Wargnier Trades GM/OnStar for Clarity
17 October 2000
Big Opportunities Often Come in Small Packages; Wargnier Trades GM/OnStar for Clarity
TROY, Mich.--Oct. 17, 2000--Why would anyone want to give up a high profile position in the most exciting division of a major corporation to join an infant, private, developmental company?Ask James A. Wargnier, formerly a senior electrical engineer with General Motor's OnStar division, who this week became Vice-President- Engineering at Clarity LLC, an embryonic operation involved in voice technology and he'll tell you this:
"It's every engineer's dream to be on the cutting edge of a technology that is going to have dramatic impact on your particular discipline and that's what Clarity is all about."
But as Mr. Wargnier would also quickly tell you, "Clarity is not just simply voice technology; it's the ability to highlight a primary sound by eliminating all surrounding noises whether its in using your cell phone or driving in your automobile."
Nor is Mr. Wargnier, 36, experiencing a pipe dream. At Convergence 2000, the premier automotive electronics conference in Detroit, attended by everyone who is anyone in the automotive electronics arena, Clarity's "Clear Voice Capture" technology is the buzz.
CVC is an enabling technology for voice interface applications including hands free cellular communications in automobiles. Other markets include all forms of telephony, speech recognition software, voice based command and control, voice authentication and voice communications such as Internet (VOIP) and cellular telephone.
The technology can be embedded into many consumer products including automotive telematics (the delivery of information to and from a particular site), desktop, laptop and palm top computers, personal-digital assistants, cellular phones, intelligent home appliances, educational toys and voice recording devices.
As Mr. Wargnier observed, "with the CVC installation, what you hear if what you want to hear with no interference or distortions."
At GM's OnStar division, Mr. Wargnier was Senior Digital Signaling Processing Systems Engineer responsible for managing the development of the DSP subsystem for a MY2002 OnStar telematics unit to meet in-vehicle voice recognition, hands-free phone, server side voice recognition and cellular requirements.
Prior to joining OnStar, thought by most to be the "Big Daddy" of automotive telematics, he spent eight years at Ford Motor Company's Visteon division where he was involved in that operation's early efforts at speech recognition systems for use in transportation modes.
Put in engineering jargon, Mr. Wargnier noted that "Clarity has a technology that is exceptionally competitive in performance with other companies in the space, but is also has technology that is much better aligned than their competitors with the industry preferred telematics system architectures which have been conceived to bring high value at low cost."
Allowing his entrepreneurial side to show, Mr. Warginer added that " Clarity is much more than a one-hit wonder; the Company is working aggressively to put out new technologies that could change the industry."
From Clarity management's perspective, the addition of Mr. Wargnier is akin to recruiting a star running back for the Detroit Lions' offense.
As Raymond Gunn, Clarity's chief executive officer, observed, "Jim has seen every microphone and noise cancellation technology in the market and has maintained a birds eye view of the entire telematics landscape from his perch at OnStar.
"With his envious professional credentials and experience, we believe that Jim Wargnier's decision to join Clarity is the kind of professional endorsement that raises our profile five fold."
Clearly, Clarity has positioned itself at the "sweet spot" of the automotive industry given the combination of growing use of cell phones by harried, traffic-bound business people and the growing imposition of state and municipal regulations on the use of cell phones in automobiles other than hands free systems.
From his years of experience in the automotive industry, Mr. Wagnier noted that "the challenge that Clarity has met, and which has kept the auto industry at bay, is the ability to deliver a clearly audible sound when the auto is surrounded by ear shattering external noises topped off by the roar of the engine."
Mr. Wargnier earned his B.S. in electrical engineering at the prestigious Detroit-based Lawrence Institute of Technology, studied communications systems at a graduate level as The Johns Hopkins University and earned an M.S. in electrical engineering at Wayne State University, accomplishment highlighted by the fact that he did that while working full time at Ford.
In addition, Mr. Wargnier holds three patents granted for AM and FM receiver technology and has two more patents pending.