IPR). Says Rajam, chairman and chief executive officer of the company,
“Reaching out to the customer was a major challenge then.” The company
took a bold approach—it would develop IPR in India that could be licenced
to generate revenues in the form of royalties. The results were satisfying:
the company clocked revenue of $ 4.78 million for the financial year ending
March 31, 2004. Aiming to grow five-fold by 2008, Ittiam envisages touching
$ 25 million in revenues by then. From its present-day team of 130 engineers
and support executives, the company anticipates reaching an employee strength
of 300 in the next four years. Its 50 customers include the likes of Sony, Texas
Instruments, Starcore, ARC and Premium Image Corporation.
IPR = revenues
To date, Ittiam has filed about 20 patents on error recovery in video receivers,
orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM)-based wireless systems, embedded
processor implementation of speech in audio codecs, and 802.11-based wireless
LAN systems. “Filing patents is very important as they help us compete
with rivals and give high value to customers. We are planning to file 10 patents
every year in our domain,” states Rajam.
New specialisations
Within DSP, the company has competencies in multiple application domains, and
is well-positioned in fast-growing segments such as digital audio-video, wireless
LAN and VoIP. Ittiam will also make a foray into mobile multimedia, mobile IP
videophone and home entertainment. The company plans to create new products
and applications in mobile multimedia in the first quarter of 2005. Basically,
there are many audio and video technologies that can be integrated in cell phones,
and Ittiam is doing just that. The new products in home entertainment are expected
to hit the market in 2006. Wireless LAN for home networking is seen as another
growth area for Ittiam.
On the anvil
Ittiam is currently working on upgrading IP videophones from their present bandwidth
of 1 Mbps to 128 Mbps. Multiple products embedded with Ittiam DSP have already
hit the market. In the recent past, Ittiam’s versatile media player, recorder
and server reference design was showcased at the Consumer Electronics Show 2004
in Las Vegas. Ittiam’s DSP technology was showcased at the 3GSM World Congress
2004 held at Cannes in France.
Focus on APAC
Along with a subsidiary in the US and a branch office in
Britain, Ittiam has operations in Taiwan. It also has representation in Japan,
Korea and Singapore through authorised associates. Says Rajam, “As we are
introducing newer versions of products, we need to enhance our focus on sales
and marketing in these countries.”
In a move to offer voice and video communication
over broadband networks, including wireless LANs, Ittiam recently launched
the Digital Media Album (DMA). This aims to fill the gap of a portable media
player, and can be used while travelling in a car or plane. Recorded or
downloaded images or video clippings can be viewed. Other features include
downloading pictures that were captured using digital stills or video cameras.
Video sequences can be captured by either connecting to a camera or using
the built-in camera which the device has. In future, the DMA will also have
the ability to play the popular DivX video format. The DMA has a hard disk
with the capacity to store over 50 movies in MPEG-4 form; it is based on
the video processor from Texas Instruments called TMS320DM270. Ittiam expects
to licence the technology behind this device, as well as its associated
software, to power many such portable media player appliances.
This integrated hardware/software solution is targeted at OEMs engaged in
the manufacture of two-way video communications systems. Ittiam is already
in discussion with three companies in Asia and America. |
This software sub-system is a modular package of
audio and video processing functions with call control protocols and network
protocols integrated into a common framework running on a single DSP. The
solution includes an embedded software framework along with a hardware demonstration
and application development platform. An adaptive jitter buffer provides
enhanced quality under adverse network conditions. The framework, modular
architecture and application-programming interface (API) support a wide
range of video and audio standards catering to varying customer needs.
The voice and audio processing functions support a wide range of speech
codecs for narrow and wideband voice, an acoustic echo canceller for hands-free
operation, and associated telephony. They are designed to provide OEM customers
the ability to rapidly integrate, explore and develop end-solutions, thus
enabling shorter time-to-market. Ittiam’s IP videophone solution caters
to several closely-related applications for home and enterprise environments.
These include stand-alone phones, PC add-on cards, and IP set-top boxes
for one-on-one communication and video conferencing. The new solution will
enable video communication over increasingly narrow channels including traditional
telephone lines. |
First quarter 2003: A VC funding of $ 5 million from Global
Technology Ventures
July 2003: - Acquisition of customers such as Sony and Silicon Laboratories
- Partnering with DivX Networks, Silicon Labs and Wipro for marketing WLAN
products
July 2004: Declared the ‘First among the fastest-growing SME companies’
by the Government of India, Government of Karnataka, and Software Technology
Parks of India |
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