APRIL 5--JAI PULNiX Inc. (Sunnyvale, CA), a supplier of industrial-grade cameras, has formed a new business unit to focus on the rapidly growing "smart camera" market. "The smart-camera segment has been growing at rates that are outpacing the industry," said Toshi Hori, JAI PULNiX CEO. "With the strength of our standard cameras in combination with recently developed processing technology, JAI PULNiX is well positioned to provide best-of-breed products in this segment."
To lead this new business, JAI PULNiX has hired Mike Kelley, a 25-year machine-vision veteran. "What will initially differentiate our product is the introduction of a hardware-based, high-performance neural-networking processor contained entirely inside the camera," says Kelley. "This 'Zero Instruction Set Computer' or ZISC, will enable difficult applications to be solved by a simple, cost effective 'show-and-go' smart camera." The ZISC technology and chips were developed by IBM in cooperation with Silicon Recognition Inc.
Nello Zuech, president of Vision Systems International and author of the Automated Imaging Association's annual market study, estimates the 2003 North American smart camera market alone to be $57 million dollars and growing at 15% per year in terms of revenues and 20% per year in terms of units. Zuech states: "The world market is easily three times the North American market." The ZiCAM product line is expected to expand this existing market by providing application solutions for problems that have not been addressable by traditional smart cameras or machine vision systems.
The ZiCAM is an exciting product," explains Mike Kelley. "The product is very complementary with both our Standard Camera and Intelligent Transportation System businesses. We've already created opportunities where the technologies will be shared and leveraged in this emerging market." The company has already released a monochromatic ZiCAM, (Zi-640) and a color version (ZiC-640). More information can be found on the business unit's dedicated website www.smartcamera.info.
