ZakSat and the Fantastic Corporation Announce Strategic Partnership; Partnership Enables Satellite Broadband Multimedia Services in the Middle East and Asia.CANNES, France--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 10, 1998--ZakSat, a Kuwait based satellite communications firm, and The Fantastic Corporation, a Swiss-American software technology company, today announced a strategic partnership to bring broadband multimedia services to businesses and consumer households in the Middle East, India, Asia and Australia. ZakSat is the leading satellite operator in the Middle East region, broadcasting on the AsiaSat 2 satellite to a 63 country footprint stretching from Turkey through to Australia. The Fantastic Corporation is the leader in the development of software technology for broadband multimedia. The service will be generated initially on ZakNet, the recently launched satellite Internet delivery platform owned by ZakSat. ZakNet is an 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). 2 DVB (Digital Video Broadcasting) An international digital television (DTV) standard that is the European and Far Eastern counterpart of the North American ATSC standard. compliant platform that provides satellite Internet delivery at speeds ranging from a minimum of 200kbps (kilobits per second (unit) kilobits per second - (kbps, kb/s) A unit of data rate where 1 kb/s = 1000 bits per second. This contrasts with units of storage where 1 Kb = 1024 bits (note upper case K). ) up to 8Mbps (Megabits per second (unit) megabits per second - (Mbps, Mb/s) Millions of bits per second. A unit of data rate. 1 Mb/s = 1,000,000 bits per second (not 1,048,576). E.g. Ethernet can carry 10 Mbps. ). Fantastic's software technology enables the distribution of rich multimedia content (audio, video, data streams, software) over high-speed networks (such as satellite, cable) to PC's and next-generation set-top boxes. The software technology enables a range of business-to-business and business-to-consumer applications which enhances communication. The partnership opens up new avenues for corporations to maximize IT systems. For instance, software enables the delivery of entire multimedia annual reports, video presentations by senior management and distance learning videos to people's desktops without the agony, delay and expense of waiting for long downloads. Corporations will also be able to effectively and cost efficiently distribute software updates or synchronize databases among employees and an international network of offices in various locations. "We will use Fantastic's software technology to offer broadband multimedia services to businesses and consumers by the end of 1998," said Mario Pino, Chief Operating Officer Chief Operating Officer (COO) The officer of a firm responsible for day-to-day management, usually the president or an executive vice-president. of ZakSat. "With ZakNet's revolutionary platform architecture and Fantastic's software technology, we are poised to further strengthen our position as the leading player in the field of satellite communications in our regions". Users will receive the broadcast channels on their PC's using either ZakSat's own or Sagem's MPEG2 DVB cards and Fantastic's broadcast-enabled client-side MediaSurfer(tm) software. Fantastic's software solution and ZakSat's geographic coverage will enable business-to-business applications that enhance communications and also reduces costs by leveraging existing infrastructure. "The last thing any business wants to do is go on complete overhauls of its existing IT infrastructure," explained Pino. "With the ZakNet and Fantastic partnership, we've ensured that there will be minimal disruption to existing systems, translating to reduced costs and time and vastly improved performance and productivity." "We are very excited about our cooperation with ZakSat for their satellite transmission reach. Working with ZakSat helps us establish the global network coverage we plan for 1998, and we are confident in their strength as a leading satellite operator to bring broadband services to businesses and consumers," said Peter Ohnemus, President 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 The Fantastic Corporation. About ZakNet ZakNet is the world's first MPEG2 DVB compliant satellite Internet delivery platform. It currently uses the Asiasat2 satellite to provide its services over a 63 country footprint stretching from Turkey to Australia. It's uplink facilities are located at Subic Bay Subic Bay Inlet of the South China Sea, southwestern Luzon, Philippines. From 1901 it was the site of the U.S.-operated Subic Bay Naval Station, the largest naval installation in the Philippines. in the Phillipines. ZakNet is part of ZakSat, the Kuwait based satellite entertainment and communications provider and is wholly owned by KIPCO KIPCO Kuwait Projects Company (Safat, Kuwait) (Kuwait Investment Projects Company) and Zaid Al Kazemi & Sons Trading. More information on ZakNet can be found at www.zak-sat.net. For media, please visit the virtual ZakNet media center which is located at www.zakshack.com About The Fantastic Corporation(tm) The Fantastic Corporation was founded in February 1996 by the team who developed the first commercial data broadcasting system for PCs. Fantastic's end-to-end software solution for multimedia distribution works over satellite, cable, wireline, as well as terrestrial and other wireless networks. The Swiss American Swiss Americans are Americans of Swiss descent. There are several ethnic/linguistic subgroups among Swiss Americans, including Swiss German-speaking, Swiss French-speaking, and Swiss Italian-speaking. company has offices in Zug, Lugano, New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of , London and Singapore. The company's shareholders include ETF&I, led by Giorgio Ronchi, and Intel Corporation (company) Intel Corporation - A US microelectronics manufacturer. They produced the Intel 4004, Intel 8080, Intel 8086, Intel 80186, Intel 80286, Intel 80386, Intel 486 and Pentium microprocessor families as well as many other integrated circuits and personal computer networking . The company's home page on the World Wide Web is: www.fantastic.ch. CONTACT: The Fantastic Corporation (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. ) Wen Liao, 212/363-4226 wcliao@fantastic-usa.com or The Fantastic Corporation (Europe) Candace Cheng tel.+41-41-728 88 44 candace.cheng@fantastic.ch or International Public Relations public relations, activities and policies used to create public interest in a person, idea, product, institution, or business establishment. By its nature, public relations is devoted to serving particular interests by presenting them to the public in the most Fergi Varghese or Jack Pearce +971-4-322 300 ipruae@emirates.net.ae or ZakSat Derek Colfer +965-473 0110 dcolfer@zaksat.net |
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