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Frontier Silicon: New Silicon Business to Drive Global Penetration of Digital TV and Digital Radio
London, UK — January 17, 2002: Today in London, at a forum for leading audio manufacturers, Frontier Silicon announced its formation as a fabless semiconductor business whose core products include system-on-chip (SoC) devices for Digital TV, Digital Radio and other emerging consumer multimedia products. The company has a new approach to highly integrated system-on-chip (SoC) silicon that will enable mass-market penetration of digital multimedia technology and today launches its first product, the Frontier Chorus™ processor for advanced digital audio and multimedia. Management and Shareholders Anthony Sethill, founder of Frontier Silicon and formerly Managing Director of Amstrad and Commercial Director of ONDigital (now called ITVDigital) has been appointed Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the new company. Other initial appointees include Ken McAlpine, former Engineering Director of Psion Computers and Managing Director of Psion InfoMedia as Chief Technical Officer (CTO). Frontier Silicon is a privately funded company with the majority of shareholding in Private Venture Capital. Minority shareholders include Digital One, the UK's only national commercial Digital Radio Network and Imagination Technologies plc, the leading provider of human-computer interface intellectual property. Frontier Silicon's Products: Digital Radio single chip solution Frontier Silicon has licensed the META DBX-1 processor design developed by Digital One and Imagination Technologies. Frontier Silicon's first product, the Frontier Chorus™, is based on this technology and will be shipping from March 2002. This is a single chip multimedia processor, for use in low cost mass-market consumer audio and data products, which can implement all DAB baseband and user interface functions on one device. The Frontier Chorus™ processor will be supplied to Frontier Silicon's first customer, Goodmans (part of Alba plc) and its Far East based manufacturing partners, starting in Q2 2002. The Chorus chip will enable Goodmans to launch the world's first Digital Radio products priced below £100. Products using Chorus include a portable CD radio unit, hi-fi micro system, DVD player with DAB and both in-car and hi-fi tuner products. Details of other products and customers using the Chorus processor will be announced shortly. Says Sethill: "Frontier Silicon chips will supply groundbreaking digital multimedia solutions to consumer electronics manufacturers worldwide. Our approach is to develop system silicon based on flexible, multi-threaded designs with high levels of integration which are highly cost effective." Marketing partners and representatives Frontier Silicon has already appointed sales and technical support representatives including Ultimate Marketing (UK), Techno Rep (France) and Iovox (Korea) and will shortly appoint representatives for Hong Kong, Japan, Germany, Scandinavia, and Benelux. Ultimate Marketing already represents a significant number of major OEMs, design consultants and top semiconductor manufacturers in the UK and Ireland. Techno Rep is a long established technical sales support company having represented Lucent in the French market for many years. Iovox is a leader in MP3, DAB and other digital audio technologies in Korea, dedicated to providing Digital Audio Broadcasting services, as well as the manufacture and distribution of DAB receivers in the global consumer market. Clients include Daewoo, Interconti, Mitsubishi, Eurovox and Shinwa -ENDS- About Digital One Digital One is the world's leading DAB digital radio broadcaster and operates the UK's only national commercial digital multiplex, broadcasting 10 stations to 80 per cent of the UK population. The company is 63 per cent owned by the UK's leading commercial radio group, GWR Group Plc (owner of Classic FM), and 37 per cent by NTL, the UK's leading broadband communications company. See: www.digitalone.co.uk About Imagination Technologies Imagination Technologies Group plc is an IP licensing company that develops, licenses and supplies market-leading 2D/3D graphics, digital video, Digital Signal Processing, audio and speech technologies, tools and diagnostic products for consumer entertainment and PC markets. Imagination Technologies Group plc has its corporate headquarters in the United Kingdom and is publicly traded on the London Stock Exchange (LSE:IMG). See: www.imgtec.com About Frontier Silicon Operating at the frontiers of the digital revolution Frontier Silicon is a fabless semiconductor business whose core products include system-on-chip (SoC) devices for Digital TV, Digital Radio and other emerging consumer multimedia products. Frontier's key customers include consumer electronic, automotive entertainment and PDA/mobile phone manufacturers. |
