Television -- from color to 3D

The changes in technology I've witnessed in my years on this planet are astounding. (Frankly, I am still in awe that those big airplanes stay up in the air). At the risk of showing my age, I admit that I can remember when we first got color TV. My kids were shocked that I didn't have a VCR (much less a DVD player) growing up. Many years ago at NAB (National Association of Broadcasters) I saw the first HDTV presentation, years before it was available to the general consumer. It was impressive to see Kathleen Turner with more detail than we ever imagined on the screen. Not so sure I need to see her in 3D...

At TechniQuest Associates, our team has many years experience in the video broadcast industry. Several engineers who developed a lot of the technology at Grass Valley Group (now simply called Grass Valley) over the past 20 or 30 years are now on staff here at TechniQuest. We have the experience, technology, and brain power to bring the television industry even further along. We are working on projects right now that will amaze you -- but we're sworn to secrecy. You'll have to stay tuned.....

References are Gold

Things are really getting exciting here at TechniQuest, and I don't just mean with the recent wild and wooly storms. We won another new client yesterday! The pipeline is indeed getting full, just the way we like it around here. This new contract is for some FPGA work, which is definitely one of our areas of expertise. This new client had heard about us in the industry (yea!) and had been receiving our periodic emails about our services. They replied to our most recent email, discussed their needs with us, then checked our references.

In business today, a glowing reference is golden. One in particular went into great detail on how much we'd helped their company on several occasions over the years. "I have always found Scott to be a very hard, diligent worker. Definitely intelligent. And very trustworthy. TechniQuest provided Digital Circuit design, FPGA design, software development, product specification development, circuit debug (at my facility) and general project management skills necessary to get his work done on time. Very professional."

The author of that glowing reference sent a copy to Scott, our CEO, which he shared with our staff. You can imagine the boost that gave us all -- I think I even heard an engineer or two giggle.

It Makes Perfect Sense

Happy 2010! I wonder how the greater "we" are going to say it ... is it "twenty-ten" or "two thousand ten"? I vote for the first one. We couldn't exactly say "twenty-nine" but now that we've crossed into this decade it no longer sounds weird. However, I'm sticking to "twenty-nine" for my age, thank you very much.

Speaking of 2010, it's already been a great start to this great year here at TechniQuest. Our team is working on projects, and we are quoting more projects for other prospective clients. We see that the broadcast industry is also affected by the economy. Advertising revenues are down, so TV networks have smaller budgets, and they aren't able to buy quite as much new equipment as they'd like. Now more than ever it makes sense for broadcast equipment manufacturers to outsource at least some of their engineering design services. And of course I mean to outsource engineering services to the best in the industry -- TechniQuest Associates!!

The cost of hiring an engineer is much higher than the salary he or she is paid. Benefits, taxes, and more can bring the cost to at least 50% more than salary alone. And what if you're not sure you will need them after this particular project? Nobody likes having to lay someone off (unless you happen to be George Clooney's character in "Up in the Air.")

Whether it's a temporary need for extra engineering talent, or a need for a particular expertise your own engineering staff may not have, it makes perfect sense to speak with us at TechniQuest Associates. Visit our website (www.tqa-inc.com), read our whitepaper on the benefits of Virtual Design Centers like TechniQuest.

And in the meantime, Happy Twenty Ten.