Founded in 2004, Fresco Microchip was created to address the changes that are occurring in the digital television market. The world's broadcast industry is rapidly evolving from analog to digital broadcasting and this initiates the need for universal reception and signal conversion for legacy analog, digital terrestrial and cable transmissions. The fabless semiconductor company is focused on leading edge RF, mixed-signal, and DSP architectures for consumer markets.
Fresco obtained a commitment of $14.7 million in July 2005 from a group of VCs led by Celtic House and Ventures West.
Fresco obtained a commitment of $14.7 million in July 2005 from a group of VCs led by Celtic House and Ventures West.
Lance Greggain In June 2007, the company unveiled its first chip, the FM2080, a single-chip demodulator for universal analog (NTSC, PAL, SECAM) and DVB-T digital television broadcasts. The device is designed to enhance the consumer television viewing experience across a broad spectrum of platforms designed by the world's leading consumer electronics manufacturers. Typical TV receivers require a tuner, extensive intermediate frequency (IF) processing, digital and legacy video demodulator chips. IF processing is typically accomplished with multiple SAW filters, active amplifiers and dozens of passive components. The FM2080 eliminates complexity by bringing together universal legacy video (NTSC, PAL, SECAM) and audio demodulation, digital video demodulation, and IF processing into a single IC. The chip supports all modes of the DVB-T standard and is designed to meet NorDig Unified 1.02, Digital Television Group D-Book (DTG) and the E-Book requirements for digital television platforms. Legacy demodulation is compliant with free-to-air international broadcast standards commonly used in DVB-T countries. Fresco's first microchip is being dubbed as the world's first single-chip hybrid receiver for DVB-T markets.
Lance Greggain, a co-founder, serves as president and CEO. He is a veteran of five fabless semiconductor start ups prior to Fresco Microchip. In 1999 Greggain was the solo founder of Jaldi Semiconductor, a Toronto area fabless semiconductor company, focused on display controllers and color decoders for advanced televisions. He served as CEO of Jaldi through the collapse of the high tech bubble and guided the company to its acquisition by Pixelworks in September 2002. Prior to Jaldi, he held several positions with Genesis Microchip, a Toronto area fabless semiconductor company, including CTO and VP of product development from the company's inception until its IPO in 1998. Prior to Genesis, Greggain worked in design and development of design automation tools, standard product DRAM and SRAM, radio pager and audio bipolar integrated circuits, pattern recognition systems, optical hardware, television systems, and quality assurance. His employers have included National Semiconductor, Spectrum Semiconductor, Mosaid, Siltronics Research, Sperry Univac and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
Michael Gittings is the company's VP of marketing and business development. He will have overall responsibility for the company's global marketing strategy, product management, communications, and applications support. Gittings most recently served as director of marketing for AMD's global DTV receiver products. He established ATI (acquired by AMD) as the world's leading supplier of North American integrated HDTV receiver ICs. As a founder of NxtWave Communications, he was the marketing and applications executive responsible for fostering partnerships that led to a successful acquisition by ATI. Prior to NxtWave, he held senior engineering positions at General Instrument (acquired by Motorola), General Electric, Martin Marietta, and RCA.
Scott Baker is a co-founder and serves as VP of engineering and operations. Formerly, he was a VP of engineering at Silicon Optix. From 1992, Baker held various positions at Genesis Microchip until 2002 when he was director, product development. He began his career in 1985 developing ASICs, hardware and software for Litton Systems Canada Ltd., Pure Data Research Ltd., Northern Technologies Ltd. and Navtel Communications.
Others in management team include:
Steve Selby, co-founder, CTO (ex-Genesis, ATI)
Chris Ouslis, co-founder, VP IC technology (ex-Synopsys, InSilicon, Xentec)
John Tryhub, VP, product marketing (ex-Genesis, Gennum)
Mike Neshat, VP, worldwide sales (ex-WyLinx, Synad Technologies, NxWave)
Bob Forbes, director, Ottawa Design Center (ex-Pixelworks, Jaldi)
The company is headquartered in Toronto, Canada, with design centers in Ottawa, Canada, and Irvine, California.
Contact:
Fresco Microchip
19 Allstate Parkway, Suite 500
Markham, Ontario
Canada L3R 5A4
Tel: 905 480 9109
Fax: 905 480 9484
Irvine, California (USA) Design Centre
6 Jenner Street, Suite 290
Irvine, CA 92618
Lance Greggain, a co-founder, serves as president and CEO. He is a veteran of five fabless semiconductor start ups prior to Fresco Microchip. In 1999 Greggain was the solo founder of Jaldi Semiconductor, a Toronto area fabless semiconductor company, focused on display controllers and color decoders for advanced televisions. He served as CEO of Jaldi through the collapse of the high tech bubble and guided the company to its acquisition by Pixelworks in September 2002. Prior to Jaldi, he held several positions with Genesis Microchip, a Toronto area fabless semiconductor company, including CTO and VP of product development from the company's inception until its IPO in 1998. Prior to Genesis, Greggain worked in design and development of design automation tools, standard product DRAM and SRAM, radio pager and audio bipolar integrated circuits, pattern recognition systems, optical hardware, television systems, and quality assurance. His employers have included National Semiconductor, Spectrum Semiconductor, Mosaid, Siltronics Research, Sperry Univac and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
Michael Gittings is the company's VP of marketing and business development. He will have overall responsibility for the company's global marketing strategy, product management, communications, and applications support. Gittings most recently served as director of marketing for AMD's global DTV receiver products. He established ATI (acquired by AMD) as the world's leading supplier of North American integrated HDTV receiver ICs. As a founder of NxtWave Communications, he was the marketing and applications executive responsible for fostering partnerships that led to a successful acquisition by ATI. Prior to NxtWave, he held senior engineering positions at General Instrument (acquired by Motorola), General Electric, Martin Marietta, and RCA.
Scott Baker is a co-founder and serves as VP of engineering and operations. Formerly, he was a VP of engineering at Silicon Optix. From 1992, Baker held various positions at Genesis Microchip until 2002 when he was director, product development. He began his career in 1985 developing ASICs, hardware and software for Litton Systems Canada Ltd., Pure Data Research Ltd., Northern Technologies Ltd. and Navtel Communications.
Others in management team include:
Steve Selby, co-founder, CTO (ex-Genesis, ATI)
Chris Ouslis, co-founder, VP IC technology (ex-Synopsys, InSilicon, Xentec)
John Tryhub, VP, product marketing (ex-Genesis, Gennum)
Mike Neshat, VP, worldwide sales (ex-WyLinx, Synad Technologies, NxWave)
Bob Forbes, director, Ottawa Design Center (ex-Pixelworks, Jaldi)
The company is headquartered in Toronto, Canada, with design centers in Ottawa, Canada, and Irvine, California.
Contact:
Fresco Microchip
19 Allstate Parkway, Suite 500
Markham, Ontario
Canada L3R 5A4
Tel: 905 480 9109
Fax: 905 480 9484
Irvine, California (USA) Design Centre
6 Jenner Street, Suite 290
Irvine, CA 92618
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