Cisco buy video-conferencing firm Tandberg for $3 billion

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20091001/bs_nm/us_cisco_tandberg

By Georgina Prodhan and Aasa Christine Stoltz – 1 hr 47 mins ago

LONDON/OSLO (Reuters) – Cisco (CSCO.O) has agreed to buy Norwegian videoconferencing company Tandberg (TAA.OL) for $3 billion, the latest in a series of bets taken on using video to drive demand for its core data transmission gear.

The world's dominant maker of Web routers and switches said buying Tandberg would strengthen its position in a $34 billion market for remote business collaboration tools and help it make underused videoconferencing more useful and less clumsy.

Cisco's head of European markets, Chris Dedicoat, said the move would complement Cisco's high-end videoconferencing serviceTelePresence and its previous acquisition of online meeting company WebEx, expanding the number of customers it can reach.

"Tandberg has a large number of video endpoints," he told Reuters on Thursday. He added that he considered the offer of 153.5 crowns per share in cash, an 11 percent premium to Tandberg's Wednesday closing price, as fair to both parties.

Tandberg shares, which had almost doubled in value this year, helped by takeover speculation, were up another 11.6 percent at 154.40 Norwegian crowns by 1044 GMT.

"This sounds like a pretty good price so I would think it will end up there," said analyst Martin Hoff of Arctic Securities. "But the bid will stand for four weeks and there might be other (offers)."

Potential counterbidders include Hewlett-Packard (HPQ.N), which is also active in Web collaboration. Telecoms equipment maker Ericsson (ERICb.ST) and private equity firm Silver Lake have also been linked by the market with Tandberg.

DnB NOR Markets also named in a report companies such as Juniper (JNPR.O), IBM (IBM.N), Sony (6758.T) and Siemens (SIEGn.DE) as potential suitors.

However, Tandberg's board unanimously recommended the Cisco offer to its shareholders. Cisco said it hopes to close the deal in the first half of 2010, subject to regulatory approval.

If the deal goes through Tandberg's chief executive, Fredrik Halvorsen, will continue to lead the unit.

"We have the same vision, a vision of how people communicate and collaborate," Halvorsen said on a webcast on Tandberg's website (www.tandberg.com)

"The bid makes perfect industrial sense for Cisco," said Arild Nysaether, an analyst at Fondsfinans in Oslo. "It is obvious that there are great synergies here, but it seems that Tandberg shareholders are offered none."

JP Morgan is advising Tandberg and Lazard is advising Cisco.

BET ON VIDEO

Cisco, which had $35 billion in cash as of July 25, has made decisive moves outside its core network business in recent months as large technology companies start to compete in new areas, though it has been cautious about large acquisitions.

Its largest this year was of Flip digital camcorder maker Pure Digital Technologies for $590 million in stock, expanding its presence in consumer markets and betting on the growing volume of video sent over the Internet.

In March Cisco also made its first foray into the computer server market, pitting it against longstanding partners IBM (IBM.N) and HP and hoping to exploit the ubiquity of its network equipment in data centers.

By acquiring Tandberg, Cisco reckons it can bring videoconferencing to many more companies than the thousands who currently use it, bringing its network expertise to make the experience easier.

It will also help it compete better with U.S. video conferencing products maker Polycom (PLCM.O).

"We're making video a service on the network," Dedicoat said. "It's all about interoperability," he added, referring to the current difficulty of videoconferencing, which often involves companies using technology unconnected to other systems they use.

Companies have also been stirred to try harder to make video meetings work by the recession, which has slashed corporate travel budgets and when the economy recovers companies are not expected to restore travel budgets to previous levels.

Cisco has said it has reduced its own global travel expenditure to about $260 million from $720 million, thanks to its investment in TelePresence.

Dedicoat said Cisco aimed to make remote communication a more human experience.

"We've all been on a conference call late at night where you're a voice on a speakerphone at the other end of the world, and there's 16 people in the other room," he said.

"Human beings like to meet face to face, that's how we like to communicate. However, if you can't meet face to face, and with the emphasis on carbon reduction, then you recreate as closely as you possibly can that face-to face meeting."

($1=5.794 Norwegian crowns)

(Additional reporting by Joachim Dagenborg, Tejre Solsvik and Wojciech Moskwa in Oslo; Editing by Greg Mahlich)

Matlab Simulink and HDL

Simulink HDL Coder 1.6

Generate HDL code from Simulink models and MATLAB code

Simulink® HDL Coder™ generates bit-true, cycle-accurate, synthesizable Verilog and VHDL code from Simulink® models, Stateflow® charts, and Embedded MATLAB™ code. The automatically generated HDL code is target independent.

The Simulink HDL Coder product generates Verilog code that complies with the IEEE 1364-2001 standard and VHDL code that complies with the IEEE 1076 standard. As a result, you can verify the automatically generated HDL code using popular functional verification products, including Cadence® Incisive®, Mentor Graphics® ModelSim®, and Synopsys® VCS®. You can also map the automatically generated HDL code into field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) or application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) using popular synthesis tools, such as Altera® Quartus® II, Cadence Encounter® RTL Compiler, Mentor Graphics® Precision®, Synopsys Design Compiler®, Synplicity® Synplify®, and Xilinx® ISE™.

Simulink HDL Coder also generates HDL test benches that help you verify the generated HDL code using HDL simulation tools.

Charles Fulks at Intuitive Research and Technology gives example codes in

http://www.irtc-hq.com/fpga.php

Embedded Systems Conference example files
File esc_sv09.mdl esc_sv09_init.m esc_sv09_pwm_pkg.m esc_sv09_sin_pkg.m esc_sv09_stop.m esc_sv09_fpga.do esc_sv09_fpga_tb.vhd tb_utilities_pkg.vhd esc_sv09_fpga.vhd esc_sv09_pwm.vhd esc_sv09_pwm_pkg.m esc_sv09_sin.vhd esc_sv09_sin_pkg.vhd	Description Simulink model Matlab script Matlab script Matlab script Matlab script ModelSim script VHDL Testbench VHDL Testbench package VHDL Top Level Design VHDL PWM Design VHDL PWM Package (generated by Matlab script) VHDL PWM Design VHDL PWM Package (generated by Matlab script)

His model based FPGA design principle can be seen at

http://sedware.com/sites/default/files/FPGA_Introduction.pdf

http://sedware.com/sites/default/files/VHDL.pdf

Harmonic's HD Encoder

Altera's Stratix III FPGAs Chosen for Harmonic's Next-Generation Universal Broadcast Video Encoder

San Jose, Calif., April 20, 2009—Altera Corporation (NASDAQ: ALTR) today announced that Harmonic has chosen its Stratix® III FPGAs for its next-generation high-definition (HD) H.264 1080p video broadcast encoder. Delivering the right combination of performance, programmability, flexibility and low power consumption, the Stratix III devices help Harmonic to improve video quality while consuming significantly less bandwidth.

Altera® Stratix III devices are used in Harmonic's DiviCom Electra 8000, the world's first encoding and transcoding platform to support MPEG-4 AVC (H.264) and MPEG-2 CODECs in standard-definition (SD) and HD formats up to full frame-rate 1080p 50/60. While helping to provide superior picture quality, Altera's Stratix III devices also contribute to the Electra 8000&'s ground-breaking energy efficiency.

“Harmonic's DiviCom Electra 8000 sets the benchmark for real-time video-processing technology,” said Nimrod Ben-Natan, Vice President of Product Marketing, Solutions and Strategy for Harmonic Inc. “Altera's Stratix III FPGAs help us enhance our video algorithms. Altera offers clear FPGA leadership in digital signal processing (DSP) and external memory performance, while still delivering low power requirements.”

“Altera has made significant investments in our FPGA architecture and solutions to meet the demanding requirements of 1080p video-processing applications,” said Arun Iyengar, senior director of Altera's broadcast and communications business units. “Altera's Stratix III FPGAs deliver twice the video-processing capability of previous-generation FPGAs while maintaining a constant power budget. This allows broadcast leaders like Harmonic to further differentiate its products.”

H.264 Soft Encoder Comparison

H.264 Predefined profiles

H.264 Profile Level

IBC 2009: Tandberg Unveils HD H.264

http://webcast.broadcastnewsroom.com/articles/viewarticle.jsp?id=842482&afterinter=true

IBC 2009: Tandberg Unveils Next-Generation MPEG-4 Gear

Shows complete contribution system

By Glen Dickson

IBC Amsterdam 2009: Complete Coverage of the IBC Show

Ericsson unit Tandberg Television introduced at IBC new MPEG-4 encoding products aimed at both backhauling high-definition signals and distributing them directly to consumers.

According to Tandberg VP of technology Matthew Goldman, Tandberg is the only vendor to provide a complete MPEG-4 AVC HD 4:2:2 system solution for the C&D (Contribution and Distribution) market, i.e. either backhauling signals from live events or distributing high-quality mezzanine feeds to cable headends which will then be re-compressed for delivery to the home. It was demonstrating the system in its joint Tandberg/Ericsson booth.

The new MPEG-4 4:2:2 system, which uses 10-bit video processing for improved color gradation, supports HD encoding up to the 1080p/60 format. It includes the existing Tandberg RX8200 receiver, which can be upgraded to support 4:2:2 10-bit encoding through a software option. Goldman expects the 4:2:2 system will eventually be used to backhaul feeds produced in the 1080p/60 format at bit-rates ranging from 20 to 80 Mbps.

"That's in the sweet spot that JPEG2000 can't hit," says Goldman.

Tandberg also introduced the EN8190 HD encoder, an MPEG-4 4:2:0 product aimed at direct-to-home (DTH) satellite applications as well as the IPTV market. Goldman says the EN8190 represents a 20-25% improvement in bit-rate efficiency over the company's previous MPEG-4 4:2:0 model, enough for a DTH operator to add one more HD channel per satellite transponder. Tandberg was demonstrating the EN8190 delivering six HD channels in 30 Mbps of bandwidth using its statistical multiplexing technology.

In another part of its booth, Tandberg was explaining how its OpenStream VOD management system can be used today to support multi-platform delivery. The demonstration showed how a VOD movie that was being delivered to a basic Motorola DCT-2000 set-top box could be paused, with the movie then being restarted as streaming video delivered to an Apple iPhone over a Wi-Fi link.

Tandberg VP of applications software strategy Michael Adams says the company will give a more in-depth demonstration of OpenStream's multiplatform capabilities at the SCTE show in Denver next month. He says the streaming form of VOD could be delivered just as easily over a wireless 3G network as over a Wi-Fi link.

"That's just a plumbing issue," says Adams, who expects that Tandberg will be involved in a commercial deployment of such multi-platform delivery by early next year.

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