Digital camera & digital photography resources
for professional & amateur photographers

Oak Technology Teams with IMG Engineering to Provide Direct Photo Printer Controller Solution


Quatro(TM) System-on-a-Chip Solutions Now Feature Memory Card Reader
And Digital Photo Access Firmware

SUNNYVALE, Calif., July 7 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ --
Oak Technology, Inc. (Nasdaq: OAKT), a leading provider of embedded solutions
for the digital imaging and digital home entertainment markets, today
announced a strategic relationship with IMG Engineering, a developer of
consumer and business imaging technology for original equipment manufacturers
(OEMs). Pursuant to the agreement, Oak has incorporated IMG's memory card
reader firmware and digital photo access firmware into Oak's Quatro
system-on-a-chip (SOC) reference platform for direct photo printers and
multi-function peripherals.
Oak expects the photo printer market to grow significantly in the next few
years. Market research firm IDC forecasts that the market for
direct-photo-print-capable printers and multifunction peripherals (MFPs) will
grow to 4.5 million units in 2005 in the United States, compared with
2 million units in 2002. Keith Kmetz, program director, hardcopy peripherals
solutions and services at IDC, said, "The next wave of growth for inkjet
printing devices is being driven by non-PC applications. Oak's Quatro SOCs
are well-positioned to take advantage of this market direction."
Neil Epstein, director of product marketing for Oak Technology's Imaging
Group, commented, "Working with IMG has enabled us to provide our OEM
customers with a proven solution for direct photo printing." Kevin Hanson,
vice president of engineering, IMG Engineering, commented, "We are pleased to
be one of Oak's key technology partners in providing a complete controller
platform."
Consumers simply insert a digital camera's memory card into the slot on a
direct photo printer, and they are able to easily print photos without a PC.
Oak's reference platform, integrating IMG's memory card reader and digital
photo access firmware, is designed to support this PC-less application, which
is quickly gaining acceptance by consumers.
Oak's award-winning OTI-4110 and recently introduced OTI-4100 are the
first in a family of products based on the Quatro architecture. These highly
integrated, fully programmable SOCs feature Oak's powerful embedded DSP
technology and an ARM(R) RISC CPU core. This unique combination allows for
fast image processing and excellent photo print quality and provides OEMs the
flexibility to easily customize and add value to their products. The SOCs'
programmable peripheral interface and connectivity modules, including direct
interfaces to popular memory cards, assist OEMs in lowering the cost of their
products by eliminating or reducing external components and shortening time to
market.
Direct photo printers are just one of the several specific markets that
Oak's Quatro SOCs target. In addition to the direct photo printing
application, Oak provides the print-from-PC, scan, and fax applications as
part of its MFP reference design. The direct photo printing application,
including IMG's technologies as well as Oak's photo-print image processing
technologies, is available in a single-function direct photo printer reference
design or in an MFP design that combines this capability with traditional MFP
functionality.

About Oak's Quatro Architecture
Quatro is a scalable, extensible architecture for constructing
programmable SOCs targeted at personal imaging and printing appliances
including MFPs, direct-connect photo printers and Internet appliance printers,
and any imaging or printing appliance that involves non-PC functionality.
Quatro is Oak's platform for a series of application-specific SOC solutions
targeted at high-volume consumer devices that require high-performance,
cost-efficient image or video processing capability. The Quatro architecture,
with its easy-to-use-programming environment, combines the advantages of
software-based design with the prerequisites of cost-effective integration and
high-performance processing.

Availability
Oak's Quatro SOC platform, integrating IMG's memory card reader and
digital photo access firmware, is available now. For more information on Oak
Technology and its industry-leading solutions, please visit http://www.oaktech.com or
contact an Imaging Group sales representative at 781-638-7500.

About Oak Technology
Oak Technology, Inc., a leading provider of solutions for the manipulation
and distribution of digital content, is committed to driving the emerging
world of connected consumer appliances. The company's fully integrated
products and technologies target two key markets: digital imaging (advanced
copiers, printers, faxes, scanners and MFPs) and digital home entertainment
(digital TV, HDTV and PVRs).
Oak Technology's Imaging Group, based in Woburn, MA, is a leading provider
of software, imaging processors and system-on-a-chip solutions to the world's
top printer OEMs including Canon, Hewlett-Packard, Okidata, Ricoh, Sharp,
Toshiba TEC and Xerox. Oak Technology supplies technology to more than
40 OEMs worldwide, collectively representing 80 percent of the printing
peripheral market. Oak's imaging products include IPS(TM) (Integrated Print
System) page description language emulations (PCL, PostScript and PDF);
imaging compression /decompression (iCODEC(TM)) processors for digital
imaging; and Imaging Digital Signal Processors (iDSP(TM)). Oak's complete
system controller solutions for the personal imaging and printing markets
include the OTI-4110 and OTI-4100 embedded programmable system-on-a-chip
solutions based on its Quatro architecture.
Oak Technology is headquartered in Sunnyvale, CA and the company trades on
the Nasdaq Stock Exchange under the symbol OAKT. Additional information about
Oak and its digital solutions can be found at http://www.oaktech.com.

About IMG Engineering
Formed in January of 2001, IMG Engineering, LLC, is a closely held private
company chartered to provide products and services for the digital imaging
industry. This diverse industry produces devices such as digital cameras,
digital video cameras, printers, scanners, consumer electronics, set top boxes
and DVD players. IMG's focus is on embedded software and hardware for
display, print, control, transmission, and storage of digital images utilizing
the latest technology.
IMG is based in Seattle, WA. To learn more about IMG Engineering, please
visit http://www.imgeng.com

"Safe Harbor" Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act
of 1995: In addition to the historical information contained herein,
statements in this press release may contain forward-looking statements within
the meaning of the Federal securities laws and are subject to the safe harbors
created thereby. The foregoing statements may consist of forward-looking
statements that involve risks and uncertainties. These statements may differ
materially from actual future events or results. Factors that could cause
actual outcome to differ materially from those set forth include, without
limitation, the rate of adoption of new technology, or the rate of growth of
the optical storage, digital imaging, and HDTV market, changes in product mix,
distribution channels, or manufacturing costs; the demand for semiconductors
and end-user products that incorporate semiconductors; technological
difficulties and resource constraints encountered in developing and/or
introducing new products, and market acceptance of new products.
Forward-looking statements contained in this press release regarding expected
financial results, industry trends, sales and future product development and
business strategies and activities should be considered in light of these
factors, and those factors discussed from time to time in the company's public
reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, such as those
discussed in the company's Annual Report on Form 10K for fiscal year ending
June 30, 2002, and in quarterly reports on Form 10Q.

NOTE: Oak Technology and the Oak logo are a registered trademarks of Oak
Technology, Inc. Quatro is a common law trademarks of Oak Technology, Inc.
All other trademarks or registered trademarks are property of their respective
owners.



SOURCE Oak Technology, Inc.
Web Site: http://www.oaktech.com

Report this to a moderator | IP: Logged