============
About Us
============
Manhattan-Digital is a U.S. company, based in Wisconsin. It represents various manufacturers from around the world.
Jeff Schumann is the owner and founder of Manhattan-Digital, and has been in the satellite industry since 1983. As an affiliate of Eurosat (UK) and Manhattan Receivers Inc., he introduced Ku-band Free-To-Air standalone receivers and antenna systems to the U.S. market way back in 1993. Since that time, his companies have designed and manufactured receivers for various groups in the United States as well as around the globe. A notable achievement was producing the first 32-bit processor satellite receiver for an American DBS company. Jeff's satellite background includes work at all levels from retail dealership to the distribution and manufacturing segments of the industry. Old-timers may remember him from his days at Orbitron Antenna, when he worked in both domestic and international sales. Jeff still enjoys working with the satellite dealer base, designing new products for their needs, introducing them to new markets, and has developed international sales and programming since the early 1990s.
Today we (those at Manhattan-Digital) collectively spend a great deal of time studying market trends, and talk with satellite programmers about their future needs. We look forward working with satellite dealers and distributors, along with the general public, to bring high quality products to the marketplace at an affordable price. The Manhattan RS-1933 satellite receiver is our recent entry into the Free To Air arena, bringing great value and high performance together as one of the first MPEG-4 high definition receivers to feature single board construction. This has virtually eliminated heat buildup in receivers, and we still put in a heavier, more durable power supply that has achieved an admirable low failure rate. The receiver model was named after Jeff's dad, who passed on during the summer of 2010. He would have been proud of our accomplishments with this new product, which broke new ground and continues to be updated with new features through the use of new firmware developments.
Where do we go from here? We realize that in order to continue to sell receivers, there needs to be more programming available, even if some of it is of the subscription type. The RS-1933 receiver design has a socket that allows the addition of a Conditional Access Module, which can be used along with an appropriate subscription card for pay programming. We would like to take this receiver, along with a deluxe unit that does even more, to a higher level that combines free and subscription programming, and perhaps an alliance with an existing or new programming service. A lot of possibilities can be expanded further with the ability to receive multiple media, such as free and subscription satellite and Internet programming sources, in addition to local off-air digital TV reception. This could put us into further hardware markets that we have considered, including satellite antenna manufacturing, with hardware and accessories for that as well as other media delivery. Our partner in antenna manufacturing also makes solar systems, so we will also be working in that area, as it complements the satellite antenna industry extremely well, and shares a number of common physical characteristics.
People assets in this company include Tony Witulski and Mike Kohl; two individuals that form a great team when joined with Jeff, and whose broad experience gives more than a century in satellite and related fields between them. Jeff met Tony while working as Managing Director of Eurosat North America during the 1990s. Eurosat was the Master hardware distributor for international programming coming into North America from Italy and Poland. Tony has connections in Poland, Chicago, and in Arizona, where he now lives. He has broad experience in a number of electrical and electronic areas, making him well qualified to head our engineering efforts as well as run our service department.
Mike Kohl and Jeff met while both were working at Orbitron Antenna in the early 1990s. Mike brings over 30 years' experience in most sub-specialties of satellite reception, having worked in uplinking, systems integration, design and installation of commercial and residential systems on several continents. Whether at Orbitron, his own company Global Communications, or while employed at Skyvision, Mike has helped countless people with their technical problems, creating solutions developed through a broad working knowledge of satellite systems, programming, and the technical aspects of almost any equipment in this industry. And he still finds time to be accessable to everyone with a two-hour call-in technical talk show on Access America every week.
Jeff feels truly blessed to have two friends with such diverse backgrounds in an alliance with him to make Manhattan-Digital a reality. Together they act with checks and balances to not only bring up new ideas, but to challenge and critique everything together, with the end result being a very well thought-out plan. We look forward to working with you to make a better world to live in, requiring the highest standards for our products, and at the end of the day creating a positive impact for the planet. In these difficult times we must work together to build each others' business, and create new and exciting products that will be readily accepted in emerging markets.
We promise to work hard to gain your support!
