> HUGO GAGGIONI When Hugo began working for Sony, he closely collaborated with the engineers in our R&D group in Atsugi. I clearly remember the first time I met him and he tried to passionately absorb all of the technology details from my presentation. He quickly became an international ally and a trusted resource on compression, helping shape Sony’s industry-leading capabilities. His expertise also ushered in transformations that drastically advanced broadcasting – standards which we continue to build upon to this day. Hugo’s an all-star within the Sony organization and also a very good friend for over 30 years, so we’re thrilled to see the industry take note of his significant achievements. – Mikio Kita, Sony Hugo has been an instrumental leader and visionary throughout the HDTV development process in the industry. He’s an engineer, a thought leader, and has consistently been a futurist. – Chuck Pagano, Sports Broadcasting Hall of Famer 36
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ports productions are divided into two camps: above the line and below the line. And then there is a third camp: the technology world of manufacturers and innovators who make the work of the other two possible. And when it comes to leaders from that camp, few are equal to Hugo Gaggioni, CTO, Imaging Products and Solutions Americas Professional Group, Sony Electronics. The best way to sum up his career contributions is this: if you’ve ever seen a video image that has made you go “Wow,” odds are that, somewhere in the development chain, Gaggioni played a big part. “Hugo has been an instrumental leader and visionary throughout the HDTV development process in the industry,” says Sports Broadcasting Hall of Famer and former ESPN CTO Chuck Pagano. “He has been nothing short of an incredible library of info, thoughts, and ideations that transformed us from 525-line interlaced NTSC to 1080 digital HDTV. He’s an engineer, a thought leader, and has consistently been a futurist throughout my relationship with him.” Growing up in Venezuela, Gaggioni was enamored with music, but his father persuaded him to attend university, where he discovered a passion for electronics. A scholarship opportunity to study in England arose, and he took it, earning a degree in telecommunications from the University of Essex. “Very few people get a second chance to make a first impression, so I took the chance to go to England, abandoning everything and starting from scratch,” says Gaggioni. “But timing is everything, and, at that time, in 1974 and 1975, the world of digital signal processing had just begun.” In England, he had learned about the new field of digital signal processing and image compression and, returning to Venezuela, taught a university-level course on the subject. A desire to keep learning had him looking for something more. “One of the professors at the university used to represent RCA,” Gaggioni recalls. “He said they were looking for people in Camden, NJ. I
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went to New York on vacation, took an interview with RCA, and met [Sports Broadcasting Hall of Famer and former RCA, Sony, and Canon executive] Larry Thorpe.” RCA made Gaggioni an offer, and, in January 1980, he moved north, joining the company just as the transition to digital technologies was beginning. He continued his academic studies, earning a degree in systems engineering at the University of Pennsylvania and a degree in electronic engineering at Columbia University. In 1983, the RCA broadcast group was dismantled, and Gaggioni soon joined Bell Communications Research, part of Bell Labs. “We claimed to have broken 100 Mbps for HD, which at the time was a big deal,” he says. “But I also continued my friendship with Larry; when he left RCA, he joined Sony’s Broadcast Group.” Although Bell Labs was the “cradle of everything,” Thorpe persuaded Gaggioni to join Sony in 1987. And he has been there ever since. “Joining Sony changed me completely, in every
