Graham Hammell Named Director, Harman Professional System Development And Integration Group

Harman Professional has named Graham Hammell as Director of its core research and development team, the System Development and Integration Group (SDIG). Today's announcement comes as SDIG's mandate is broadened to address more Harman Professional product families and also a greater number of application markets. According to Rob Urry, VP and GM, Harman Professional Signal Processing Group, who made the announcement, Graham Hammell's experience will be an essential guiding force in delivering the appropriate feature-sets for the respective applications.

“SDIG has developed HiQnet, System Architect and our internal AVB program to such a point that we now have extremely strong, scalable core technologies that we are beginning to deploy in a whole host of markets and applications,” Urry said today. “Market experience, product design and integration experience at the leadership level will be critical to minimize the ramp up time and optimize efficiency. Graham has this experience and I am confident it will manifest itself in an exciting array of innovations that will be seen throughout Harman Professional and soon after in the market.”

Hammell joined Harman in 2000, as software engineer at BSS in Potters Bar, UK. He became fundamental to the development of the BSS Soundweb London product family, acting first as Project Manager and later as Engineering Manager for HiQnet London Architectâ„¢ configuration and control software. This pivotal role he continued during and after the migration in BSS management to the Harman Signal Processing business unit in Salt Lake City, helping to ensure a smooth transition. In 2008, he was appointed to the role of Director of Applications Development, overseeing software interface development for Harman brands BSS, dbx, Lexicon and Digitech. In 2009, Hammell himself moved with his wife and family from the UK to Salt Lake City.

As Director SDIG, Hammell will lead the global Harman HiQnet development teams in the US and India. He will be responsible for strategizing the future of Harman's core technologies – the HiQnet control protocol and its core system configuration application HiQnet System Architectâ„¢. In addition, he will coordinate HiQnet development with all brands of the Harman Professional division and will direct the integration of the Ethernet AVB protocol into Harman's system strategies.

Bringing a vast experience of large-scale audio system software architecture to the role, Hammell said today, “I'm extremely excited to have the opportunity of spearheading the development of Harman Professional's core technologies, and integrating the next generation of Harman products. The adoption of the AVB protocol is hugely critical to the future of Harman systems and I very much look forward to integrating the protocol seamlessly into the Harman HiQnet ecosystem.”

Former Director Lynn Eggli will take up a new position at SDIG focusing on managing an engineering team dedicated to developing system design software targeted at specific markets.

Harman International Industries, Incorporated (www.harman.com), designs, manufactures and markets a wide range of audio and infotainment products for the automotive, consumer and professional markets. Harman International maintains a strong presence in the Americas, Europe and Asia, and employs more than 11,000 people worldwide. The Harman International family of brands includes AKG®, Becker®, BSS®, Crown®, dbx®, DigiTech®, Harman Kardon®, Infinity®, JBL®, Lexicon®, Mark Levinson®, Revel®, Selenium, Soundcraft® and Studer®. Harman International's stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “NYSE: HAR.”