ANT introduces industry's first "content driven" embedded browser, providing optimum real world functionality

Fully featured ANT Fresco browser now supports HTML 4.01, JS1.3, CSS1, IME and Unicode

Cambridge, UK, 9 April 2001

ANT Limited, a leading provider of embedded communication software for consumer electronics, Internet appliances and eCommerce products, has announced its latest version of the ANT Fresco™ browser. ANT based its new design on extensive research into the features and functions used by today's Web sites. The new version includes industry standard features such as HTML 4.01, JavaScript 1.3, CSS1, IME and Unicode. This enables the browser to access the majority of Web sites currently available on the Internet, whilst retaining the small memory footprint and efficient execution required in embedded applications.

Manufacturers wishing to embed Internet capabilities into their products can now offer end users greatly increased access to Web based content via a proven, robust browser which supports key industry standard features. This latest version of Fresco is a fully featured embedded browser aimed at OEMs that require significantly more functionality and direct real world content access in Internet device applications such as set top boxes, home entertainment systems, PDAs and in-vehicle information systems.

In developing this new version of the Fresco Browser, ANT deployed proprietary technologies to track the functions and standards being used in today's real world Web content. This "content driven" approach enables ANT's customers and partners to design products that can display the highest proportion of available sites, whilst ensuring at the same time that unnecessary functions and feature sets need not be included. This in turn speeds time-to-market by simplifying the OEM's design task, and reduces bill of materials costs by minimising memory and processor requirements. In the future, this ongoing content research programme will allow ANT to define further streamlined products that deliver the features when required by the market. Fresco upgrades will ensure that the company's partners are always able to include the most appropriate browser for their Internet devices.

"There is no point developing technology for technology's sake, it must be market-focused and deliver what is required by the market at a price the market can afford," said John Cherry, senior VP of sales and marketing at ANT Limited. "Despite the proliferation of standards and Web technologies, the reality is that most Web site content relies upon a specific subset of features. Our research indicates that in an attempt to make their sites as widely available as possible, Web content authors restrict their usage to a particular range of features, and it is these which we have fully encapsulated in our browser."

This latest version of ANT Fresco fully supports the HTML 4.01 standard and ECMAScript 262, the leading standards definition for JavaScript, which includes full support for JavaScript 1.3. The inclusion of CSS1 (Cascading Style Sheets) enables ANT Fresco to accurately and consistently display web sites that make use of CSS to impose a corporate style on web presentation. Accurate font rendering and full Asian character correlation is enabled through Unicode and extended IME functionality. The inclusion of DOM0 (Document Object Model) caters for DHTML (Dynamic HTML) features.

"This is a key advancement for Fresco and it provides a feature set that enables customers to view a significantly higher number of real Web sites," said Neil Gardner, product marketing manager at ANT Limited. "Through our "content driven" philosophy we offer products designed to provide access to today's content and not to be encumbered with the features that are not needed right now. Whilst we have supported some 90% of HTML 4.01 tags and JavaScript 1.1 for several months now, this new version of Fresco provides support for all pages that utilise full HTML 4.01 and require JavaScript 1.3, currently used by the largest proportion of sites available."

Fresco is a fully functional, off-the-shelf browser that will embed into any device. It is efficiently coded, so that it can be accommodated in the small memory space typical of consumer products. Because extra memory means not only larger size, but also higher cost, this is a critical factor in price sensitive consumer applications. The ANT Fresco core engine is one of the market's most compact browsers and requires just a few hundred kilobytes of memory.

The Information Appliance (IA) Division of Pace Micro Technology plc, the world's largest dedicated developer of digital set top technology, is ANT's first customer for the new browser. The IA Division is focused on licensing the lowest cost versus highest performance Internet TV Engine solutions to TV manufacturers and ISPs. "Pace has enjoyed a longstanding relationship with ANT over a number of years," said Richard Nicoll, Divisional Director, Pace Micro Technology. "ANT's Fresco browser has proved very effective in helping to deliver our Internet TV solutions to our customers for example, in volume deployments such as Bush Alba's Internet TV in the UK. This new version of Fresco will provide our customers with significantly increased functionality and content options."

The ANT browser is based on a unique, patent pending, three-layered architecture, consisting of the ANT Portability Environment (APE), which manages the interface to the hardware platform; the core standards compliant browser code; and a graphical user interface. This allows the parallel development of the major elements in product design, so that graphic designers can work on the user interface at the same time as the device OEM is designing and integrating the technology.

Fresco's API layers permit customisation to produce a branded user interface, without affecting the browser core, enabling it to be quickly and effectively incorporated into a wide variety of application environment. These range from highly embedded applications which require little or no user interface facilities, to a fully loaded browser based system, capable of launching helper applications, supporting plug-ins and dealing with cookies.

About ANT Software Limited

ANT plc (www.antplc.com) is a leading provider of digital TV client and consumer electronic software solutions. ANT's unique client solutions allow robust and consistent delivery of digital-media, user interfaces, interactive services and applications to the TV and portable media devices. ANT enables service providers to efficiently create and deploy successful solutions to the market that deliver high value and clear differentiation.

ANT's products are pre-integrated with many industry-leading solutions and are based upon open standards, enabling low-risk, cost-effective roll-out of services, while ensuring flexible client hardware choice with efficient bill of materials. ANT software has been extensively deployed by customers throughout the world including Chunghwa Telecom, Foxconn, France Telecom, Humax, LG/Nortel, Philips, Sagem, Samsung, SaskTel, Telecom Italia and Thomson.

ANT plc's shares are listed on AIM, a London Stock Exchange regulated market, under the ticker ANTP (Reuters: ANTP.L, Bloomberg: ANTP.LN).

Trademarks

ANT, the ANT logo, Galio, Fresco and PurePlay are all trademarks or registered trademarks of ANT Software Limited. All other brand and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.

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