Pixim Recognized with 2006 Technology Innovation and Leadership Award

May 26, 2006
Frost & Sullivan recognize chipmaker for achievements in video surveillance
Palo Alto, Calif. — Frost & Sullivan has named Pixim, Inc. recipient of the 2006 Technology Innovation & Leadership of the Year Award in the field of video surveillance technology in recognition of its development of the Orca chipset based on Pixim’s patented Digital Pixel System® (DPS) technology.

Pixim’s Orca chipset is a key value addition to camera vendors, and is catalyzing innovation among video analytics developers. Both camera and video analytics vendors are benefiting immensely from high quality images generated by the chipset. Pixim’s line of DPS chipsets is compact, easy to configure and delivers excellent image quality in both normal and wide dynamic range (WDR) scenes in any lighting conditions, 24/7.

“The exceptional quality of images generated by Pixim’s Orca chipset increases the accuracy of biometric based applications, which use surveillance video as an input for authentication, by decreasing false acceptance rates,” says Frost & Sullivan research analyst Karthik Nagarajan. “Since the Orca chipset can generate high-quality images in varied levels of lighting, the authentication systems become largely independent of lighting at the installation.”

While camera vendors manufacture boards and enclosures, Pixim supplies the firmware, including chipsets and reference designs for the printed circuit boards (PCBs) that constitute the camera. Orca chipsets enable development of compact, low power cameras packed with industry leading features, such as compatibility with both the NTSC and PAL video standards, allowing camera vendors to ship the same model to all markets, worldwide.

The reference designs that Pixim posts for Orca are common to most types of cameras, thereby simplifying the housing design processes. Also, the Orca chipset can substitute at least three camera hardware components – the optical low pass filter (OLPF), unshielded twisted pair (UTP) related components, and custom tooling required to manage thermal resistance. These factors can help lower costs of a camera by $25-$30.

The key innovation from Pixim is its digital pixel system, which is at the core of its chipset design. Some unique features of the DPS are pixel independent shutter speed (global shutter), progressive scan, high dynamic range (120dB max), maximum signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), and support for analog and IP cameras.

“Orca’s wide dynamic range produces high quality images with accurate color in extreme high and low lighting,” notes Nagarajan. “This feature, along with the lowest consumption rate of 1.5 watts per camera, differentiates Orca from its competition.”

High profile vendors began launching products based on the Orca chipset in August, after it became commercially available to OEMs in mid 2005.

“Pixim expects current mini dome implementations to be the first of many adoptions by mini dome vendors, thereby positioning the Orca chipset to target the ‘dome’ market segment” observes Nagarajan. “Since inception in Q2 2005, revenue from the Orca line has grown at an amazing compound annual growth rate of 50 percent per quarter and it now accounts for more than half of Pixim's overall business.”

The company plans to expand Orca’s market to include verticals such as military, automotive, machine vision, biometric, and teleconferencing, which will further contribute to revenues.

Frost & Sullivan presents the Technology & Innovation Leadership of the Year Award to Pixim as a company that has demonstrated excellence in technology innovation and leadership within the global surveillance industry. Pixim has demonstrated technology leadership by excelling in all stages of the technology life cycle – incubation, adaptation, take-up and maturity – to ensure a continuous flow of improvements. By innovating leading-edge concepts, Pixim has pioneered client applications.

Pixim is online at www.pixim.com.