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PC Free and Wave Systems to Deliver Bundled 'E-Commerce PC'
June 9, 1999 09:48 AM
NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 9, 1999--
Wave's metering to enable PC Free to offer digital and broadcast content on a pay-per-use basis - furthering Company's
"low-risk, low hassle" purchase alternatives for consumers.
PC Free, a New Hampshire company ready to turn the PC and the Internet world on its head, and Wave Systems Corp.
WAVX , a provider of electronic commerce, content distribution and security services, today announced an agreement to
embed Wave's EMBASSY E-commerce System in PC Free's computer systems, enabling new usage and purchase models
of consumer PCs and software products. PC Free Chairman and CEO David Booth made the announcement.
According to Mr. Booth, "Last year I gave our developers a major directive, 'find the industry's leading security and metering
solutions for our network of customers.' They returned with the exceptional technology put together by Wave Systems. Today's
agreement truly opens the door to a 21st Century computing/telecommunications/entertainment solution. Our goal has been to
make the computer the 21st Century equivalent of the 20th Century's telephone, television, cable box, computer and more.
Wave Systems and PC Free are on the road to making this vision a reality. We are creating a new paradigm for the future of
computing."
Steven Sprague, President of Wave Systems, added that "We are strong supporters of PC Free's business model - to
provide consumers with new and affordable alternatives for purchasing hardware and software products, and deliver to them
cutting edge e-commerce and broadcast content and services. On the heels of our Hauppauge product release last week,
today's announcement continues Wave's momentum in seeding the market with client-based security technology which is
creating a network for delivery of our content and services to consumers."
PC Free, a privately held corporation located in Antrim, New Hampshire, is a strategic bundler of hardware, software, internet,
telephony, and e-commerce into computer systems which include metering for "rent-to-own" digital content and broadcast
material, in place of the common client/server models.
PC Free will provide its worldwide customer-base computer systems for a single monthly charge of $39.99, with no contract
to sign, including: computer, monitor, keyboard, mouse, speakers, color printer, TV tuner card, hard and software metering
solutions, digital broadcast reception capability, game playing console, and Smart Card technology, coupled with unlimited
internet access. The company will begin rolling out the program on a market-by-market basis starting this summer through its
national advertising agency, The Mesa Group, located in New York City.
Wave's EMBASSY technology is an open, standards-based programmable hardware and software device that can execute a
multitude of applications, including transactional security and metering of digital content. By locating the EMBASSY in the PC
or peripheral device, content may now be distributed by virtually any method or media, including CD and DVDs, broadcast
networks such as CATV, satellite, or multicast, as well as interactive data networks including the Internet.
Steven Sprague commented, "this combination of PCFree's product and Wave's service offering gives the consumer a broad
range of choices and capabilities that we believe represents the future of software access and services delivery."
Specific to Wave's strategy, the deployment of the Wave E-commerce System opens exciting new content distribution
possibilities that will benefit OEMs and content providers as well as consumers. The OEM community will gain product
differentiation with this exciting new feature as well as participate in revenue from the sale of content through their hardware.
The PC software community can benefit from flexible pricing models, the potential for delivering episode based content, and
persistent protection of their intellectual property provided by Wave's security hardware device. Consumers receive the
flexibility of paying for information based upon their actual usage, while publishers benefit from significantly reduced marketing
and distribution expenses and the ability to reach a much broader base of end-user target markets.
About PC Free:
PC Free, a privately held corporation located in Antrim, New Hampshire, is a strategic bundler of hardware, software, internet,
telephony, and e-commerce into computer systems which include metering for "rent-to-own" digital content and broadcast
material, in place of the common client/server models.
About Wave Systems Corp:
Founded in 1988, the mission of Wave Systems Corporation is to create the world's best technologies and services to secure
and sell digital information. Wave's core EMBASSY technology is an inexpensive, proprietary hardware and software-based
device that enables secure transaction processing and distributed information metering in users' PCs. Embedded in PC
hardware and peripherals, set-top boxes and other devices, EMBASSY is the foundation for client-based security
applications and a new distribution and purchasing model for content and services. This low-cost, secure "system within a
system" will enable the personal computer to assume an important new role in the evolving digital economy. By moving secure
transactions to the desktop, Wave provides intrinsic value to the electronic commerce process, benefiting PC users,
application developers, and hardware manufacturers. For more information, please visit Wave's corporate web site at
wave.com
Safe Harbor for Forward-Looking Statements
Except for the statements of historical fact, the information presented herein constitutes forward-looking statements within the
meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements involve known and
unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the
company to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such
forward-looking statements. Such factors include general economic and business conditions, the ability to fund operations,
the loss of market share, changes in consumer buying habits and other factors over which Wave Systems Corp. has little or no
control. |
