OPENGLOBE CONTACT:
Sue Russell
PRESS CONTACT:
Heather Kelly
(888) 275-5878 ext. 23
heather-mobile@sspr.com
INDUSTRY-FIRST
DVD TECHNOLOGY FOR PLAYING ENHANCED MOVIE CONTENT DEMONSTRATED BY ANT LIMITED,
IBM, INTERACTUAL®, OPENGLOBE™ AND WIND RIVER
LAS VEGAS NV, CES, LVCC Booth #22741 (Jan. 7, 2002). ANT Limited, IBM (NYSE:IBM), InterActual Technologies, OpenGlobe, Inc. and Wind River Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq:WIND) today announced the industry’s first technology demonstration for the playback of enhanced DVDs in a consumer electronics DVD player. Enhanced DVDs richly blend the complementary features of DVD-based content with dynamic Internet content to enrich the consumer entertainment experience. In support of DVD Forum efforts, this “proof of concept” demonstrates the practicality of performance, time to market and cost targets required for near term success of enhanced DVD technology. The leading technology companies that are part of this team will be presenting a demonstration at CES 2002 in OpenGlobe’s booth #22741, in LVCC South Hall 2.
With these technologies, movie studios and other DVD content publishers can now build on their enhanced content development efforts already under way with InterActual. “New Line is very interested in expanding our DVD-ROM creative efforts, presently targeted for the nearly 20 million US households with a DVD-ROM computer, to these types of enhanced DVD players in the living room,” said Michael Mulvihill, Vice President of Content Development for New Line Home Entertainment. “We see a tremendous opportunity in combining today’s movie viewing experience with the Web to offer consumers additional content and ongoing value.”
ANT, IBM, InterActual, OpenGlobe and Wind River have combined technologies to support current standardization efforts at the DVD-Forum. The results demonstrate that this type of enhanced DVD player can be brought to market offering consumers a compelling entertainment experience while offering system manufacturers a cost-effective implementation.
“By using InterActual’s Media Services middleware for integrating DVD-Video within ANT’s browser on top of OpenGlobe’s DVD navigator, recognition and core integration technologies, this team is successfully demonstrating that existing DVD-ROM and Internet-connected bonus features can cost-effectively run on this type of enhanced DVD player,” said Todd Collart, President and CEO of InterActual. “Further, this demonstration supports our current leadership efforts within the DVD-Forum towards the definition and adoption of an industry-standard specification for enhanced DVD.”
For Enhanced DVD to reach its full potential it must be widely embraced by everyday consumers. That means providing a robust solution that is fast and responsive, has rich graphics capabilities, provides flawless presentation of audio/video content, is easy to use, and that has longevity, all at an acceptable "consumer" price point. "The emergence of advanced consumer platforms, such as Enhanced DVD, require advanced technologies to help enable the rich user experience and the flexibility to handle new interactive content," said Dr. Eric Tsou, Director, Digital Video Products Group, IBM Microelectronics. "Leveraging IBM's experience in pervasive computing devices, such as, gaming systems and digital set-top boxes, we are providing high performance integrated controllers that deliver the audio, video, graphics, and control functionality at the heart of these new Enhanced DVD applications."
"OpenGlobe is pleased
to lead the charge with these fine partners in bringing the world of enhanced
DVD from the PC to the living room", said Bernie Sepaniak, President and
CEO of OpenGlobe. "By contributing
key technologies and serving as the system integrator for this demonstration,
we have highlighted our leadership position in bringing complex technologies
and services to consumer electronic devices effectively. We will aggressively support our partners in
taking enhanced DVD to the next level for both the studios and
manufacturers. Enhanced DVD is also a
perfect complement to OpenGlobe's Entertainment Services, as our DVD recognition
technologies and databases provide an opportunity for studios to readily bring
the world of Internet-based enhancements to legacy DVD titles."
“ANT is thrilled to once more be involved in applying its interactive technologies to ground-breaking consumer products that help shape the future of entertainment experiences”, said Simon Woodward, President and CEO of ANT. “The opportunity for our television expertise and application technology to enhance the consumer DVD experience with this group of partners, is tremendously exciting to us.” The ANT Fresco browser is now fully compatible with InterActual's Media Services. “By offering a customizable user interface, configurable functionality and portability across different platforms and processors, ANT's browser and appliance architecture were the obvious choice for this enhanced DVD project.”
"The
living room is one of the most fascinating areas of the home for
interconnectivity opportunities. Wind River is pleased to be able to supply the
VxWorks® real-time operating system, Tornado® integrated development
environment (IDE), key networking protocols and development expertise to the
team creating such an innovative and compelling product,” said Dave Fraser,
group vice president and general manager of Wind River’s Networking business
unit. More and more companies are recognizing the need for an integrated,
secure, reliable, managed communications platform on which to integrate their
own higher level intellectual property and, in using Wind River's products in
this way, are able to focus on their own key innovation and differentiation
rather than re-invention. And, if needed, WRS can offer companies a proven
suite of consulting and outsourcing services to assist the transition of
reference technology into commercial products.”
ANT Limited (http://www.antlimited.com) develops and markets embedded communication appliance software for use in consumer electronics, Internet appliances, iTV and eCommerce products. Core technology includes the ANT Fresco™ Browser and the ANT SimplEmail™ email client, which are both written in ANSI C for platform independence and high performance, and designed to meet the needs of Internet appliances and other networked products. ANT's technology gives original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) of Internet devices, and the technology partners that supply them, three significant advantages: far greater speed to market, reduced engineering costs, and freedom to leverage corporate identity.
IBM Microelectronics is a key contributor to IBM's
role as the world's premier information technology supplier. IBM
Microelectronics develops, manufactures and markets state-of-the-art
semiconductor and interconnect technologies, products and services. IBM makes
chips for a wide range of devices from the world's most powerful computers to
the smallest cell phones. Its superior integrated solutions can be found in
many of the world's best-known electronic brands. More information about IBM
Microelectronics can be found at http://www.chips.ibm.com.
InterActual Technologies, Inc. (http://www.interactual.com)
is the leading provider of software and services that connect DVD and the
Internet. InterActual’s PCFriendly™ and InterActual Player software have
enabled millions of connected viewers to enjoy exclusive offline and online
special features with Hollywood movies when played in a DVD-ROM computer or
Internet-connected DVD player. By integrating the experience of Web browsing
with the highly interactive capabilities of DVD, InterActual is connecting the
audience to a new dimension of entertainment and information. InterActual also
maintains an online, subscription-based community (http://inventor.interactual.com)
for professional developers interested in more fully exploiting the features of
the InterActual platform for entertainment and marketing content.
OpenGlobe, Inc., an affiliated
company of Escient Technologies, LLC, is a leading entertainment services and
media device technologies provider delivering simply powerful home
entertainment. Working with world-class
consumer electronics and personal computer manufacturers and core component
suppliers, OpenGlobe seamlessly brings a world of entertainment capabilities
into users’ home entertainment systems.
Users can easily store and access their media collections, discover gaps,
import and use digital media, create favorite playlists, or further access the
OpenGlobe services to explore new artists or genres, get customized content,
receive media recommendations, and opt into personalized CE-Commerce™
purchasing opportunities. Headquartered
in Indianapolis, OpenGlobe sets the benchmark for products and services that
entertain the concept of simplicity. www.OpenGlobe.NET
Wind River is a worldwide leader in embedded software and services for creating connected smart devices. Wind River provides software development tools, real-time operating systems, and advanced connectivity for use in products throughout the Internet, telecommunications and data communications, digital imaging, digital consumer electronics, networking, medical, computer peripherals, automotive, industrial automation and control, and aerospace/defense markets. Wind River is How Smart Things Think™. Founded in 1983, Wind River is headquartered in Alameda, California, with operations worldwide. More information on Wind River can be found at http://www.windriver.com.
ANT Limited (outside US)
Melanie
Pankhurst
+44 1223 716411
marketing@antlimited.com
ANT Limited (US):
Robin Moore
Moore.com Communications
310.798.7994
IBM
Michael Loughran
845-892-5463
InterActual Technologies, Inc.
Todd Collart
408-392-7110
OpenGlobe, Inc.
Heather Kelly
S&S Public Relations for
OpenGlobe, Inc.
888-275-5878 ext. 23
heather-mobile@sspr.com
Wind River
Michelle
McGilloway
510-749-2765
Michelle.mcgilloway@windriver.com