Motorola Reveals `Streamaster' as Official Brand Name for Revolutionary Multimedia Technology.

LAS VEGAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 7, 1999--At the Consumer Electronics Show--Motorola Thursday unveiled "Streamaster" as the official brand name for its open, extensible multimedia architecture aimed at revolutionizing video entertainment and video communications.

The Streamaster architecture is defined by a Motorola owned and developed operating environment that supports interactive 3-D graphics, Java, MPEG digital video, high-fidelity audio, Internet access, electronic commerce and broadband networking in a single integrated unit.

Motorola will be developing a family of standard "Intelligent Broadband Access" and "Intelligent Internet Access" products based upon the Streamaster architecture. Motorola has previously announced the Blackbird Home Media Platform, the first Streamaster-compliant technology product. Dataquest estimates multimedia to be a $10.5 billion industry by 2000.

Motorola is well-positioned in this industry by providing customers with state-of-the-art entertainment and communications capabilities including video-on-demand, networked and DVD-based 3-D games, video information and conferencing, high-speed Internet access and secure e-commerce.

The Streamaster architecture is based upon a foundation of the Microware OS/9000 operating system running David 2.2 and Maui, an HTML engine based upon Spyglass' Device Mosaic 3.0, pJAVA, the Nuon Media Libraries for advanced graphics and media handling, and Motorola-developed network extensions.

Said Brad Hale, marketing director, Motorola's Media Processing and Platforms Division: "During the last few months we have developed a formal brand name and brand identification for our multimedia processing technology. Our goal has been to establish a brand to take to the marketplace that is unique to our solutions, is descriptive of the technology that we have created, and will differentiate Motorola from the competition.

"In addition, we have developed a brand that is globally recognizable and appropriate to international usage. Streamaster does all of these things and also lends itself to future derivative brands and has a strong, descriptive and recognizable graphic," he continued

"Streamaster is descriptive of our architecture and solutions in a variety of areas. We provide solutions to enable `streaming' video, `streaming' data, `streaming' communications, `streaming' gaming. The unique characteristics of our architecture create solutions that can control the flow of this stream into the home, office or workplace.

"Streamaster will designate platforms that are compatible with our defined and evolving operating environment, which includes the OS9000 application programming interface (APIs), pJava, HTML and our network extensions," he concluded.

By combining the longstanding strengths of its PowerPC CPU (central processing unit) and communications capabilities with the remarkable NUON Technology (formerly called the "ProjectX" Media Architecture), Motorola has created what is believed to be the industry's first practical "soft" set-top box.

Powered by an independently programmable CPU, and communications and multimedia engines, the platform is able to quickly change its role from one function to another to suit the consumer's immediate wishes or to adapt to new and emerging requirements.

With a full convergence of video, audio and graphics, combined with a high-speed bridge for in-home networks, the Streamaster platform is positioned as the successor to today's set-top box -- much as the PC displaced the single function typewriter and word processor.

Streamaster's media processing and control capabilities are being continually expanded through adding new technology to the platform. Recent additions include smartcard capabilities through a relationship with SCM Microsystems, and back office support development for the next generation set-top box for interactive digital television through a relationship with IMAKE.

Motorola has established an aggressive sales model to accelerate the adoption of this new technology, making it available to consumer electronics companies in reference platform form; as a fully assembled and software-loaded motherboard to systems OEMs; and as a complete turnkey, private-label box to be used by customers to develop their systems.

Both hardware and software developers for multimedia appliances can create their own low-cost Streamaster-based designs quickly and easily to meet the demands of the emerging interactive multimedia market. An integrated development environment (hardware and software) is now available that significantly reduces design and development time while providing for very low cost of market entry.

Streamaster development boards and development boxes are being manufactured by internationally based Solectron, a global provider of electronics manufacturing services. Through its relationship with Solectron, Motorola will have the capability of supplying Streamaster products quickly and efficiently to customers on a global basis by having them manufactured in all regions around the world.

About Motorola

As the world's No. 1 producer of embedded processors, Motorola's Semiconductor Products Sector offers multiple DigitalDNA solutions which enable its customers in the consumer, networking and computing, transportation, and wireless communications markets, to create new business opportunities. Motorola's semiconductor sales were $8.0 billion in l997.

Motorola is a global leader in advanced electronic systems and services. It creates software-driven products that provide integrated customer solutions and Internet access via wireless and satellite communications, as well as computing, networking and automotive electronics.

Motorola also liberates the power of technology by providing essential digital building blocks in the form of embedded semiconductors, controls and systems. Sales in 1997 were $29.8 billion.

About Streamaster

More information on Streamaster can be found on the Website at http://www.motorola.com/semi/streamaster.

The new Streamaster logo, photographs and supporting news materials are available for download at "What's New" at http://www.motorola.com/semi/streamaster.

Note to Editors: Nuon is a registered trademark of VM Labs. Streamaster is a registered trademark of Motorola Inc.