Pixim hits 90 partners

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--A year in, image sensor and processor manufacturer Pixim has signed on 90 companies to its Pixim Partner program, which provides technology roadmaps, training and sales tools, and more marketing support to those companies who are “brand partners,” i.e., willing to put Pixim's brand on their products.

“That's our biggest weakness,” said Jennifer Martin, manager of worldwide channel programs, “our brand. People know Sony. They're the largest image sensor maker in the world. But they don't know us as well. We want people to understand by looking at the logo, by looking at the partner program, that we lend support to the integrators and the end users as well ... The fact that we have this partner program means that we are reaching backward and forward into the channel to support all levels of the channel with that technology message.”

For example, she said, she recently rewrote a boilerplate specification for a consulting firm in Texas. “One of the manufacturers he works with have in their product line-up a CCD version and a Pixim version, and he wants to specify only the Pixim version, so I helped him write that in,” said Martin. “So that's pull-through right there.”

Currently, brand partners include Clinton Electronics, Crest Electronics Dallmeier, Dedicated Micros, deView, DVTel, ioimage, Seco-Larm, Speco, VideoIQ, Vitek, Wren, and a number of others.

The next step for the partner program is a level for integrators who would receive training on where best to use Pixim technology in their system design. “People do well in casinos,” Martin said, “where color is very important to identify the different chip values. With a digital pixel system, you're getting a much truer color.” She said retail applications are popular as well, where cameras are often looking out of windows or deal with mirrors and varying lighting conditions. “We eliminate that glare and streaking that you get,” Martin said.