COMPANY REPORT

Receiver Manufacturer AMIKO, Hungary

AMIKOs Start

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 their own production in Hungary direct sales offices in all central European countries intensive cooperation with component supplier FULAN automatic receiver software updates and constant further development in-house R&D team and in-house technical service

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COMPANY REPORT

Receiver Manufacturer AMIKO, Hungary

How a New Receiver Brand Comes Into Being

In the last issue of TELE-satellite we introduced the first Dual Boot receiver from AMIKO: the user can choose which operating software to use in his receiver. This is a remarkable innovation in that it separates the hardware (the receiver itself) from the software (used to operate the receiver). But theres more: Spark was put into service for the first time with any receiver. This not only provides for automatic receiver updates but it also allows the manufacturer to directly communicate with the end user. The applications for this new technology appear to be numerous; its really not known as yet how far reaching this can be. But whos behind AMIKO? In a newly developed industrial zone northeast of Hungarys capital Budapest, AMIKO has its home. It consists of an administration building and an attached warehouse. AMIKO ships its receivers from here to countries in central Europe. AMIKO moved into this brand new building only at the end of 2010; before that AMIKO was located in downtown Budapest. AMIKOs founders have known each other for quite some time: We met back in 1995, remembers Financial Manager Zsolt Harangi. They were both involved in the satellite industry with different companies. Back then it was all still analog technology, recalls Jzsef Zsimn. Then the digital age began and at some point the two of them felt the time was right to take things into their own hands. We started with four employees, explains Jzsef Zsimn. Today there are 14 employees in their Budapest office. Their sales have expanded

Budapest

to include customers in neighboring countries where youll also find the remainder of AMIKOs employees: 17 in the Czech sales office, eight in Romania, four in Serbia as well as six more in local sales offices in Hungary. And lets not forget the employees in the receiver production line. Since production is not continuous, the number of employees varies between 20 and 40. When the business first started, the two partners focused on being a satellite wholesaler. They distributed digital receivers from a variety of manufacturers as well as everything else an installer needs: LNBs, dishes, multiswitches and cable. This business still makes up a part of their sales today. In 2010 50% of our sales were whole-

The building in the foreground

contains the offices for sales, administration, R&D and service. Their products are shipped from the attached warehouse. The company is ISO certified by TV.

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sale with the other 50% consisting of our own receiver brands, explains Financial Manager Zsolt Harangi. For 2011 though the picture looks quite different: We expect for the current year that our receiver brands will make up 70% of our sales while our wholesale business will drop to 30%, comments Zsolt Harangi. The AMIKO brand name is very new.

Jzsef Zsimn explains, In 2010 we founded two brand names: AMIKO for retail and SYNAPS for operators. SYNAPS offers DVB-C and DVB-T receivers for cable and other programming providers. AMIKO is a brand name for the retail market. We are working very close together with FULAN in China. They provide us with most of our receiver components, explains Marketing Manager Jzsef Zsimn. The receivers are assembled on a production

line in Budapest. We have achieved excellent quality in our production, he continues, The components from FULAN are already of the highest quality and our own quality assurance team checks it all once again. Even more important with having your own production line and your own receiver brand is having the customer rely on you. In their many years of experience the two owners have seen

AMIKO

Receiver Manufacturer, Hungary

www.amikostb.com

Company Details
Engineers in Research & Development | Total Number of Employees

0................................ 50 ................................ 100

Average Turnover (Previous, This, Next Year Estimates)

0................................ 10 ...................20 Mio uro

Production Certicates

ISO, RoHS, DVB

Production Categories

own brands AMIKO, SYNAPS - cooperation with FULAN

Main Products

Receiver for DVB-S/S2, DVB-T/MPEG-4, DVB-C, award winning product Dual Boot Linux receiver for DVB-S/S2 and DVB-T
www.TELE-satellite.com/TELE-satellite-1107/eng/amiko.pdf

it all before: suppliers shifted their production elsewhere and customers would contact the dealer and complain why they cant get any spare parts or service anymore. This cant happen with our products, comments Jzsef Zsimn, We have a fully stocked spare parts warehouse from which we can deliver any possible component for every receiver to our customers. Well be able to do this for years to come. If you control your own production line, you can make statements like that. But this was only one of the reasons why AMIKO decided to produce their own products.

By sheer coincidence, Jzsef Zsimn received a telephone call at that very moment in our interview: the AMIKO technicians found a software bug in the newest version and immediately forwarded this information to the component provider FULAN in China. Its 2PM in Budapest and within minutes an answer came from China: Were working on it. Jzsef Zsimn looks up from his mobile telephone: This is exactly what makes our cooperation with FULAN so perfect: immediate reaction to a problem despite the six-hour time difference with China! AMIKO and FULAN are two companies that are perfect for each other; energetic production and distribution here with component manufacturing there.
1. Marketing Manager of AMIKO is Jzsef Zsimn. 2. Zsolt Harangi is happy with the sales figures. He is AMIKOs Financial Manager.

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Jzsef Zsimn sees it all realistically: We find ourselves in stiff competition with other providers but over the long term success will only be for those who provide the best products and offer the best service. According to Jzsef Zsimn, the decision on what receiver the customer uses doesnt rest with the customer but rather with the installer or dealer: just from using the receivers themselves, installers and dealers can recommend a specific brand that provides the best service. It doesnt help the situation if a customer comes back with complaints after only a short time. Jzsef Zsimn says that the accuracy of his statements is proven simply by the consistent, short-term growth of his young company AMIKO. This increase is above all the result of the speedy development of AMIKO receiver sales. The geographical distribution of these sales is especially interesting. Oddly enough the home market in Hungary is not the biggest; in fact, at about 20%, The Czech Republic, Slovakia and Romania are at the top with Hungary in fourth place at about 15%. The fact that AMIKO is so well placed in these countries is due in large part to their active business policy: We have sales offices in The Czech Republic, Romania, Serbia and even here in Hungary, explains Jzsef Zsimn why sales are so good in these countries. In other central European countries AMIKO has very tight relationships with wholesalers. Jzsef Zsimn lists them: This includes Bulgaria, Croatia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Slovakia, Greece, Slovenia as well as the three Baltic states. And thats not all: In 2011 well be begin distribution in the Ukraine with a local dealer there and in 2012 we plan to go into Albania. AMIKO is continuously in expansion mode. But we werent only interested in how AMIKO is spread out geographically; we also wanted to know what they have planned for their receivers. This was a question that Jzsef Zsimn was only too happy to answer: In the
3. Mrton Lengyel is Sales Manager and runs a team of 6 Sales Representatives. 4. Beata Karsai is responsible for sales and logistics.

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third quarter the AMIKO ALIEN.2 will appear with an even more powerful chipset. Aside from that, we are always expanding our receiver software with new features. Jzsef Zsimn highlights these features for us that should appear later this year: Web browser, WiFi, Flash Support, NTFS, USB Hub and Messaging. Owners of AMIKO ALIEN receivers should be happy; these new features will appear on their own in their receivers thanks to the automatic software update feature. Can we expect to see any other surprises from AMIKO? Jzsef Zsimn reveals a little from their second receiver line, SYNAPS, that are used by cable and programming providers: By the end of 2011 we will also be offering receivers with chipset pairing. In this way AMIKO can service
1. The R&D team in the well-stocked engineering room. 2. An AMIKO technician checking for problems. Once a problem has been localized, production is adjusted to prevent the problem from reappearing.

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 The large warehouse right next to

AMIKOs administration building. Not only are AMIKO receivers shipped from here, but youll also find satellite components stored here (LNBs, dishes, multiswitches, cable) that AMIKO as a wholesaler ships to installers and shops.

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programming providers that also use this technology. Are the two AMIKO managers at all concerned that TV manufacturers will someday integrate receivers into their products? As soon as more functions are needed or an expanded frequency range needs to be received, for example, satellite TV, then the only solution

would be to have a separate receiver. comments Jzsef Zsimn. He is convinced that AMIKO with its receivers and above all with its line of new ALIEN receivers will carve a path that will allow it to continuously expand and bring with it extreme growth potential. We can only agree with that!

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 The satellite dishes on AMIKOs roof have

been installed in a very organized fashion. Zsolt Bornemissza is the R&D team leader and explains to us whats to be seen here: Here youll find five 85cm antennas, each fitted with a DiSEqC motor. There are also two 1.25-meter dishes, one with an actuator motor and the other fixed in place and aligned with 36E and equipped with a circular Ku-band LNB.

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1. A Toroidal antenna with 9 Quattro LNBs rounds out this dream satellite antenna setup. 2.All of the satellite antenna cables find their way to this switching cabinet. The antenna connections come into the top half of the cabinet with all of the output lines coming out the lower half of the cabinet going to each work station and to the demonstration monitors. In this way each work station and each monitor can be supplied with an individual satellite signal: you just have to plug into the proper bridging cable. The easy-toread labeling on all the connections makes it all simple and easy to use.

Fabrication at AMIKO
1 2

1.A look in the production area: AMIKO employees assemble the receivers here. 2. The completed receivers are individually tested before they are packed.

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