CANAL+ TECHNOLOGIES and Sun Microsystems Accelerate Deployment of Open Interactive Digital T.V. Through Strategic Business Relationship & Equity Investment.Business/Technology Editors PARIS Paris, in Greek mythology Paris or Alexander, in Greek mythology, son of Priam and Hecuba and brother of Hector. Because it was prophesied that he would cause the destruction of Troy, Paris was abandoned on Mt. & PALO ALTO Palo Alto, city, California Palo Alto (păl`ō ăl`tō), city (1990 pop. 55,900), Santa Clara co., W Calif.; inc. 1894. Although primarily residential, Palo Alto has aerospace, electronics, and advanced research industries. , Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 5, 2001 CANAL+ TECHNOLOGIES to Leverage Sun's Java Technologies and Server Platforms in an Integrated, End to End iTV Offering CANAL+ TECHNOLOGIES and Sun Microsystems Sun Microsystems, Inc. (NASDAQ: JAVA[3]) is an American vendor of computers, computer components, computer software, and information-technology services, founded on 24 February 1982. , Inc. today announced a worldwide relationship to accelerate Java(TM) technology-based open standards Specifications for hardware and software that are developed by a standards organization or a consortium involved in supporting a standard. Available to the public for developing compliant products, open standards imply "open systems;" that an existing component in a system can be replaced for interactive digital television. Working together, CANAL+ TECHNOLOGIES and Sun will help enable operators and content providers to develop new entertainment, news and information, and educational services for today's digital lifestyle. CANAL+ TECHNOLOGIES and Sun will work together to promote industry acceptance and rapid deployment of Java technology in advanced digital set top boxes. In addition, CANAL+ TECHNOLOGIES will license Sun's PersonalJava(TM) platform for integration with its MEDIAHIGHWAY(TM) middleware solution and port its cable headend infrastructure products to Sun's Solaris(TM) Operating Environment In computing, an operating environment is the environment in which users run programs, whether in a command line interface, such as in MS-DOS or the Unix shell, or in a graphical user interface, such as in the Macintosh operating system. and Sun(TM) Cluster 3.0 software. iTV application servers for capabilities such as real-time interactive gaming or chat applications intend to be ported to the Sun platform. "CANAL+ TECHNOLOGIES shares our vision that open platforms are critical to the success of the global interactive television market," said Patricia C. Sueltz, executive vice president, Software Systems Group, Sun Microsystems. "We applaud CANAL+ TECHNOLOGIES' leadership and innovation as one of the first companies to deploy an open standards based solution supporting the Java platform Running Java programs under the Java Virtual Machine (JVM). Java "platform" refers to the running of Java programs versus Java itself, which is a programming language. Java programs are machine independent and run intact on any hardware platform that has a Java interpreter (JVM). . This initiative is a welcomed step, one we believe will benefit the iTV market." In support of CANAL+ TECHNOLOGIES' innovative interactive television solutions, Sun is joining other CANAL+ TECHNOLOGIES' investors including SONY, Thomson multimedia/RCA and Sogecable. "We are pleased to make an investment in CANAL+ TECHNOLOGIES to support the roll-out of advanced iTV services based on the Java platform," said Brian Sutphin, vice president of Strategic Investments at Sun Microsystems. "We believe that the combination of Sun's Java technologies and server platforms with CANAL+ TECHNOLOGIES' MEDIAGUARD(TM) and MEDIAHIGHWAY products will provide operators and broadcasters with a compelling, end-to-end offering for the consumers of interactive television services." "We believe our relationship with Sun demonstrates our commitment to open standards based on Java technology, which is a significant event for us, our television network partners and ultimately the millions of subscribers," said Francois Carayol, Chairman and CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. of CANAL+ TECHNOLOGIES. "By promoting open standards, we believe we can speed the acceptance of interactive TV, which will lead to greater value and benefits for viewers worldwide." "We believe CANAL+ TECHNOLOGIES' early adoption and aggressive commercial deployments of open systems for interactive television has been a critical element in its initial international success," Carayol added. "We intend to continue to promote open systems in international digital television standards activities such as DVB-MHP (Digital Video Broadcast-Multimedia Home Platform) A Java-based platform for interactive TV over the Digital Video Broadcast (DVB) system. in Europe and CableLab's OpenCable initiative in the U.S." MEDIAHIGHWAY, combined with the Java platform, provides a flexible design allowing it to function independently of the operating system operating system (OS) Software that controls the operation of a computer, directs the input and output of data, keeps track of files, and controls the processing of computer programs. and hardware platform giving set-top box The cable TV box that sits on "top" of the TV "set," although it is often located several feet away in an equipment rack. The set-top box descrambles the premium channels and provides a tuner for the higher cable numbers that very old TVs did not support. manufacturers the ability to differentiate their products by delivering personalized interactive television services. About CANAL+ TECHNOLOGIES A subsidiary of CANAL+, the TV & Film division of Vivendi Universal, CANAL+ TECHNOLOGIES is an international provider of digital and interactive TV software solutions. Over 20 digital operators and broadcasters have deployed the interactive TV middleware MEDIAHIGHWAY and conditional access system A conditional access system (CAS) is a system by which electronic transmission of digital media, especially satellite television signals through cable, is limited to subscribed clients. This is called conditional access. MEDIAGUARD, including CANALSATELLITE in France, ONdigital in the UK and AT&T Broadband in the U.S., and Astro Measat and ZeeTV in Asia Its software runs on more than 8.6 million digital set-top boxes in digital cable, satellite and terrestrial environments. For more information, visit www.canalplus-technologies.com. About Sun Microsystems, Inc. Since its inception in 1982, a singular vision, "The Network Is The Computer(TM)" -- has propelled Sun Microsystems, Inc. (Nasdaq: SUNW SUNW Sun Microsystems, Inc (former stock symbol; now JAVA) SUNW Stanford University Network Workstation (Sun Microsystems, Inc) ), to its position as a leading provider of industrial-strength hardware, software and services that power the Internet and allow companies worldwide to dot-com their businesses. With $17.6 billion in annual revenues, Sun can be found in more than 170 countries and on the World Wide Web at http://www.sun.com. Sun, Sun Microsystems, the Sun logo, Java, PersonalJava, Solaris and The Network Is The Computer are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. in the United States and other countries. |
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