November, 1998

NEWS & ANALYSIS

Here Comes The DVD Walkman - Sort Of

Sony Electronics (Park Ridge, NJ) created a big consumer hit many years ago, when it introduced the Walkman, a portable audio cassette/headphone system. Recently, the company introduced new LCD viewing glasses, called Glasstron, that are sold separately for use with any NTSC source material, or bundled with a portable DVD player.

Three-Five Announces Agreement with Varian

Three-Five Systems, Inc. (Tempe, AZ) and Varian Associates, Inc. (Palo Alto, CA) announced last month that they intend to co-develop and market an SXGA projection system based upon Three-Five’s liquid-crystal-on-silicon (LCOS) microdisplay. Three-Five will develop both the display system and electronic interface architecture.

CMD Teams With Planar

Colorado MicroDisplay, Inc. (CMD, Boulder, CO) has penned an agreement with Planar Systems, Inc. (Beaverton, OR) to distribute the company’s Dynamic Nematic Liquid-Crystal-On-Silicon (DNLCOS) SVGA microdisplay. The exclusive arrangement means Planar will offer the reflective color microdisplays to existing medical, transportation, industrial, and military markets.

S-Vision Reorganizes

S-Vision (Santa Clara, CA) has abandoned efforts to develop and sell a complete projection product based upon their MicroLCD design, an LCOS approach. Instead, they will concentrate on ramping up production of the microdisplay and completing the reference design of a projection system, which they feel is needed to prove the viability of their approach (Microdisplay Report, October 1998).

Universal Display Building New Facility

In January, 1999, Universal Display Corporation (Bala Cynwyn, PA) should be ready to move into a new engineering development facility in the Princeton, NJ area.

MEMS Development Contract Awarded to Consortium

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has awarded a nearly $14 million Advanced Technology Program (ATP) to a consortium headed by Xerox Corporation’s Wilson Center for Research and Technology (Webster, NY).

APPLICATIONS

Wearable Computers

News from IBM and Xybernaut

Head-Mounted Displays

Wrap-up of recent introductions from six companies

Digital Still Cameras

Wrap-up of recent introductions

Cell Phones

Motorola’s new plant

Video Conferencing

Sony’s new rear-projection system

Front Projection

Wrap-up of recent introductions

Camcorders

News from Sony

Electronic Cinema

News from Digital Projection

Videowalls

News from Electronsonic

MARKET INTELLIGENCE

Market news from Stanford Resources, Forrester Research, International Data Corporation, Ovum, Alexander Resources, Allied Business Intelligence, Asian Technology Information Program, and The Bishop Company.

BOTTOM LINE

Financial news from Three-Five Systems, Kopin Corporation, and Aura Systems

MOVERS & SHAKERS