ANT Introduces Industry's First ``Content-Driven'' Embedded Browser, Providing Optimum Real-World Functionality.

Business Editors & High-Tech Writers

Embedded Systems Conference

Booth No. 3009

BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 9, 2001

Fully Featured ANT Fresco Browser Now Supports HTML 4.01,

JS1.3, CSS1, IME and Unicode

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(TM) 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, while 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, while ensuring that at the same time 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 minimizing memory and processor requirements. In the future, this ongoing content research program 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 vice president 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 DOMO (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.

"While 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 utilize 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 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 customization 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 environments. These range from highly embedded applications that 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 Limited

ANT Limited (www.antlimited.com) develops and markets embedded communication appliance software for use in consumer electronics, Internet appliances and eCommerce products. Core technology includes the ANT Fresco(TM) Browser and the ANT SimplEmail(TM) e-mail client, which employ high-performance, highly portable and customizable architectures 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.

The company's current customers include: Analog Devices, Amino Communications, OpenGlobe, Pace Micro Technology, Quiero, Sagem, Symbian and ZapMedia. Partners include: Bitstream, Enea, IBM Microelectronics, RSA Security, STMicroelectronics, Tality and Wind River Systems.

ANT Limited, 20 Cambridge Place, Cambridge, U.K. CB2 1NS; phone: [phone]; fax: [phone]; email: [e-mail]. U.S. headquarters: North Suburban Business Center, 23 Walkers Brook Drive, Reading, Mass. 01867; phone: [phone]; fax: [phone]; email: [e-mail].

Note to Editors: Fresco and SimplEmail are trademarks of ANT Limited. All other brand and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.

This release can be found at http://www.antlimited.com.