Las Vegas, United States
Reciva Ltd (Cambridge, UK) and Marvell Semiconductor, Inc. (Santa Clara, CA) today announced their joint platform for Internet radio receivers and networked devices. Combining Reciva's expertise in Internet radio software with Marvell's market-leading silicon, this solution integrates Wi-Fi and LAN connectivity, all popular audio decoders, a comprehensive list of thousands of live radio broadcasts and podcasts from across the world, and a wide range of value-added and premium content, all in a single circuit board smaller than a business card.
Compared to conventional radio transmissions, the main advantage of Internet Radio is far greater choice. Almost 10,000 stations are available, ranging from live salsa music from Rio de Janeiro, through news bulletins from the other side of the world, to the college radio station from student days. Such choice might sound intimidating, but finding content is as easy as turning the dial on your old transistor set. Except that now, turning the dial doesn't mean tuning into specific radio frequencies: instead, web addresses for specific online radio stations are being accessed. However, to the user the difference is invisible. The dial shows the radio call sign and name on a little display just like on an AM/FM radio.
"Working with Marvell is exciting for us, and our customers," said Andrew Rhomberg, director of business development and strategy at Reciva. Explaining further, Rhomberg continued: "The cost savings from this new platform will greatly reduce the price premium for an Internet receiver compared to a legacy AM/FM set. In the global marketplace, technologies with only regional acceptance, such as HD and DAB, will become largely irrelevant."
Over 60 million Americans listen to Internet radio every week, mostly on their office PC, screening out the distractions of cubicle life. Internet radio devices make online radio accessible for users who want to enjoy good music, listen to the news, or just relax in the kitchen, bedroom or by the pool.
Commenting on the relationship, Neeraj Bhatia, product line manager, Marvell's Embedded and Emerging Business Unit noted, "Streaming Internet radio over Wi-Fi is a compelling feature for the digital home market. Working with Reciva enables us to offer a turnkey solution with the best-in-class content to our customers."
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), a paragon of both traditional radio and cutting edge media services, is equally excited about the development. "We fully embrace any platform that accelerates the switchover from analogue to digital," said James Cridland, head of future media and technology at the BBC. "The BBC is already one of the most popular listening choices on Reciva-powered radios, not just in the UK but worldwide", continued Cridland.
The new radios also allow the user to play their own music from any wirelessly connected device, as well as personalized content, like fast growing radio service Pandora. In fact access to Pandora has been built into the new platform and Tim Westergren, founder of Pandora explains "Pandora has grown to more than 9.5 million listeners and we think allowing users to access Pandora on any device will further accelerate our growth. New Reciva users will be able to get Pandora preinstalled and existing users will have the option to upgrade their radios at the touch of a button."
About Reciva
Reciva is the global market leader in Internet radio technology.
Reciva's Gatepass(TM) platform, which is at the heart of all Reciva-enabled Internet radios, provides Internet radio services via the Reciva Gateway. Reciva-enabled Internet radio devices can play back online radio in almost every format including MP3, Microsoft(R) Windows Media Player, RealAudio(R) Player, AAC (the format of iTunes), Ogg Vorbis and many others. Reciva's technology is available as a software license or in the form of the "Barracuda", "Stingray" or "Mako" hardware modules providing consumer electronics (CE) companies and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) with a turnkey solution.
Reciva's Gateway technology delivers regularly updated and verified Internet radio station lists to its internet radio products, allowing listeners to access to many thousands of online radio broadcasts without the need for a PC.
The Reciva Radio Portal, www.reciva.com, enables listeners to access the same stations via their PC. They can build customised station lists and access subscription based music services to play via their Reciva enabled radio.
Reciva is a privately held company based in Cambridge, UK.
http://www.reciva.com
About Marvell
Marvell (NASDAQ: MRVL) is the leader in storage, communications and consumer silicon solutions. The Company's diverse product portfolio includes switching, transceiver, communications controller, wireless, and storage solutions that power the entire communications infrastructure, including enterprise, metro, home, and storage networking. As used in this release, the term "Marvell" refer to Marvell Technology Group Ltd. and its subsidiaries. For more information, visit http://www.marvell.com.
Marvell(R) is a registered trademark of Marvell or its affiliates.
Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of Marvell, Marvell's affiliates, or other parties.
Source: Business Wire (Business Wire India)