Cradle Technologies Announces Availability of Real-Time H.264/MPEG-4 AVC Solution on the CT3400 MDSP

• First Solution Implemented on a Single DSP Chip
• Complete System Solution - IP Transport, Video/Audio Codecs & Interfaces

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. – April 27, 2004 – Cradle Technologies, a fabless semiconductor company pioneering the highest scalable performance and most flexible multiprocessing DSP solutions for real-time video, audio and imaging applications, today announced that they have begun shipping the industry’s first real-time H.264/MPEG-4 AVC video codec solution implemented on a single DSP chip.  

“The H.264/MPEG-4 AVC standard achieves more than a 2X improvement in compressed bit-rate for similar quality as MPEG-2, “said Mark Herbert, vice-president of engineering at Cradle Technologies.  “However, this requires up to a 4X increase in computational complexity bringing conventional VLIW DSPs to their knees.  The Cradle performance scalable CT3400 multiprocessor DSP is ideal for these types of demanding video and imaging applications.”

Cradle’s CT3400 MDSP is a multiprocessor SOC with eight DSP cores and six RISC cores and a unique 128 pin programmable I/O subsystem targeted at high performance video and imaging applications.  The flexibility and simplicity of the Cradle architecture takes advantage of the natural data parallelism inherent in video and imaging applications to enable easier programming.  The integrated RISC subsystem meets the need for higher levels of system integration such as the complete IP transport protocols for direct “glue-less” interface to IP network PHY chips.  This results in much faster development times for new high speed DSP algorithms.  The complete H.264/MPEG-4 AVC solution, a G729AB audio codec, the Audio/Visual synchronization and the IP transport functions were implemented on the CT3400 chip from start to finish in less than 12 months, less than ½ the time of ASIC solutions.  The complete software programmability allows for future design changes and enhancements while accelerating customers time-to-market for new H.264/MPEG-4 AVC applications.

“Cradle’s H.264/MPEG-4 AVC standard implementation demonstrates the performance and time-to-market advantage of its software IP solution running on its multiprocessor CT3400 chip”, says Cary Snyder, Editor/Analyst for SemiView. “Delivering this level of performance in executing such complex compression algorithms is a show case example of Cradle’s distinct processing architecture that combines multiple DSP and RISC cores together with software in an easy to use package. OEMs are sure to welcome the added value and feature enhancements enabled by this leadership solution.”
 
The Cradle H.264/MPEG-4 AVC codec solution is capable of delivering high quality and low video data rates which will enable desktop video conferencing, high quality video phones and network IP surveillance cameras over LANs and the Internet.  The 2X improvement in bit-rate allows surveillance companies to store more than twice as many frames in DVRs.  

“The H.264/MPEG-4 AVC standard was only ratified in mid 2003 but is likely to replace MPEG-2 due to its ability to achieve high quality video over IP and to double video storage capacities, “said Arthur Chang, President & CEO of Cradle Technologies, “Our customers are demanding H.264/MPEG-4 AVC in a programmable solution, we have responded by delivering this flexible, fast time-to-market and high performance DSP solutions.”

Available now is the 30fps simultaneous encoder/decoder CIF resolution baseline profile H.264/MPEG-4 AVC IP package (RDS-H.264-C) including C reference code.  The source code license is priced at $25,000.  A D1 resolution encoder-only main profile version (RDS-H264-D) targeted for the surveillance market will be available in Q204. Also available is the Hammerhead Audio/Video Development Kit including the H.264 video codec, G.729AB audio codec, the IP transport packet/stream management software, the software Ethernet MAC, all video/audio software for design interfaces, two RDS3400 development boards, two RDS300A Audio/Visual daughter boards and two seats of RDS-SDK development tools.   Only memory, PHY chips and call control software are necessary for a complete single chip video conference or videophone solution.  The kit with complete source code is priced at $45,000 and is available now.

About Cradle Technologies

Cradle is a fabless semiconductor company providing the highest performance, most flexible multiprocessor DSP solutions for real-time video, audio and imaging applications.  

Cradle’s multiprocessor DSP architecture innovation delivers high performance scalable DSP processing with the flexibility and time-to-market benefits of processor-based programmable platforms.  Coupled with a Rapid Development System and suite of IP software functions, Cradle provides OEMs with all the building blocks necessary to enable flexible yet high performance DSP designs.

Cradle’s corporate headquarters are located in Mountain View, California.  For more information about the company call 650-210-3600 or visit www.cradle.com.

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