The Ambric reference platform has also been seamlessly integrated with the world's leading professional video editing software suites for accelerating compressed video export. Details on this announcement will appear before Macworld Expo(R), January 15-18.
Ambric's Am2000(TM) family of processors and aDesigner(TM) programming tool suite deliver the first practical programming model for massively parallel processing. They enable high-performance, as well as highly scalable solutions, for developers accustomed to using digital signal processors (DSPs) and field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs). Ambric's chips were chosen by ADS Tech and Sorenson Media for their programmability, their 1.2 trillion operations-per-second performance, and their very low power consumption. They are 100 percent software programmable, which enables the reference platform to be extended with new software features and updated for new video processing standards, a compelling advantage over fixed-function video chips. Initial standards supported by the reference platform include MPEG-2 and H.264 High Profile for authoring quality, high-definition resolution. The reference platform will be used for DVD, Blu-ray Disc, and HD DVD authoring, as well as for streaming media and the latest H.264-based Adobe(R) Flash(R) CS3 Professoinal video standard. Additional compression formats and other video processing functions will be delivered as field-upgradeable, optional software components throughout 2008.
"We are very pleased that our latest Am2045 processor has been adopted for these exciting new solutions by industry-leading hardware and software OEMs," said Howard Bubb, Ambric chairman and CEO. "Our customers have a large and growing installed base of users worldwide. Pyro AV by ADS Tech, a leader in professional video conversion hardware, adopted our technology to put together a complete video encoding and transcoding solution that is transparently integrated with the world's leading video editing software. Sorenson's Squeeze(R) software is an award-winning product used by video professionals and prosumers worldwide for compression and transcoding. It features tight integration with industry standard video software platforms such as Adobe Flash. Video authoring customers of both companies will benefit from these price-performance and integration breakthroughs."
The Advanced Video Processing Market Needs a New Solution
High-quality, high-definition video processing is extremely compute-intensive and even the newest multi-GHz quad-core processors don't eliminate the bottlenecks that high-end prosumers and video professionals encounter. There are more than five million video processing users worldwide, of which close to one million are professionals or high-end prosumers. The Am2045 GT meets the needs of these users by delivering professional-quality, high-definition video results that are accelerated by up to eight times from within their existing video editing workflow and user interface.
The Am2045 GT video reference platform is superior to what is now available in several respects. The reference platform is totally programmable and scalable for a wide range of video processing functions. It provides a superior price-performance solution by accelerating video processing by up to eight times. It reduces complexity and increases reliability, needing just one Am2045 teraOPS-class processor on a small PCI Express(R) card. The Am2045 GT uses only 15 watts of power while delivering video processing throughput equivalent to four quad-core CPUs. It is easier to install and compatible with a broad range of PCI Express-based computers.
Ambric Customers Attest to the Advantages of the Am2045 Processor
"Now we can offer the best of both worlds with Ambric's Am2045 processor as the silicon engine in our new pro video solution," said Mike McCoy, president of ADS Tech. "With Ambric's massively parallel processing hardware and its tight integration with the world-leading video-editing software package, our users will benefit from a comprehensive video software solution that is powered by the world's fastest silicon for advanced video processing."
"Sorenson Squeeze is the industry's leading desktop encoding tool, known worldwide for easy-to-use high-quality video compression," said Matt Cupal, president and COO of Sorenson Media. "We're excited about Ambric's Am2045 processor. With its enormous video processing power and programmability, it promises to affordably bring multi-format HD encoding to the desktop using existing workflows."
About Ambric, Inc.
Ambric is a fabless semiconductor company that is shipping the world's first teraOPS-class processor and tools that make massively parallel software programming practical for complex, embedded systems and enable price-performance breakthroughs in video processing. The company's highly scalable, massively parallel processor arrays (MPPAs) deliver performance that is more than an order of magnitude greater than high-end DSPs, and four times the video throughput of the fastest quad-core CPUs with 15 times better energy efficiency. The price-performance also exceeds that of FPGAs on complex applications while enabling faster, easier development in software. Ambric products help companies accelerate time-to-market for their solutions while slashing their system development costs.
Established in 2003 and headquartered in Beaverton, Ore., Ambric has received funding from ComVentures, OVP Venture Partners, Northwest Technology Ventures, investment banks, and private investors. Visit http://www.ambric.com/ for the latest news and information on the company.
Editor Notes:
Ambric and the Ambric logo are registered trademarks, and Am2XXX, aDesigner, and Am2045 GT are trademarks of Ambric, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
Photos of Ambric's massively parallel processor chip, the Am2045, and the Am2045 GT PCI Express board are available from Ambric. Please contact jean@akipr.com.
Pyro AV by ADS Tech (http://www.pyroav.com) is the Broadcast Solutions division of ADS Technologies, Inc. The Pyro AV division is made up of a team of dedicated engineers with more than 15 years experience designing and developing high-quality video capture and conversion technologies. Pyro AV develops solutions for the prosumer, broadcast, and post-production markets, including a line-up of broadcast-quality video converters.
Contact: Christina Ito, ADS Tech (christina@adstech.com).
Sorenson Media, Inc. (http://www.sorensonmedia.com) is the global leader in video compression technology. The company's innovative encoding applications and award-winning video delivery solutions enable users to quickly and affordably deliver quality digital video files over the Internet and optical media. Sorenson Media's video streaming technology is used on more than 600 million PCs worldwide. The Sorenson Squeeze Compression Suite has garnered many major industry awards, including Macworld Best of Show and Video Systems 2004 Vanguard Award, and the firm's compression codecs are licensed by a host of Fortune 500 companies.
Contact: Peggy M. Hayes, Sorenson Companies Public Relations (phayes@sorensoncompanies.com).
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