Thursday, March 31 2:15 PM - 3:30 PM Track IV: HD, DVD and the CE Transformation of the Digital Home Perhaps the best indication of the future of the entertainment and media industry is to understand the forces at work in the consumer electronics industry. From wireless devices, DVDs, photography, computers and gaming to HDTVs, audio systems and home networks, the CE industry has laid the groundwork for getting content into the hands of consumers. For visitors to this past year’s CES trade show in Las Vegas, the movement toward HDTV - available at less than $1000 per unit - was clear - HD had arrived! And it is in the emerging concept of the "digital home." What other devices are hot? What can you expect to see down the road and what does it mean to you as a content provider? The CE industry is leading the way for the mobile consumer, the networked home, the digital photo hub, the car as mobile media center - it is helping to define the new digital lifestyle. Dr. Hugo Steemers, Director of Strategic Marketing, Display Group, National Semiconductor Bill Holmes, VP of Consumer Electronics, DivX Rob Pait, Senior Director, Global Consumer Electronics Marketing, Seagate Technologies Vivek Pathela, Senior Director, Product Management and Marketing, Residential Products, NETGEAR Rex Wong. President, X2 Corporation Michael Tchong, Trend Analyst, Trendsetters.com, Moderator Rex Wong. President of X2 Corporation: Rex Wong, 32, is a new kind of global entrepreneur. Raised in San Francisco of Hong Kong immigrant parents, Wong came to the realization early on that neither the West nor the East has completely gotten the efficiencies of global trade quite right: the West still spends far too much to engineer and build electronic products, while the new powers rising from the East do not understand how to properly conceptualize, segment, price and market these products. X2 USA, which launched in late December, 2004, and in its first three months of existence has rolled out 25 new products that have resulted from Wong's frequent cross-Pacific trips to joint venture with multibillion dollar Taiwanese electronics manufacturers who have had a hard time breaking out of OEM sales and into branded consumer electronics. Wong debuted some of these new creations, which were all imbued with his trademark philosophy of adding features that were several months ahead of the competition (by tapping product features already coming into vogue in Asia but not yet available in the US) at slightly better prices and slightly better quality than the consumer electronics giants that, to his mind, were less efficient in cost structure due to a bloated supply chain. In Wong's world, products go from drawing board to factory floor to consumer in weeks, not months or years. In fact, with the X2 laptop line, new features can be delivered to US customers in just two days. X2 was a huge hit at the Consumer Electronics Show, with 15 prominent appearances on national television and dozens of product-related stories in prominent national magazines and newspapers. Yet the story behind the story is equally compelling: Wong and a core group of four associates has built an engine that should sell more than $50 million in product its first year, as well as serve as a launchpad for other innovative content plays built on the X2 platform. Bill Holmes is the Vice President of Consumer Electronics for DivXNetworks, Inc. In this role, he manages DivXNetworks Consumer Electronics business unit and directs the long-term strategic product development and marketing efforts. Prior to DivXNetworks, Bill served as senior director of product development for Digital Entertainment Solutions, Hollywood where he directed the company's digital media infrastructure providing encoding, content management and networked media distribution for major studio clients. Most recently, Bill served as director of product management and product marketing for YottaYotta where he was responsible for the development and marketing of carrier-class networked storage arrays. Vivek Pathela is Senior Director of Product Management and Marketing for Residential Products at NETGEAR. He brings extensive networking and product marketing experience in the areas of corporate enterprise, telecommunications and service providers. He previously served in the position of Director of Product Management and Marketing, in which he was responsible for NETGEAR's home and business product strategies, product line management and marketing. Prior to joining NETGEAR in early 2000, he served over a period of 15 years at Hewlett Packard in the capacity of product management and marketing for the computer systems business and last served as the Worldwide Marketing Manager for the communications industry business unit. He holds a BS degree from Tufts University with an honorary double major in computer science and international relations. He also completed the Executive Development Program at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and participated in executive studies at the Haas School of Business/ UC Berkeley. Dr. Hugo Steemers, Director of Strategic Marketing, Display Group, National Semiconductor: Dr. Hugo Steemers joined National Semiconductor's Displays Group in 2003 as director of strategic marketing. His prior experience includes director of product development and director of strategic marketing at Silicon Image, where he worked on the DVI and HDMI technologies. He also was senior engineering manager at National Semiconductor for the LCOS light valve program and has held a number of engineering positions in Xerox PARC’s display program. Dr. Steemers has been active in industry standards bodies and display technology conferences. He is a past program and general chair of the Society for Information Display. Dr. Steemers holds a bachelors of science degree in Semiconductor Physics from Imperial College, University of London, London, England and both a masters of science and PhD in Semiconductor Physics from the University of Dundee, Dundee, Scotland. Michael Tchong, Trend Analyst, Trendsetters.com, Moderator: Michael Tchong has spent 20 years living at the bleeding edge of consumer technology trends. His uncanny knack for being ahead of the curve has earned him a reputation as one of the savviest thinkers of the information age. A serial entrepreneur, Michael developed a host of successful media and technology companies to help consumers and businesses harness the potential of new technologies. His successes include founding MacWEEK, Atelier Systems (personal communication software), Interstellar (consulting), CyberAtlas (online market research), ICONOCAST (Internet marketing weekly), and Trendscape (trend research). As one of Iconoculture’s Lead Consumer Analysts, Michael surfs the scene with relentless energy, translating trends to help businesses identify emerging opportunities. A sought-after speaker, Michael has been quoted by or appeared on leading media like Access Hollywood, Adweek, Bloomberg TV, Business Week, CNET, Fox News, PBS, The New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, San Jose Mercury News, Variety, USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, Fast Company, and Wired. Michael’s a global citizen who sees the big picture from his perch in San Francisco’s Potrero Hill. Rob Pait, Director, Global Consumer Storage Marketing, Seagate Technology: Rob joined Seagate in 1999 following marketing management roles at Compaq Computer Corporation, Lexis-Nexis.com, and as a consultant to Internet businesses. Prior to his involvement in the technology sector, Rob worked in broadcast production and performance for ten years, experiencing the dawn of the digital age in broadcasting while making the transition from splicing tape to working with the first nonlinear A/V editing systems as a production manager for radio and television stations. Rob has also been an on-air personality for radio stations, announcer for several professional sports teams, and a creative manager in the advertising business. He lives in Fort Collins, Colorado, USA with his wife, three children, dog, cat, ferret, and unruly wireless network.