ARIS and Solana Merge, Gain Finalist Status with 4C
ARIS Technologies, Inc. and Solana Technology Development Corp., two leading technology companies offering watermarking solutions for the distribution of secure digital music, announced their merger today.
ARIS is the developer of the MusiCode system, an award-winning, patented and patent-pending audio watermarking technology; Solana is the developer of Electronic DNA, a suite of patented technologies for applying imperceptible digital information for use in copyright and copy management systems, source authentication, broadcast audience measurement, airplay monitoring and automation systems.
The companies' decision to combine operations and intellectual property portfolios, which include patents that could prove essential to a secure digital music system, follows a notification by a multi-corporate group known simply as the 4C -- consisting of IBM, Intel, Matsushita Electric and Toshiba -- that the secure solutions being advanced by the two companies were ones the DVD-Audio Working Group is still considering for its high-capacity format.
Following a second round of testing, the 4C had reportedly whittled down the list of candidates offering proprietary digital watermarking technologies to ARIS and Solana, from a list that originally included ARIS, Solana, Blue Spike, IBM and Cognicity [see 6.10.99 DVD-Audio Security Decision Closely Watched].
Commissioned to assess watermarking security solutions for digital audio by the DVD working group, the 4C on Monday also notified the Secure Digital Music Initiative (SDMI), a collaborative project involving the music, computer and consumer electronics industries to determine specifications for secure hardware, software and data for commercial downloadable music on the Internet.
ARIS President David Leibowitz said his company had considered a partnership with Solana as mutually beneficial for some time, but that the deal itself only came together in the past couple of weeks. In identifying the two companies as having systems optimal for securing digital audio, the 4C has most likely provided some reassurances that the decision to merge was a sound one.
By working together, the two are potentially eliminating hurdles in winning favor among music industry copyright holders, in addition to negating the prospect of any long and costly battles between each other over intellectual property.
Solana Director of Business Development Greg Hampton indicated merger details, including under what name the company will operate, are still being hammered out, but that ARIS's Leibowitz and Solana President Robert Warren will take on roles as co-chief executive officers for the newly formed venture.
The merger was facilitated by Clifford Friedman of Bear Sterns Constellation Ventures, a leading venture capital firm with interests in the online entertainment space.
|
