How We See CE

I was very happy to very quickly say "yes" when Brian asked me to participate in this blog. It is a wonderful challenge and opportunity to come up with interesting thoughts and meaningful comments regarding our industry, in order to inform the tremendously broad readership of Brian's latest blog project.

I do not want to waste too much of your time and bore you with what I have done or what I am doing, but in a nutshell here we go. Since 2001, I have been the CEO of dicas digital image coding GmbH, founded in 1999, which is an MPEG-focused video coding specialist and a leading developer of ISO MPEG-4 real-time video coding solutions (hardware and software) for next generation Broadcast, IPTV, Mobile TV, Internet Streaming, Multimedia and Security applications. Under the brand name mpegable we offer a family of MPEG-4-, MPEG-4 AVC/H.264- (SD and HD) and 3GPP-compliant professional software tools and components for a number of operating systems and DSPs/ICs. We also supply services for the development, customization and optimization of MPEG-based video coding solutions.

I'm also privileged to be the President of the MPEG Industry Forum since 2004, after serving as Treasurer and Board member from 2002. MPEGIF is the world’s largest technology advocacy group for MPEG technologies such as MPEG-4 (including MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 and MPEG-4 HE AAC), MPEG-7 and MPEG-21. MPEGIF represents approximately 75 international companies and institutes from diverse industries. MPEGIF has also, for many years now, produced full-day conferences during NAB and IBC. In fact, on April 15th we will host our first MPEGIF Master Class at NAB titled "Advanced Video Services in Next Generation Video Ecosystems".

At MPEGIF I am working as part of a great board of directors with very experienced industry veterans including Vice President & Treasurer David Price, who is VP of Business Development and Product Marketing at Harmonic Inc. I am trying to play my micro part in our industry to contribute to a macro result that delivers value, benefits, progress and innovation to all market participants. I endeavour to do this by chairing, speaking and moderating at industry events and conferences across Europe, North America and Asia, by writing articles and opinion pieces in a variety of print and online industry and trade publications, and through active networking wherever possible and feasible.

I have also co-written (with Prof. Dr. Klaus Diepold of the Technical University of Munich, Germany) a book titled "Understanding MPEG-4 - Technology and Business Insights", published by Focal Press. I guess that we all have quite a lot to say when it comes to consumer electronics. The good news is that we can talk both horizontally and vertically about this subject. Besides, in the end, we are all consumers. On that note I am very much looking forward both to posting my thoughts here and to commenting on the posts of my colleagues. My aim is not only to get our message out, but also to create a lively dialogue between all of us, readers and posters alike.