Overview

Founded in early 2003, Ultrasilicon was at the forefront of practical H.264 video encoder development. Beginning as a self-funded startup, Ultrasilicon set about designing a uniquely high-performance, configurable video compression engine for H.264 (MPEG4) as well as the prior MPEG2 standard. RTL simulations showed very promising performance for the extremely flexible motion estimation algorithms developed. Unfortunately, 2003-2004 was a particularly tough time for start-up companies to find funding. To get the design to the point of fabrication and sales would take a much more sizable team. Unable to secure sufficient venture capital for such a push, the decision was made to dissolve Ultrasilicon after ~18 months of operation.