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A CONFERENCE AND VISITS PROGRAMME AIMED AT THE JAPANESE ELECTRONICS COMMUNITY
23-25 November 1999
This programme was supported by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI)
and
the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO))
Administered by
Asia-Pacific Technology Network
in association with
JEBA and BREMA
Tuesday 23 November: CONFERENCE
LOCATION:Department of Trade and Industry Conference Centre
1 Victoria Street, London, SW1
Chairman Sir Ivor Cohen,
Chairman, Japan Electronics Business Association (JEBA)
9.15 OPENING ADDRESS
Mr Andrew Fraser, Chief Executive, Invest in Britain Bureau, Department of Trade and Industry
THE CURRENT DEBATE
9.30 INTRODUCTION AND SCENE-SETTING
Mr Peter Marshall, Technical Director, Digital Television Group
10.15 VIEWING BENEFITS
Mr Mick Gleave, Technical Adviser, BBC
abstract
11.00 Coffee
11.30 IMPLICATIONS FOR CABLE COMPANIES
Mr Ken McCann, Technology Director, ntl Interactive
abstract
12.15 IMPLICATIONS FOR SATELLITE SERVICES
Mr Nick Gregory, Director, Product Planning, BSkyB
13.00 – 14.00 Lunch
THE TECHNOLOGY
14.00 MAKING IT HAPPEN
Mr Greg Bensberg, Head of Engineering Policy, Independent Television Commission
abstract
14.30 OPTIONS FOR RECEIVING EQUIPMENT
Mr Peter Hamblin, Deputy MD Panasonic UK (Chairman of BREMA)
abstract
15.00Tea
THE UK POLICY DIMENSION
15.30 VIEW FROM THE ADMINISTRATION
Mr Bill Macintyre, Head Communications and Information Industries Directorate, Department of Trade and Industry
16.00 THE RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT DIMENSION
Mr Ian Sharp, Commercial Manager, Eldon Technology
abstract
16.30 TOWARDS THE ALL-DIGITAL AGE
Lord Tom McNally, President, BREMA
abstract
17.00 FINISH
18.00 – 19.30 RECEPTION AND BUFFET FOR DELEGATES AND INVITED GUESTS:
HOTEL: St Ermin’s Hotel, Caxton Street, London SW1
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VISITS PROGRAMME
Wednesday 24 November
09.00Leave Mayfair InterContinental Hotel
09.30Arrive BBC, Broadcasting House
11.30Leave BBC
12.30 Arrive ONdigital
14.30 Leave ONdigital
15.30 Arrive ntl Digital Media Centre
17.30 Leave ntl
18.30 Arrive back in Central London
BBC visit (09.30 - 11.30)
The demonstration / presentation outlined the current digital broadcasting situation in the UK.
The BBC's platform neutral approach to the delivery of an extended range of public service television channels.
The BBC's approach to digital radio.
The importance of Online as the third broadcast medium.
It then covered the key enabling technologies which are helping to shape our thinking on future service provision, particularly: The way the convergence of online and broadcast access from the same equipment will enable broadcast services to be enriched by on-demand programme related content.
The importance of broadband telecommunication technologies to the public service broadcaster.
The way digital storage in the home will enable 'TV Anytime',
and the ability of viewers to construct their own virtual television channels.
The future importance to delivering services to the mobile user.
ONdigital visit (12.30 - 14.30)
The delegation was greeted by Graeme Stanley, Broadcasting Director
Matt Seaman, Director of Sales and Marketing
Chris Hibbert, Chief Engineer
Meirion Hughes, Head of Technical Standards
Patrick Elliott, Engineering Consultant
Andrew Marre, Head of Media and Public Affairs
ntl Digital Media Centre (15.30 - 17.30) Tour of the facility
Digital Cable Super Head End
Digital Terrestrial multiplexes
British Eurosport production studios
THURSDAY 25 November:
DIGITAL VISION SOUTH WEST
Organised by the South West England Regional Development Agency
Hosted by the University of Bristol,
ST Microelectronics
Bath and North East Somerset Council.
Sponsored By Pixel Fusion
ST Microelectronics
07.30 : Leave Mayfair InterContinental Hotel by coach.
10.00 : Arrive Bristol University:
Coffee on arrival
Pre-Conference Media Briefing Session
10.30 : Welcome to Digital Vision South West – Introduction to the day.
Caroline Bull, Director of Enterprise and Innovation, South West of England Regional Development Agency.
10.40 : Welcome to the University of Bristol
Professor David May, Head of the Department of Computer Science
10.50 : Introduction to the Faculty of Engineering and the Centre for Communications Research: Image and Video Communications
Professor D Bull
11.20 Introduction to the Department of Computer Science: Multimedia Processing
Professor D May
11.50 Tour of CCR Laboratories.
Demonstrations to include: 3D Coding
Multiview Synthesis
Efficient Compression using Matching Pursuits Video over Internet and GSM
12.50 – 1.30 : Buffet Lunch
13.30 : Tour of Computer Science Laboratories:
Demonstrations to include: 3D Capture
Multimedia Archiving
Wearable Computing
14.30 : PixelFusion – 3D Graphics Demonstration Video.
Phil Atkin, PixelFusion Ltd., Bristol.
14.45 : HP Labs – Digital Media E-business Infrastructure Project
Paul Eccleson – HP Labs, Bristol.
15.00 : BCTN Demonstrations.
(to incorporate 45 minute programme provided by Dr Neil Davies).
15.45 End of University of Bristol Sessions
Delegates Travel to ST Microelectronics by Coach
16.15 : Arrive at ST Microelectronics / Register
Tea and Coffee on arrival
16.20 : Introduction and Presentation :
Mr R Krysiak
17.00 : PACT
17.15 : Cabot
17.30 : Ensigma
17.45 : Pixel Fusion
18.15 : Close
18.15 : Delegates Travel to Bath Spa Hotel by Coach
20.00 – 22.30 :
Civic Reception at the Roman Baths followed by an evening meal and informal networking opportunity.
CURRICULUM VITAE
Sir Ivor Cohen,
Chairman, Japan Electronics Business Association (JEBA)
Sir Ivor Cohen spent most of his full-time Career with Mullard, the UK’s largest manufacturer of electronic components and part of Philips Electronics. After a short spell running the lighting business of Philips UK, he was appointed Managing Director of Mullard from 1979 to 1987 and a Director of Philips UK from 1984-7. During that time, he spent five years as a member of the Prime Minister's Information Technology Advisory Panel (ITAP) and served on a number of other Government Committees concerned with the electronics, broadcasting and communications industries. He worked with the National Economic Development Office from 1980 for most of the time until it was dissolved in 1992 , finishing as chairman of the Electronics Sector Committee. On retiring from full-time work in 1987, he spent six years as Chairman of Remploy Ltd, the country's largest employer of people with disabilities and served as a director or advisor to a number of companies and has worked with the DTI in a number of capacities. He is currently on thc Boards of PA Consulting, Oce UK, Sira Ltd and Deltron Electronics PLC and is an advisor to Mitsubishi Electric Europe. Since 1991 he has been Chairman of the Japan Electronics Business Association (JEBA), which is committed to increasing the sales of British-made components to the Japanese electronics industry. Sir Ivor was educated at University College London, where he was made a Fellow In 1987. He read Modern history but spent his whole career in engineering. His engineering colleagues have made him a Honorary Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering (1992), a Companion of the Institution of Electrical Engineering (1998), and companion of the Institute of Measurement and Control (1997). He was appointed an Honorary Member of the City and Guilds of London Institute in 1989.
Mr Andrew Fraser, Chief Executive, Invest in Britain Bureau, Department of Trade and Industry
Mr Andrew Fraser, Chief Executive, Invest in Britain Bureau, Department of Trade and Industry Andrew Fraser was appointed as Chief Executive of the Invest in Britain Bureau (IBB) by Michael Heseltine, President of the Board of Trade, in July 1994.Andrew was born in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in 1950. He was educated in the UK, graduating from the University of Sussex School of English and American Studies, and on scholarship programmes at Harvard School and UCLA in North America. The IBB is the sole Government body marketing the whole of the UK to international investors. It is acknowledged to be among the foremost development agencies worldwide. The UK is second only to the United States in attraction of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). It enjoys nearly 11% of the worldwide, and some 33% of the total EU stock of FDI. In the last year, it posted record results with over 650 projects creating or safeguarding some 120,000 jobs.Prior to joining the IBB, Andrew enjoyed an extensive career in international advertising, starting in London with Young & Rubicam in 1972. Thereafter, he served as Managing Director of McCann Erickson in Thailand from 1976-1980. He returned to London to join Saatchi & Saatchi where he served in a number of capacities in London, Hong Kong and New York, and was latterly responsible for worldwide business development. He left in 1992 to become Managing Director for Europe for Dentsu’s agency, cdp europe.He serves as a Director of the UK-Japan 21st Century Group and the UK-Korea Forum for the future. He is a Member of the RIIA Membership Committee and the UK Panel 2000. He is a non-Exec. Director of English Partnerships, the regeneration Agency for England, and the Commission for New Towns.He lives in London with his wife, Jane. His two daughters - Sarah and Emily - attend UK universities
Mr Peter Marshall, Technical Director, Digital Television Group
The Digital TV Group is an industry association representing some 100 companies with a broad spectrum of interests in digital television. It was set up with the objective of launching digital terrestrial television in the UK and, now that is achieved, it is working to develop the platform and to see the same "horizontal" market model adopted in DVB-T platforms in other countries. An insight into DTG activities may be obtained from its website at www.dtg.org.uk Peter Marshall is the Technical Director of the DTG and leads a small secretariat staff that works to support the Steering Board’s objectives. He has worked in broadcasting in the UK for over 30 years. After an early career with the BBC, he worked for the Independent Broadcasting Authority, rising to become Principal Engineer in their Technical Quality Control Service. He spent 5 years as Engineering Operations Manager of HTV, the ITV contractor for Wales and the West of England, before returning to Channel 4 Television in London as Assistant Chief Engineer, a post which he held for nine years. In this role, he was involved in the early preparations for digital television and he moved to his present position as Technical Director of the DTG some two years ago, in the run-up to the launch of services in November 1998.
Mr Mick Gleave, Technical Adviser, BBC
Michael Gleave is an Technical Policy Adviser with the BBC's Technology Directorate. He is a member of a small team which monitors and assess new, predominantly digital, technologies in the changing broadcasting environment, and provides advice to senior management on the full range of technical policy issues. He joined the BBC in 1967 with a degree in Electrical Engineering. Prior to taking up his present post, he worked for twenty years in broadcast engineering design, designing and developing a wide range of specialist technical equipment for the Radio and Television service, and subsequently as Assistant Head of a BBC department which provided the public, press and trade with advice on how to receive the BBC2's broadcast services to a high technical standard, and answers questions on the broad range of BBC's engineering activities. Throughout the past decade, Ken has stayed at the forefront of the key issues in digital television. During that time, the focus has moved from video compression algorithm development to compression equipment design to conformance testing and now on to the integration of complex systems and the development of new types of operational services.
After graduating from Glasgow University in 1979, Ken worked at Philips Research Laboratories in Redhill for seven years. He then joined the Independent Broadcasting Authority where he worked on video compression algorithms, including chairing the pan-European algorithm development group within the VADIS project that produced the best-performing of the 39 algorithms submitted during the "competitive" phase of the MPEG-2 video algorithm development.
Following the privatisation of IBA Engineering as ntl, Ken became project manager for the development of the world's first commercial implementation of a broadcast quality MPEG-1 decoder. Ken subsequently managed the Compression Encoder Group at ntl, in which role he was responsible for the development of the world's first real-time MPEG-2 encoding system. After nine years at IBA/ntl, Ken left to join Symbionics Instruments (recently re-named Adherent Systems) where he spent two years as the Video Product Development Manager. He was responsible for setting up a new development activity on specialist MPEG test products, which subsequently became the main business of the company.
1n 1997 Ken re-joined ntl to head the Digital Technology Department within the Interactive Services Division. This Department provides specialist technical resource for specific projects such as the digital cable system that ntl is building in the UK. It also has a longer-term focus on technological developments that may enable completely new types of services in the future, as the worlds of broadcasting, telecommunications and computing continue to converge.Ken represents ntl on the DVB Steering Board and the DVB Technical Module, where he chairs the sub-group on MPEG-2 Implementation Guidelines. He holds a BSc in Physics, an MSc in Systems Engineering and is a Chartered Engineer. His hobbies include skiing and windsurfing.
Mr Greg Bensberg, Head of Engineering Policy, Independent Television Commission
As Head of Engineering Policy at the Independent Television Commission Gregory Bensberg is responsible for the management of the technical regulation of the ITC's terrestrial television licensees, the spectrum planning of all television services for the commercial television sector and the operation of the ITCs technical facilities at Foley Street and KingsWorthy. He also work closely with colleagues from other divisions, principally economic regulation and secretariat and other regulators, such as OFTEL and the OFT, on matters such digital television licensing, ITV licence renewals, conditional access regulation and European Commission competition investigations.
Mr Peter Hamblin, Deputy MD Panasonic UK (Chairman of BREMA)
After working for Unilever Research in the field of Microbiology, I joined ShellMex & BP Ltd in a Marketing function, working on Industrial Fuels Sales and Marketing. In 1973, I joined National Panasonic UK Ltd, which had opened its UK operation some 3 months earlier. The company was renamed Panasonic UK Ltd as part of the global change to the Panasonic brand. Panasonic UK Ltd is the Sales/Marketing Company operating in the UK market, distributing Panasonic /Technics products for Parent Company, Matsushita Electric, of Osaka, Japan.Working in the Consumer Electronics Division until 1992 as Marketing Director, and having been appointed to the Board of Panasonic UK Ltd in 1991, I was promoted to Deputy Managing Director with responsibility for the Technical and Service Division of Panasonic UK Ltd in January 1993.My involvement with BREMA started in approximately 1978,when I sat on the Economics and Statistics Committee. This was followed by serving on the Commercial Committee from 1984 until 1992. I was appointed to the Executive Council as Panasonic UK Ltd's representative in1988, and joined the Finance &General Purposes Committee in1991. I was elected as Chairman of the BREMA Executive Council in 1998.In addition I have had close involvement with EACEM (European Association of Consumer Electronics Manufacturers), of which BREMA is an active member, and of which Matsushita Electric Europe is also a member; serving on the Copyright Committee from 1993 to 1998."
Mr Bill Macintyre, Head Communications and Information Industries Directorate, Department of Trade and Industry
William Macintyre is the head of Communications and Information Industries Directorate in the UK Department of Trade and Industry. The Directorate is responsible for advice on and implementation of the Government’s policies towards the communications and information industries. Prior to this, he held several senior posts in the Department of Energy, including head of the Division dealing with electricity privatisation. A graduate of St Andrews University, he worked for the British Petroleum Company, prior to joining the UK Government services in 1972.
Mr Ian Sharp, Commercial Manager, Eldon Technology
Ian Sharp received his Bachelor of Engineering degree in Electronics from Leicester Polytechnic in 1992.
Since then he has been solely employed by Eldon Technology. Initially working as a design engineer in the areas of; low power RF, designing prototype battery powered home based communication systems and remote meter reading transceivers.
MPEG audio and video decoding, initial exploration into MPEG decoding culminating in development PCB’s which went on to be demonstrated at the Cable and Satellite show. This initial design work formed the basis for Eldon's first digital Set Top Boxes, tuners and digital demodulators for satellite and cable systems, development of the first generation QPSK front end modules which were used to feed the MPEG decoders with satellite signals. QAM front end applications boards for customers developing cable front ends, TV power supplies, switched mode design with low power standby and tube scanning circuitry.
After six years of development work Ian moved into the Commercial Department within Eldon Technology. This new position gives him responsibility for project planning, proposals and budgeting of projects and contract negotiation as well as the day to day commercial management. Dedicated to projects for specific customer groups it is the role of the Commercial Manager to ensure that each customer obtains the optimum service from Eldon for each project. This is of course a constant learning exercise as each customer has different expectations and different reporting requirements.
The role of commercial management also means that regular meetings with broadcasters and engineering groups on behalf of Eldon and our customers are essential.
Lord Tom McNally, President, BREMA
Lord McNally was born in Blackpool in 1943. After graduating from University College London with a B.Sc Econ. he became a Labour Party researcher (1967-1968); then joined the International Secretariat of the Labour Party (1969-1974), before becoming Political Adviser to the Foreign and Commonwealth Secretariat (1974-1976) and the Prime Minister (1976-1979).
Tom McNally was MP for Stockport from 1979 to 1983; initially as a Labour MP but later as a Social Democrat, He was a member of the Select Committee on Industry and Trade; and later SDP Parliamentary spokesman on Education and Sport. He failed to be re-elected in 1983,
From 1983-1984 Lord McNally was Public Affairs Adviser to GEC before being appointed Director-General of the British Retail Consortium, 1985-1987. He was then Head of Public Affairs in Hill and Knowlton 1987-1993. He became Head of Public Affairs, Shandwick Consultants in 1993, a post he still holds.
He was created a Life Peer (Baron) in 1995 and assists Lord Thomson who is the Liberal Democrat spokesman on Culture, Media and Sport.