Gennum Corp.

Infobox Company
company_name = Gennum Corporation
company_
company_type = Public
tsx|GND
foundation = 1973
location = Burlington, Ontario
key_people = Robert Weis (Chairman), Franz Fink (President and CEO)
industry = Semiconductors
products = semiconductors and semiconductor-based products
revenue = gain$110 million CAD [web|url=http://www.gennum.com/investor/pdfs/GennumAR07.pdf|title=Gennum: 2007 Annual Report|accessdate=2006-07-13]
num_employees = 390
parent =
subsid = Gennum Japan Kabushiki Kaisha
Gennum UK Limited
homepage = [http://www.gennum.com/ www.gennum.com]
footnotes =

Gennum Corporation (TSX: GND) designs innovative semiconductor solutions andintellectual property (IP) cores for the world’s most advanced consumer connectivity, video broadcast and data communications products. Leveraging the company’s proven optical, analog and mixed-signal products and IP, Gennum enables multimedia and data communications products to send and receive information without compromising the signal integrity.

A winner of a Technical Emmy® award for advances in high definition (HD)broadcasting, Gennum is headquartered in Burlington, Canada, and has global design,research and development and sales offices in Canada, Mexico, the United States, Japan, Korea, Germany, Taiwan, India and the United Kingdom.

History

Gennum was founded in 1973 as Linear Technology Incorporated when Westinghouse Canada's Solid State Devices design and manufacturing division was spun off. The principal founders included H. G. Thode, H. Patrick Thode and Douglas Barber, and were focused on providing solutions for hearing instrument markets. The company made its first public stock offering on the Toronto Stock Exchange in 1983 in an effort to further expand its business. The company changed its name to Gennum Corporation in 1987. That same year, Gennum formed a second product family in video technologies for professional products, which would serve as the core revenue generator for the company in later years along with its pioneering work in the Serial Digital Interconnect (SDI) standard.

In 1998, Gennum expanded its product focus in video to Image processing products, eventually delivering the Visual Excellence and VXP professional image processing product lines for broadcast and high-end display applications.

Gennum further expanded into the Data Communications markets in 1999 to address the needs for rapidly growing Internet data infrastructure. This was further augmented in 2004 by the acquisition of SiGe Semiconductor's Optical IC portfolio.

In 2007, due to shifts in strategy, Gennum's Hearing Instrument Product division and semiconductor manufacturing facilities were sold to Sound Design Technologies, and its Bluetooth operations to CellPoint Connect AB in Sweden, in addition to acquiring analog and mixed-signal IP expert Snowbush Microelectronics. In 2008, Gennum further honed its strategic focus for analog and mixed signal interconnect by selling its Image Processing line of products to Sigma Designs.

Chronological History (summary):

2008 * Gennum Acquires ASIC Architect, Inc.

2007 * Gennum Divested the VXP Group * Gennum Acquired Snowbush Microelectronics, developer of some of the most complex analog and mixed-signal circuits in the market today * Divested Audio and Wireless Division * Divested Manufacturing Operations * Shipped over one million CDRs * Launched nX6000 Bluetooth headset * Demonstrated first commercial solution to drive 4Kx2K display

2006 * Dr. Franz Fink joined Gennum as the new President and CEO * Awarded a technical Emmy® for HD digital broadcasting innovation * Introduced world's first 3Gbit/s video transmission solution * First with 1080i de-interlacing, 10-bit processing and HD noise reduction * Introduced world's first 10Gbit/s equalizer

2005 * In April 2005, our shareholders approved a Shareholder Rights Plan * The nXZEN™ wireless headset, a Gennum-branded consumer product, was launched

2004 * Gennum introduced its Visual Excellence Processing™ (VXP™) line of image processors for the high-end television and projector markets, and its Bluetooth® wireless headsets with noise cancellation * The Company purchased SiGe Semiconductor Inc.'s LightCharger® portfolio of optical networking ICs, which complemented our existing clock and data recovery (CDR) product line

2001 * Gennum announces its entry into the Data Communications market, and established a third business segment

1999 * By articles of amendment on April 14, each of the Company's issued and outstanding common shares were subdivided into three common shares

1997 * Gennum U.K. Limited was incorporated as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Gennum Corporation in December

1996 * Shareholders approved an amendment to subdivide the common shares of the Company by splitting each share into three common shares on April 10 * In November, Gennum Japan Kabushiki Kaisha was incorporated as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Gennum Corporation

1990 * On December 1, LTI and Gennum Corporation were amalgamated under the name Gennum Corporation

1987 * In December LTI transferred its silicon business to Gennum Corporation, a new wholly-owned subsidiary * Gennum established a Video Broadcast Group following a favourable response by the broadcast industry to Gennum's proprietary products * A sales office was opened in Japan to serve our expanding business in this market area

1982 * LTI became a public company in September, trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange

1973 * Linear Technology Inc. (LTI) was founded December 1 with the acquisition of assets from the Solid State Devices division of Westinghouse Canada Inc. and royalty-free rights to use its advanced semiconductor technology. The Company focused on providing specialized parts for the hearing instrument industry

Markets

"Video Broadcast" - Our knowledge of high-speed signal transmission technologies enables us to deliver industry-leading HDTV components for professional and broadcast video markets. Our award-winning portfolio includes SDI equalizers, reclockers, cable drivers, transmitters, receivers, video optical modules, and timing and clock conditioning solutions. As a key contributor to the SMPTE, we continue to pioneer transport technologies that deliver new experiences for the video broadcast market.

"Data Communications" – As the demand for video-over-the-Internet reaches new highs, the need for a much higher bandwidth Internet supported by optical communications is critical. We offer a comprehensive suite of backplane interconnect and optical transceiver ICs including laser drivers, equalizers, SerDes, receive optical sub-assemblies(ROSA), clock and data recovery (CDRs) and transimpedance amplifiers (TIAs) for high-speed data communication and telecommunication applications.

"Consumer Connectivity" – Today’s consumers demand increasing levels of performance and resolution from their electronic equipment. Delivering true high-definition television to consumers requires sophisticated connectivity technology that can take advantage of existing cabling and equipment. The Gennum ActiveConnect™ connectivity solution consists of transmitter and receiver functions that enable consumers to stream HDMI, DVI and DisplayPort content, via low-cost cable, at distances that are an order of magnitude greater than previously available cables.

"IP" - Snowbush IP, a division of Gennum, offers the industry’s most robust, widely-deployed, production-tested and customizable family of IP cores for today’s most demanding high-speed serial communication protocols and applications. Our comprehensive offering includes complete, integrated, PHY and controller solutions for standards like PCI Express® and Serial ATA (SATA), and single and multi-standard SerDes for applications with data rates from 1 Gbit/s to over 10 Gbit/s. We combine our world-class IP with the best support in the industry, helping our customers reduce their technical risk, expedite their time-to-market, and increase their chances for first-pass success. Snowbush IP is committed to standards-based integration, with IP cores compliant with TSMC, UMC, Common Platform, and Fujitsu foundry specifications. Since its inception in 1998, Snowbush IP has been shipped in over 200 million products. The Snowbush IP business model is based on a collaborative design process, resulting in IP that can be tailored to specific customer needs, and we offer a flexible licensing program. For more information visit: www.snowbush.com

Notable accomplishments

• First PCIe re-timed repeater solution that integrates a CDR
• First single-chip HD and 3Gb/s transmit and receive solutions
• Most advanced ROSA solution for 10Gb/s applications featuring the Rchip, a die stack implementation of an optical receiver
• Acquired Snowbush Microelectronics,leading PHY IP provider
• Acquired ASIC Architect, provider of controller and bridge IP cores
• Shipped over 2 million CDRs, 2 million 10G TIAs, 2 million 2.5G TIAs to date• First to demonstrate 12 Gbit/s-SDI over optical
• Introduced world’s first 3Gbit/s video transmission solution
• Showcased unprecedented 10Gbit/s SFP+ performance using Gennum’s proprietary clock and data recovery (CDR) solution
• Launched industry’s first multimedia connectivity solution to deliver HDMI/DVI multimedia interface up to 120 metres
• Was the core image processing solution for the largest flat panel display in the world in 2005.
• Awarded a technical Emmy for HD digital broadcasting innovation
• Delivered industry’s first HD/SD-SDI serializer with integrated audio multiplexer for “prosumer” applications
• Established new offices in Mexico, Japan, Korea, Germany, United States, Taiwan,India and the United Kingdom

External links

* [http://www.gennum.com/ Gennum]
* [http://www.snowbush.com/ Snowbush IP]

References