Hyundai Electronics Industries Co’s digital media division, Odeum Microsystems Inc, has opened for business with a new name and a stable financial package in San Jose, California. The company plans to use the subsidiary to do home entertainment hardware and software for set-top boxes and video disks. Formerly known as Hyundai Digital Media, it has become a leader in MPEG 2 decoders, most recently the SAVi decoder chip aimed at the interactive television set-top box market. Now Hyundai wants to spin the company off, while having it retain its financial and manufacturing relationship with Hyundai. It will also receive a higher level of autonomy in expanding its silicon and software solution offerings for the home entertainment market, the company said. This spin-off represents the inevitable ‘next-step’ in Odeum’s evolution to continue serving our customers with innovative solutions, said Odeum president Anil Sawe. Originally formed in 1993 to spur growth in emerging information and entertainment markets, Odeum will target such markets as digital television set-top boxes, digital video disk and other multimedia systems for the home entertainment market as they become viable. The company did not rule out moving into Network Computers at an appropriate time.
