CableSoft enters into agreement with Wink Communications to develop turn-key interactive television applications.BURLINGTON, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 20, 1995--CableSoft(TM) Corporation, a leading marketer of interactive television software to broadband network operators, today announced that it has entered into a development agreement with Wink A short control signal in telephony operations. It can be a single pulse, a brief interruption of a continuous tone, a change of bits or a change in polarity of the signal. For example, a momentary interruption (the wink) of a continuous, single-frequency tone is a signal that the Communications, Inc. Under terms of this unique agreement, CableSoft and Wink will co-develop an exclusive suite of commercially-supported software applications for the interactive television industry. The CableSoft applications will be based on Wink's industry-standard interactive television application environment, which consists of a small-footprint software component -- the Wink Engine -- that offers set-top platform independence. Wink has previously announced agreements to port the Wink Engine to General Instrument set-top terminals, and will announce other license agreements at the Western Cable Show. CableSoft's locally-branded, locally-based on-demand applications will enable cable operators to derive commercial revenues by implementing services such as interactive classified advertising, interactive yellow pages and LocalWorks, CableSoft's interactive community directories. On analog cable systems, the CableSoft-developed applications will operate as "virtual interactive channels" that utilize the vertical blanking interval The part of a TV signal that is sent between each video frame. In North American TV (NTSC), the vertical blanking interval (VBI) takes up the last 45 lines of each 525-line frame. in a television signal for data transport. For customers deploying digital cable converters, the applications will use the auxiliary data fields in MPEG (Moving Pictures Experts Group) An ISO/ITU standard for compressing digital video. Pronounced "em-peg," it is the universal standard for digital terrestrial, cable and satellite TV, DVDs and digital video recorders (DVRs). and other digital standards. "CableSoft and Wink have accomplished what no other vendors could do: deliver a true interactive commercial business on the set-top," said Bruce Jones Bruce Jones may refer to the following:
The combination of CableSoft applications and server software with the Wink interactive television architecture creates a "backbone" system of hardware and software which will support interactive applications from data creation and input, through transport to the head-end server, and onto the set-top. This "backbone" will serve as a framework for adding additional interactive capabilities, including advanced two-way applications, as technology evolves. "CableSoft brings a unique level of expertise to the playing field," said Brian Dougherty Brian Dougherty (b. December 10, 1973) of Philadelphia, PA is a lacrosse goaltender. He attended The Episcopal Academy before attending University of Maryland. Dougherty is one of the most decorated and accomplished goaltenders in the history of lacrosse. , president of Wink Communications. "CableSoft understands how to leverage Wink's system to provide early revenue-generating applications to system operators. CableSoft's powerful set of integrated locally-branded, locally-based interactive classified advertising, interactive yellow pages and community directories will provide operators much more from today's equipment than they thought possible -- Wink is very pleased to have CableSoft as an early development partner." Wink Communications, Inc. Wink Communications is a leading developer of interactive television software, including embedded Inserted into. See embedded system. set-top and television run-time engines, authoring tools, and server/back-end systems. Wink's Interactive Communicating Applications Protocol (ICAP (1) (Internet Content Adaptation Protocol) A high-level protocol for requesting services from an Internet-based server. iCAP provides a common format for requesting services using standard HTTP messaging. ) has been adopted by leading set-top and television manufacturers as a worldwide, de facto standard Hardware or software that is widely used, but not endorsed by a standards organization. Contrast with de jure standard. de facto standard - A widespread consensus on a particular product or protocol which has not been ratified by any official standards body, such as ISO, for distributing graphical, interactive applications. CableSoft Corporation Headquartered in Burlington, Massachusetts Burlington is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 22,876 at the 2000 census. History Burlington was first settled in 1641 and was officially incorporated on February 28, 1799. , CableSoft Corporation is the market leader in designing, developing and supporting information-based interactive television applications for broadband network operators. -0- CableSoft and the CableSoft logo are trademarks of CableSoft Corporation. CONTACT: Geoff Spillane or Brenda Stevenson Schwartz Communications, Inc. (617) 431-0770 geoffs@schwartz-pr.com bstevens@schwartz-pr.com or Barak Kassar Wink Communications, Inc. (510) 337-6308 barak.kassar@wink.com |
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