Issue link: http://osercommunicationsgroup.uberflip.com/i/1235202
Broadcasters Show Daily 1 9 Wednesday, April 22, 2020 Murata: Spotlight On Batteries An interview with Jin Park, Business Development Manager – Murata's Battery Group. BSD: Batteries are relatively new to the Murata line-up. How did that come about? JP: Three years ago, we announced our intent to enter into a binding agreement with Sony to transfer its battery business, which first entered the market in 1990. That deal closed in 2017. Since then, we have been focused on integrating that unit into Murata and defining the strate- gic direction, competitive differentiators and value propositions. The goal is to pursue the opportunities that will cement our global leadership position in the rechargeable battery market. BSD: What are you seeing in the battery market? JP: Similar to other parts of the elec- tronics industry, the number of items that use batteries has skyrocketed. Twenty years ago, they were relegated almost exclusively to laptops and phones. Today, batteries are ubiquitous – from insulin pumps to drones, smart meters to tire pressure monitoring sys- tems, vacuums to power tools – the list is massive. The proliferation of health- care, IoT, vehicle electrification and energy storage system applications are driving the unprecedented demand. Given Murata's comprehensive range of components already within these sec- tors, our battery solutions are a natural extension of the value that we deliver to design engineers. BSD: What are Murata's battery offerings? JP: Our battery line-up consists of three key products: lithium- ion batteries, energy storage systems and micro batteries. In the past, we were focused primarily on consumer devices. That has since shifted to deliver- ing our battery offering to the industrial market and the myriad of applications within that area. BSD: What's the value proposition? JP: Two words: safety and reliability. What customers receive in a Murata bat- tery – quality, technological superiority, training and engineering support – is unsurpassed. The stakes for using a lesser product are far too high. The market col- lectively knows this and trusts in our technological expertise. BSD: What else do readers need to know? JP: An entrepreneurial mindset is embedded within Murata's battery group. We focus on collaborating with customers – emerging start-ups and large companies alike – from development through commercialization. We are nim- ble yet have an extensive product portfo- lio that we leverage and deep global resources at our fingertips. That means we can focus on the innovation side of the equation and take on applications that are outside of the traditional focus – something that other value-added manu- facturers are not able to do. For more information, go to www .murata.com. Tech Employees Grow Mindful About Healthy Tech Usage Awareness has grown over the years for the need for safe and thoughtful usage of popular technology, and tech workers are some of the most conscientious about their digital habits. Whether it's aimless scrolling, reflexive phone-checking or even marathon gaming, thoughtless usage of popular technology is not the way to spend time, according to industry insiders attending last year 's Consumer Electronics Show (CES). Mindfulness – that is, purposeful, thought-out usage of tech – was a com- mon piece of advice from surveyed attendees. The American Speech-Language- Hearing Association (ASHA) surveyed CES attendees last year about tech use. The 180 respondents, most of whom worked in the tech industry, answered open-ended questions about their efforts to manage their tech time and practice healthy use of technology. Respondents warned against using tech for "passing time" or "as a means of self-indulgence and gratification." Mindful usage was stressed, with the assertion that "tech should be a tool." Balance and moderation were also popu- lar recommendations. In addition, many respondents said they are taking steps to manage their own tech time, or at least plan to do so. Methods reported included daily hour limits, time monitoring apps, or just per- sonal habits that promote other activities over tech use. The importance of self-dis- cipline was mentioned repeatedly in sur- vey answers. T h o u g h t f u l tech use that dis- courages overuse is a cornerstone of ASHA's Healthy Communication & Popular Technology Initiative (HCPTI). Check out this latest effort in ASHA's years of work promoting popular tech use that protects hearing and the develop- ment of strong speech and language skills. To learn more, you are invited to check out the HCPTI site. For more information, go to www.asha.org or email pr@asha.org. VideoAmp Partners with TiVo To further advance its practice of commin- gling TV viewership data from Smart TVs (ACR) with the same from cable and satellite set-top boxes, VideoAmp is part- nering with TiVo. The expanded data set extends VideoAmp's TV Viewership data pool to cover 25 million devices in 19 mil- lion U.S. households and gives marketers and media owners sophisticated cross- screen media planning, measurement and optimization capabilities, bolstered by device-level viewership data and audience insights from participating multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs), TV and DVR manufacturers. VideoAmp uses commingled TV viewership data to map households to privacy-protected digital identity and advertising exposure data to model a nationwide, cross-screen audience that brings transparency, liquidity and accountability to the media and market- ing ecosystem. For marketers, this makes it easy to effectively target, engage and measure audiences. For media owners, this makes it easy to analyze and assess audiences, to optimize yield across screens holistically. "This new relationship with TiVo will allow our data to cover a huge num- ber of households and devices, giving marketers and media owners the opportu- nity to leverage this crucial insight as they come under increased pressure to show value for marketing dollars," says Randy Laughlin, Senior Vice President of Business Development at VideoAmp. "We are excited to be working with VideoAmp to pioneer the future of tel- evision and cross-screen video advertis- ing," said Walt Horstman, SVP/GM Data and Advertising, TiVo. "We believe our nationally-representative, highly-accu- rate viewership data enables unified planning, activation and measurement for all. Together, we hope to dramatically improve the advertising experience across screens." "CIMM has long supported integra- tion of Set-top Box data with Smart TV data to enable a more holistic view of the television audience universe and mitigate the limitations inherent in both data sets by combining the two," says Jane Clarke, Chief Executive Officer and MD of The Coalition For Innovative Media Measurement (CIMM). "We welcome the efforts by VideoAmp to advance such integra- tion and help bring media buyers and sellers a step closer to the larger and more complete data samples needed for true cross-platform measurement." VideoAmp's sophisticated data mod- elling empowers ecosystem parties to bridge the silos between TV, OTT and dig- ital video. The resulting unified VideoAmp household currency makes it easier to value, buy and sell cross-screen audiences. For more information, go to www.videoamp.com, call 424.272.7774 or email hello@videoamp.com for gener- al inquiries or videoamp@propeller group.com for media and press inquiries. MultiTech Celebrates 50 Years of Innovation From the earliest analog systems, to the cel- lular heart of today's industrial Internet of Things to the latest low-power wireless tech- nology and beyond, MultiTech has consis- tently connected businesses in ways previ- ously unimaginable. MultiTech is continuing its legacy of firsts with innovative devices supporting edge intelligence; low-power, wide-area networking and private LTE. MultiTech designs and builds con- nectivity solutions at its Minnesota head- quarters. Customers rely on MultiTech to quickly enable products for utilities, IT, energy, medical device and agriculture applications, among others. MultiTech technology supports remote monitoring of power generators, oil pipelines, irriga- tion systems and much more. Founded in 1970 by Dr. Raghu Sharma, an innovator who steered the company for 37 years, the company today has nearly 200 employees, has earned more than 80 patents and has deployed 25 million devices worldwide. During the 1970s, MultiTech devel- oped modems for Tele-Terminals, Inc. and outgrew its first two facilities. By 1979, MultiTech had launched a microcomputer and reached $1 million in sales. In 1992, MultiTech sold its one millionth modem. In 2002, MultiTech received Inc. Magazine's Most Innovative Company Award; in 2003, it introduced its first cellular modems. But in the midst of this momentum, Dr. Sharma was diagnosed with cancer. He died in 2007. Patricia Sharma suc- ceeded her husband as Chief Executive Officer (later transitioning to Chairman) as the company rallied around the founder's focus on service and quality. Since then, new products have includ- ed solutions for cloud-based devices, IoT programs for universities, and LoRA ® technology for low-cost, long range wire- less monitoring. Always ahead of the tech- nology curve, it started shipping CBRS to Ethernet bridge devices and routers for pri- vate LTE networks in September 2019. A great place to work, with an average tenure of 16 years, many of its employees are long-term contributors with loads of industry expertise, which Matt Sharma believes is key to MultiTech's success. "The employees have and always will be the key to MultiTech's growth," he says. For more information, go to www .multitech.com.