TeleCruz designing next generation chip for Infotainment space

HYDERABAD: Television sets are getting smarter, with a host of interactive

features designed to make television viewing friendlier, more helpful and

intuitive. Today's interactive television allows viewers to browse the Internet,

play along with broadcast game shows, shop, bank, email, chat and view enhanced

programming.

In a not too distant future, we can expect to see a myriad of new interactive

capabilities that will change the TV viewing experience forever and TeleCruz is

one of those companies, which is trying to shove the chips inside the tube.

TeleCruz Technology Inc., a US based interactive solutions provider for the

infotainment industry is working on a next generation microchip that would

revolutionize the way we see entertainment industry today.

The company's Indian subsidiary based at Hyderabad is working towards the

development of the futuristic chip which, is going to be ready by mid next year.

"We are working on a system on chip (SOC) design that would help the

television manufacturers to deliver a better product for their customers. The

futuristic chip will support the HDTV platform, streaming video/audio and it

would help to deliver a much improved video quality," said, Vijay Peddada,

Director Software Engineering at TeleCruz.

The company is having a partnership with Videocon in India for providing the

microchips required for its iTV. "We are providing microchips for

Videocon's interactive TV and are looking at some other partnerships with some

other TV manufacturers as well within the sub-continent," he added.

The company is also looking towards ramping up its Indian operations. At

present the company is having 17 software professionals working towards the

development and it is optimistic about increasing current head count to more

than 40 by the end of this year.

TeleCruz started its operations at Hyderabad one year back and it has already

invested more than Rs 2.5 crore towards setting up the Indian center. The

company designs and sells standards-based, complete silicon/software platforms

that facilitate the combining of broadcast content with network data to create

new forms of TV interactivity.

The company existing clientele include - Daewoo in Korea, Panasonic in Japan,

Zenith in USA and HiSense in China. "In addition to Videocon, we are hoping

to get more customers in the Indian sub continent and the Asian region," he

informed.

(C) Reuters Limited.