Technology company an export success with video processing innovation

Imagine being able to record high quality video on your personal video recorder (PVR) at home and watch it later at the cottage on your laptop or smart phone.

ViXS Systems, a leading semiconductor company based in Toronto, won the silver 2009 Ontario Global Traders Award (OGTA) in the Innovation - Exports category for developing innovative, advanced video processing technologies that make it possible to store your favourite TV programs on your 'set-top box' or PVR and play them back in high definition (HD) on other devices in your home that have video screens.

"As a small, multimedia solutions innovator, our company worked for many years in the background and we've been a bit of an unknown. So to be recognized with this award is very important to the company and to the morale of our entire workforce," says president and CEO Sally Daub, who has degrees in both engineering and law.

The technology ViXS is developing in Ontario is in products that people use every day throughout the world, including television sets, the set-top boxes provided by cable and satellite companies, PVRs, DVDs, Blu-ray players, personal computers and smart phones. The company's slogan is, "Powering Perfect Video."

"Our cost-effective transcoding technology is unique to the semiconductor industry," says Sally. "Not many companies are able to develop this technology and have it embedded in set-top boxes and consumer electronic products. We were actually one of the first companies to come up with the technology back when the company started."

Transcoding is the process of converting video so it can be played on different displays. For example, a video can be transcoded and played on your mobile phone.

ViXS supplies its video processing technology to video equipment manufacturing giants around the world, including Hitachi, Samsung, Sharp, Sony, Toshiba and TiVo (a brand name for a type of PVR sold in the U.S.). Many of these companies place the ViXS logo on their products to demonstrate the video capability (similar to "Intel Inside" in the personal computer market). ViXS is also a market leader in providing protection for the digital content that originates with distributors such as cable and satellite companies.

"My co-founders and I started the company just when the tech bubble burst in 2001 and there were times when we looked at each other across the table and wondered what we had done," says Sally. "But I think the tougher initial 'go' provided a better foundation for us over the long term."

ViXS is currently going through a period of rapid growth and expansion. Since starting up, its revenues have increased substantially year over year, and the company expects to continue to grow in the future. ViXS now employs nearly 200 people with employees in Europe and Asia, as well as the U.S., but the majority of its employees are Toronto-based.

In Deloitte's 2009 Fast 50 ranking of Canadian technology companies, based on revenue growth, ViXS was rated 23rd. It was the third year in a row the company was recognized on the Fast 50 list.

"There are only a few semiconductor companies in the world that we compete with - and competition is very fierce in the industry," says Sally. "One of our competitive advantages is that we are forward-looking, as well as innovative. For example, we not only came up with the technology that won us the OGTA, we were also able to see the requirements of the consumer electronics market five years in advance and were able to provide the required video processing technology that puts our customers ahead of the competition."

A 2008 survey by Research Infosource ranked ViXS 95th out of 653 companies for its level of investment in research and development (R&D). To drive its growth, ViXS continues to invest heavily in R&D and intellectual property (IP).

"We have more than 100 engineers in Toronto," says Sally. "And we're doing some of the more advanced semiconductor design, software and support in the world."

ViXS hires many PhDs and master's degree graduates fresh from the University of Toronto and the University of Waterloo. In fact, Sally says, most of their hires are from Ontario universities.

"I believe the engineering talent here in Ontario is second to none in the world," adds Sally. "So a prestigious honour like the OGTA award will help us to continue recruiting the best."