HUMAX licenses ANT Fresco™ with Macromedia Flash Player for new generation of STB for the Korean market
Cambridge, 18th July 2002
ANT Limited, a leading provider of communications software and services for TV and consumer electronics, today announced that HUMAX Co., Ltd (Kosdaq KR7028080000), one of the world's largest set top box (STB) manufacturers, has licensed ANT Fresco with Macromedia Flash Player, as a central feature of its new generation set top box for the growing Asian market. HUMAX's initial customer for the STB will be a Korean broadband services provider. Korean-based HUMAX is the first consumer electronics manufacturer to license the recently launched ANT plug-in, the Macromedia Flash Player for ANT Fresco, which enables the viewing of rich Macromedia Flash content and applications on any ANT-enabled device.
HUMAX's customer will be rolling out TV over IP services in Asia, delivering multi-channel television and interactive services to its subscribers in the home, including video-on-demand, broadcast TV, IP gaming, web mail, online shopping and browsing of TV-purposed Internet sites. With the addition of Macromedia Flash support for the Fresco browser, HUMAX will be able to deliver a multimedia capable STB.
"This is testimony to the fact that Fresco is becoming selected as the browser of choice by consumer electronics manufacturers, and increasingly so by service providers," said Simon Woodward, CEO & President of ANT Limited. "HUMAX is a global leader in set top box technology and has a number of major customers around the world. By working with ANT, HUMAX can deliver set top box technology with Macromedia's Flash Player very quickly to its customers, capable of delivering a more compelling multimedia experience than previously possible over the TV."
"We have seen many of our customers happy with the decision to use ANT Fresco in our set top box," said Yong Hoon Lee, general manager of HUMAX "We like the technology, the speed with which it could be integrated into our set top box design, and the fact that it easily slots in, alongside the other components of our solution. We were especially pleased with the fact that we can offer customised functionality and user interface design to reflect each customer's corporate brand."
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).
ANT Fresco Browser with Macromedia Flash Support
ANT Fresco is a highly reliable, platform-independent browser, specifically designed for digital TV and other consumer electronics appliances. The core browser code resides within ANT's unique, patent-pending, three-layer software architecture, which consists of a portability environment to manage the interface to the RTOS and hardware platform, an applications layer to house the browser core and other applications, and a graphical user interface layer to enable flexible user interface design.
With a greater range of presentation methods including animation, sound and sophisticated interactivity, Macromedia Flash content is ideal for branded user interfaces, portals, advertising, games, e-commerce, navigational menus, information services and a host of other applications for TV and other home entertainment devices. With ANT Fresco supporting the delivery of such content, ANT's OEM and service provider customers are now able to deliver a richer, more sophisticated interactive experience.
About HUMAX
HUMAX (www.humaxdigital.com) has focused on digital technologies and performed the successful development and launch of digital satellite set top boxes on the European market from 1996 with concentrated investment on R&D. Despite competing against the major heavyweights like Philips and Nokia, HUMAX now records 40% retail market share in Europe. With its own brand and advanced technological know-how, HUMAX is steadily expanding its global brand presence. Buoyed by continuous technological advances and aggressive unveiling of new and better products, and backed by its positive brand image, HUMAX is poised to become one of world top three STB makers by 2003.
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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