"As the established market-leader of high-performance semiconductors for AR/VR/MR interconnects, Spectra7 intends to expand into the mobile tethered space and accelerate time-to-market for our OEM customers," said Spectra7 CEO Raouf Halim. "Backed by a very strong patent portfolio, including 36 patents in the field of active cables, our semiconductors and reference designs offer the reality industry's thinnest, lightest, and highest performing mobile solutions."
Spectra7 has established itself as the market leader providing active copper cable solutions for the AR/VR/MR HMD market. Most tethered systems shipping today connect to a PC or console. As smartphones become more powerful, a new generation of mobile HMDs are emerging that connect to a user's mobile device with a thin cable similar to what are used for audio ear-buds today. Spectra7's ICs make this possible by restoring the display and camera data signals that are attenuated and distorted by the extremely thin copper conductors.
Spectra7's Latest Reference Design Configurations
Three DreamWeVR™ Type-C (VRC) reference design configurations and supporting modules are now available to mobile OEM customers:
- DreamWeVR™ VRC 4+2 featuring 4 lanes of DisplayPort and USB 2.0 - DreamWeVR™ VRC 2+2 featuring 2 lanes of DisplayPort and USB 2.0 - DreamWeVR™ VRC 2+3 featuring 2 lanes of DisplayPort and USB 3.2These reference designs enable mobile AR/VR/MR OEMs to quickly and cost-effectively bring products to market. These VRC configurations all feature the new USB Type-C connector that is rapidly becoming the de facto interface on virtually all new smartphones1. Active cable module sets to support these reference designs are now available for sampling with production planned for the end of first quarter 2018.
These reference designs feature the Company's latest AR/VR/MR optimized, high-performance, analog IC's that represent the reality industry's broadest range, highest performance, lowest power and smallest size devices, including:
-- VR8200 - DisplayPort HBR2 Embedded Cable Processor- Delivers DisplayPort bandwidth of up to 21.6Gbps at 4K resolution.
-- VR8300 - DisplayPort HBR3 Embedded Cable Processor- Delivers HDMI bandwidth of up to 32.4Gbps at 5K resolution for 15 million pixel cinema-grade video.
-- VR8050 - USB 3.2 Gen 1 Embedded Cable Processor- Delivers up to 5Gbps of sensor/camera data for positional tracking, and gesture recognition.
-- VR8051 - USB 3.2 Gen 2 Embedded Cable Processor- Delivers up to 10Gbps of sensor/camera data for positional tracking and gesture recognition.
SPECTRA7 HOSTING MEETINGS AT CES 2018
The Company is hosting invitation-only one-on-one meetings with customers interested in previewing these reference designs at CES 2018. Please email Annie Hoang at ahoang@spectra7.com to schedule a meeting.
ABOUT SPECTRA7 MICROSYSTEMS INC.
Spectra7 Microsystems Inc. is a high performance analog semiconductor company delivering unprecedented bandwidth, speed and resolution to enable disruptive industrial design for leading electronics manufacturers in virtual reality, augmented reality, mixed reality, data centers and other connectivity markets. Spectra7 is based in San Jose, California with design centers in Markham, Ontario, Cork, Ireland, and Little Rock, Arkansas. For more information, please visit www.spectra7.com.
CAUTIONARY NOTES
Certain statements contained in this press release constitute "forward-looking statements". All statements other than statements of historical fact contained in this press release, including, without limitation, those regarding the Company's future financial position and results of operations, strategy, proposed acquisitions, plans, objectives, goals and targets, and any statements preceded by, followed by or that include the words "believe", "expect", "aim", "intend", "plan", "continue", "will", "may", "would", "anticipate", "estimate", "forecast", "predict", "project", "seek", "should" or similar expressions or the negative thereof, are forward-looking statements. These statements are not historical facts but instead represent only the Company's expectations, estimates and projections regarding future events. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve assumptions, risks and uncertainties that are difficult to predict. Therefore, actual results may differ materially from what is expressed, implied or forecasted in such forward-looking statements. Additional factors that could cause actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially include, but are not limited to the risk factors discussed in the Company's annual MD&A for the year ended December 31, 2016. Management provides forward-looking statements because it believes they provide useful information to investors when considering their investment objectives and cautions investors not to place undue reliance on forward-looking information. Consequently, all of the forward-looking statements made in this press release are qualified by these cautionary statements and other cautionary statements or factors contained herein, and there can be no assurance that the actual results or developments will be realized or, even if substantially realized, that they will have the expected consequences to, or effects on, the Company. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this press release and the Company assumes no obligation to update or revise them to reflect subsequent information, events or circumstances or otherwise, except as required by law.
References
1. "USB Type-C Report " (2018 Edition), IHS Markit.
Contacts: Spectra7 Microsystems Inc. Sean Peasgood Investor Relations 416-565-2805 ir@spectra7.com Spectra7 Microsystems Inc. Darren Ma Chief Financial Officer 669-284-3170 pr@spectra7.com