Hiroshi Yamada, Founder of Canopus, to Retire from Thomson


Following the January 2006 acquisition of Canopus and the ensuing, successful integration of it within its Broadcast & Professional Solutions business (BPS) unit, Thomson (Euronext Paris: 18453; NYSE: TMS) today announced Hiroshi Yamada will retire from the company effective June 30, shifting from his current operational role to a management advisory role.

Yamada currently is the Senior Vice President of Desktop & Enterprise Solutions (DES) for Thomson's BPS business unit and leads the unit's Japanese operations. Yasuo Suyama will take over responsibility for operations in Japan.

"As the father of Canopus and its powerful line of desktop video editing, media conversion, and software codec products, Hiro has been a driving force in the industry - and in the acceleration of delivery of new Grass Valley products for the professional video solutions market as well as the post-production industry," said Jeff Rosica, Senior Vice President of the BPS unit. "Hiro's enthusiasm for, and expertise in, video and audio technologies and compression are second to none, and we wish him all the best as he begins a new chapter of his life."

"I take great pride in the success of Canopus - success which was driven by one of the most talented and committed teams in the industry. I am also very pleased with the integration of this team within an equally talented and hard-working team in Thomson's BPS business unit. As this business enters a new phase of growth it is time for a new generation of leaders. I feel confident that these fine people can drive the business forward and deliver superior products and solutions," said Yamada. "Having helped complete this important integration and build this team, I can now move on to my happy retirement!"

Yamada's successful leadership within Thomson caps a long and successful entrepreneurial career. He founded Canopus in 1983 with its first product, an add-in Z80 CPU card to run in NEC's PC 98-series computers. Under Yamada's continued direction throughout the years, Canopus become established as a highly inventive and creative wellspring for innovative video technology with an impressive list of industry "firsts," achieving unrivaled leadership in the development of video codecs, especially software codecs such as HQ+. Video professionals worldwide recognize the pre-eminence of the advanced HD, DV, and MPEG codec technologies developed by the Canopus engineering team and featured in the company's acclaimed real-time nonlinear video editing systems, transcoding products, and delivery systems.

Ross Hignett
Media & Analyst Relations Specialist
The Whiteoaks Consultancy
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Farnham
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t +44 (0) 1252 727 313
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