ANT Limited and InterActual® in strategic partnership to develop technology for next-generation Enhanced DVD players
Digital Hollywood, Los Angeles, 25th September 2002
ANT Limited, a leading provider of browser-based content rendering solutions for TV, DVD and other consumer electronic devices, and InterActual Technologies, Inc., the leading provider of products and services for combining DVD with the Internet, today announced their partnership to deliver the underlying software that will power the playback of Enhanced DVDs in next-generation consumer electronics DVD players. The two companies will develop an enhanced DVD solution that offers a cost-effective implementation to OEM and brand manufacturers, and is compatible with future DVD Forum standards.
Already a leading player in the STB market with technology deployments worldwide, ANT has been working with InterActual for over a year on research and development projects to pursue new levels of interactivity and Internet connectivity within DVD players. ANT has licensed InterActual's proprietary Media Services software technology, and has developed an integration component that gives the ANT Fresco™ browser access to new enhanced DVD content, using InterActual technology.
ANT's proven browser and software architecture technology enables the rendering of enhanced HTML content and gives the consumer easy, intuitive access to the extended range of DVD features made available by the InterActual software. InterActual Media Services enables innovative features such as enhanced menus, searchable video, and online features such as multi-player challenges, group events, consumer polling, and updated commentaries, and links to related online web sites. This marriage of technologies will enable Enhanced DVDs to be played from the comfort of the living room, viewed on the television set.
"We are thrilled to be working with InterActual in developing this ground breaking new product category, the Enhanced DVD player, " said Simon Woodward, President and CEO of ANT Limited. "By integrating the InterActual DVD technology with ANT Fresco, we have extended the browser functionality but still kept memory and processor requirements to a minimum. This means we will be able to offer OEMs and brand manufacturers a cost-effective implementation, able to deliver a compelling experience to the consumer."
"We are delighted to have ANT as one of our technology partners," said Todd Collart, President and CEO of InterActual. "ANT's experience in the television and consumer electronics markets, combined with the highly reliable, platform-independent ANT Fresco browser makes ANT an ideal partner for InterActual. Our mutual goal is to develop an enhanced DVD solution that not only offers compatibility with future DVD Forum standards, but also with new, innovative, online features that are constantly emerging from InterActual's customer base of movie studios and music labels," said Collart.
A demonstration of ANT Fresco's newly advanced capabilities can be viewed in the InterActual suite, on the LSI Logic and ANT booths, at the Digital Hollywood conference (www.digitalhollywood.com), Beverly Hills Hilton Hotel, Rodeo Room, September 24-25.
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).
About Enhanced DVD
Enhanced DVDs feature additional on-disc and online DVD content that has traditionally only been accessible using personal computers but the new product category of Enhanced DVD players will make this content accessible through the television. Enhanced DVD technology enriches the consumer entertainment experience by blending the complementary features of DVD-Video with dynamic Internet content provided either on disc or online.
About InterActual Technologies
InterActual Technologies, Inc. (www.interactual.com) is the leading provider of software and services that enhance DVD movie viewing on computers and next-generation DVD players, especially with exclusive features that integrate DVD content with the Internet. InterActual Player, and it's predecessor InterActual PCFriendly(R), have enabled millions of connected viewers to access and enjoy a new dimension of entertainment and information. InterActual also maintains an online community (inventor.interactual.com) for professional developers interested in more fully exploiting the features of the InterActual platform for entertainment and marketing content. InterActual is a voting Principal Member of the DVD Forum and chair company of AH1-12, actively working with the DVD industry to migrate enhanced DVD capabilities to future consumer electronic and other convergent set-top platforms. InterActual is headquartered in San Jose, California.
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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