THOMSON, Sun team with Ikonic to shorten time to market for interactive TV content providers.MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 29, 1995--Sun Microsystems Inc. (Sun) and THOMSON multimedia S.A. (THOMSON) further strengthened the end-to-end interactive television solution offered through their THOMSON SUN Interactive Alliance with today's announcement that Ikonic Interactive, Inc. (Ikonic) will provide products and services that will enable the proliferation proliferation /pro·lif·er·a·tion/ (pro-lif?er-a´shun) the reproduction or multiplication of similar forms, especially of cells.prolif´erativeprolif´erous pro·lif·er·a·tion n. of interactive television applications running on the Alliance's OpenTV product family. Ikonic plans to develop application software for the OpenTV platform, as well as integrate the OpenTV technology into their line of interactive television software solutions -- Ikonic Navigator, IkonicTV Ikonic Remote and Ikonic Propagation Manager -- supplying a key component of the alliance's environment for interactive television. "Our relationship with Ikonic is an important step for the Alliance," said Norm Koo, chief executive officer of the THOMSON SUN Interactive Alliance. "Success in this industry requires that content providers be able to quickly create and deploy compelling, easy to use interactive applications. "Ikonic's proven interactive television products greatly strengthen our goal of speeding the time to market for content providers by offering them a full range of quality application development services and products for the OpenTV platform." "We are very excited about working with the THOMSON SUN Interactive Alliance because we believe they have an ideal platform to take advantage of our areas of expertise," said Robert May Robert May may refer to:
"For ten years, Ikonic has worked to 'consumerize' interactive technologies. From Asia to Europe and North America North America, third largest continent (1990 est. pop. 365,000,000), c.9,400,000 sq mi (24,346,000 sq km), the northern of the two continents of the Western Hemisphere. , Ikonic's software is setting worldwide standards for ease of use. The THOMSON SUN Interactive Alliance's global strength is a perfect complement to our focus on international audiences." Ikonic will provide its standard software solutions to support the OpenTV environment or will customize these solutions to meet individual customer needs. Ikonic Navigator is a patent-pending gateway interface that gives consumers an easy-to-use icon-based directory to select interactive services and products from their television screens. The IkonicTV software enables content providers to quickly launch new interactive services by `pouring' their content into Ikonic's news, shopping or video-on-demand applications. "An important challenge in deploying successful interactive services," May continued, "is behind the scenes - in managing vast amounts of content over networked servers in real time. Ikonic's content management software, developed to support our interactive news-on-demand services for Time Inc. and the Tribune Co., will leverage the Alliance's reputation for real-time server performance - delivering a significant advantage for companies seeking to quickly launch truly compelling interactive applications." Ikonic's Ikonic Remote and Ikonic Propagation Manager products allow content providers to manage their services from their own studios, rather than from network operations centers See NOC. Network Operations Center - (NOC) A location from which the operation of a network or internet is monitored. Additionally, this center usually serves as a clearinghouse for connectivity problems and efforts to resolve those problems. , and enable automatic replication of their content across multiple servers within the operations center The facility or location on an installation, base, or facility used by the commander to command, control, and coordinate all crisis activities. See also base defense operations center; command center. . Ikonic's software ships with maintenance commitments, training and full documentation. In addition, Ikonic's Business Consulting Group can provide project management, technical consulting, user interface design and interactive content development services. The THOMSON multimedia and Sun relationship with Ikonic is the subject of a non-binding memorandum of understanding A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) is a legal document describing a bilateral or multilateral agreement between parties. It expresses a convergence of will between the parties, indicating an intended common line of action and may not imply a legal commitment. . A final agreement is under negotiation. The THOMSON SUN Interactive alliance was formed last year to develop end-to-end interactive TV solutions by leveraging Sun's expertise in network management and scalable servers, and THOMSON multimedia's leadership in consumer electronics and digital set-top devices. The OpenTV 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. is a platform-independent, open solution conceived and developed by THOMSON multimedia for delivering interactive services to homes through existing networks. Ikonic's mission is to consumerize interactive technologies through extensive user testing and software based on its end-to-end experience with real world requirements -- from traditional content development through complex cable and telephony networks to living rooms. Ikonic has a comprehensive product line and large installed base with major content companies. Current Ikonic interactive television customers include Home Box Office, Time Inc., Time Warner Time Warner Inc. (NYSE: TWX), formerly known as AOL Time Warner, is the world's largest media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered in New York City, with major operations in film, television, publishing, Internet service and telecommunications. Cable's Full Service Network, The Tribune Co., Burdines, Eddie Bauer Eddie Bauer (NASDAQ: EBHI) is a clothing store chain. Headquartered in Bellevue, Washington, and a subsidiary of Eddie Bauer Holdings (formerly Spiegel, Inc.), the company was founded in Seattle in 1920 as "Eddie Bauer's Sport Shop" by its namesake, Eddie Bauer (1899 – and Spiegel. Headquartered in Paris, THOMSON multimedia S.A. is the world leader in digital television. THOMSON multimedia is the world's fourth largest consumer electronics company. THOMSON multimedia is number one in the U.S. marketplace with the RCA See RCA connector and video/TV history. , GE and ProScan brands, and number two marketshare in Europe, with several prestigious brand names including THOMSON, Ferguson, Telefunken, Nordmende and Saba. THOMSON multimedia is an industry innovator in the development of digital technologies, both for professional and consumer applications. With the introduction of the RCA Digital Satellite System in the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. , THOMSON multimedia became the first consumer electronics company to develop and implement an all digital delivery system for video reception in the home. With revenues of nearly $6 billion, 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., provides solutions that enable customers to build and maintain open network computing See ONC. Open Network Computing - (ONC) Sun's network protocols. environments. Widely recognized as a proponent One who offers or proposes. A proponent is a person who comes forward with an a item or an idea. A proponent supports an issue or advocates a cause, such as a proponent of a will. PROPONENT, eccl. law. of 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 , the company is involved in the design, manufacture and sale of products, technologies and services for commercial and technical computing. Sun's SPARC (Scalable Performance ARChitecture) A family of RISC CPUs from Sun that runs mostly under Sun's Solaris, but also under Linux and BSD operating systems. After development began in the mid-1980s by David Patterson of the University of California at Berkeley and Bill workstations, multiprocessing servers, SPARC microprocessors, Solaris operating software and service organization each rank No. 1 in the UNIX UNIX Operating system for digital computers, developed by Ken Thompson of Bell Laboratories in 1969. It was initially designed for a single user (the name was a pun on the earlier operating system Multics). industry. Founded in 1982, Sun is headquartered in Mountain View, Calif., and employs more than 14,000 people worldwide. -0- NOTE TO EDITORS: Sun, the Sun logo, Sun Microsystems, Solaris and The Network Is The Computer are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems Inc. in the United States and other countries. All SPARC trademarks are used under license and are trademarks or registered trademarks of SPARC International See SPARC. Inc. in the United States and other countries. Products bearing SPARC trademarks are based upon an architecture developed by Sun Microsystems Inc. UNIX is a registered trademark in the United States and other countries, exclusively licensed through X/Open Company, Ltd. OpenTV, THOMSON and their respective logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of THOMSON multimedia S.A.and/or its parent company and/or its subsidiaries in the United States and other countries. Ikonic, IkonicTV, Ikonic Navigator, Ikonic Propagation Manager and Ikonic Remote are registered trademarks of Ikonic Interactive Inc. in the United States and other countries. CONTACT: THOMSON SUN Interactive Alliance Phyllis Scargle, 415/336-0514 or Burson-Marsteller for Sun Ted DuPont, 212/614-4562 or Thomson Consumer Electronics Frank McCann, 317/587-4450 or Ikonic Interactive Inc. Harrison Peddie, 415/908-8000 |
|
||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion