Power Technology was founded in 1992 by Dr. Paul F. Titchener. Power
Technology's goal is to leverage the company's extensive expertise in advanced DSP and PC technology to design and
manufacture innovative products. By combining cutting-edge DSP technology and state of the art graphical human
interface concepts with low cost PC based hardware designs, Power Technology has developed affordable products that
set new standards for accuracy and ease of use. In-house capabilities also includes full CAD based electronic and
mechanical design and prototyping facilities. Product manufacturing is performed by highly skilled contractors in
nearby Silicon Valley in San Jose, California.
The Founder: Paul F. Titchener received his Bachelors of Science degree in
Electrical Engineering from University of Cincinnati in 1978, graduating Magnum Cum Laude. He then pursued graduate
studies at Stanford University, receiving a Master of Science degree in 1980 and a Doctor of Philosophy degree in
1984. His graduate studies concentrated in the area of Digital Signal Processing (DSP), and his thesis advisor was
Dr. Bernard Widrow, who is regarded as one of the primary contributors to the development of advanced DSP
techniques.
Dr. Titchener has many years of experience in analog, digital and software based system design.
He holds several patents in the areas of signal processing and electronic instrumentation and has published and
presented a variety of technical papers on advanced applications of electronic hardware and software systems.
In 1984 Dr. Titchener and a partner founded a technology group that began developing an
innovative new software design tool called the Signal Processing WorkSystem (SPW, now marketed by Alta
Systems). The patented SPW tool uses a high level graphic design style to significantly aid the design of complex
electronic systems such as digital telecommunication, modems, cellular telephones, cardiac pacemakers and HDTV
systems. The groundbreaking SPW tool was brought to the market with Comdisco Systems in 1987. It both pioneered and
dominated the market for DSP design tools, with 80% market share and worldwide sales exceeding $300 million to
date. Dr. Titchener played a lead role as the company grew to 130 employees, and was the Vice President of
Technology when he reduced his status to consulting role with Comdisco in 1992.
In 1992 Power Technology was formed, and the design and manufacture was started of PC oriented
testing equipment for leading edge racing teams, engine builders and automotive high performance manufacturers. The
PT-200,and PT-500 valve and
chassis spring tester products that resulted from these efforts are now in use by top racing teams and performance
manufacturers (see customer list), and are used on the engines powering
championship winning drivers such as Jeff Gordon, Terry Labonte, Jimmy Johnson and many others.
In 1995 Mark Kaplan, a founding team member of Comdisco Systems, joined Power Technology. Mr.
Kaplan brought many years of graphical software design and large software project design, implementation and
management expertise to the company. Power Technology then began efforts to design and manufacture professional
quality audio processing hardware and software, using the product name DSP-FX.
The first DSP-FX product consisted of a plug-in card that leveraged both DSP and PC technology to deliver true pro
studio quality in a graphical desktop environment (DSP-FX
website). DSP-FX earned the prestigious Most Innovative Product of the Year Award in 1997
from Electronic Musician Magazine, a leading end-user audio publication. Winning that award required
outranking other innovative products from companies such as Yamaha, Sony, Roland and many other major audio
companies. Electronic Musician also awarded the product a rating of 5 out of 5 for audio quality. To our knowledge
this is the only time that Electronic Musician, highly respected for editorial credibility, has awarded an audio
processing system of any type a full 5 audio quality rating. In addition to use in commercial and home recording
studios, the DSP-FX hardware/software system is also uniquely suited for specialized multi-channel audio processing
applications. A specially customized multi-channel DSP-FX hardware system is currently being used by ABC TV in
their HDTV production studio.
In 1997, Power Technology introduced the DSP-FX Virtual Pack. The
Virtual Pack implemented the highly rated DSP-FX algorithms in a pure software form supporting Microsoft's Direct X
format. Power Technology's expertise in implementation of DSP algorithms allowed it to implement the Virtual Pack
with extremely high efficiency that for the first time allowed PC's to perform software only real-time professional
quality audio processing. The Virtual Pack has since become regarded as the premium real-time audio processing
software package available for PC's. Power Technology is actively pursuing applications of its real-time PC based
signal processing technologies to additional markets.
In 1999, Power Technology developed a new technology called DFX that targets the growing market for Internet Audio products and
services. A significant limitation of Internet based audio systems is that bandwidth limitations require that the
audio be data compressed, reducing its quality. DFX contains patent-pending technology that compensates for the
compression of Internet based audio distribution. DFX also compensates for the limitations of PC based multimedia
audio playback systems. Internet audio systems using DFX yield much higher perceived audio quality and user
satisfaction.
DSP-FX, Virtual Pack, DFX and MP3 Remix are trademarks of Power Technology.
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