Dale:
Here's the press release on WAVX today, How do I post a link on the live site ?
Wednesday February 2, 9:32 am Eastern Time
Company Press Release
Wave Systems to Receive $5.8 Million Related to Acquisition of Joint Venture Partner
Poised for Banner Year in 2000
LEE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 2, 2000--Wave Systems Corp. (NASDAQ:WAVX; wave.com), a leader in providing the world's best technologies and services to secure and sell digital content, announced today that it will receive approximately $5.8 million in cash and stock in conjunction with the purchase by Concentric Network Corp. (NASDAQ:CNCX - news) of Wave's equity interest in Internet Technology Group plc (ITG). Wave also reviewed recent industry developments and corporate achievements and outlined its strategic plans to continue building an infrastructure that supports the delivery and purchase of all forms of secure electronic content for the evolving New Media Internet.
ITG was Wave's partner in forming the GlobalWave joint venture in July 1997. Wave licensed its proprietary eCommerce technology and systems to ITG, and in conjunction with the formation of the GlobalWave venture, Wave and ITG exchanged warrants to purchase 1 million shares of common stock. As consideration for Wave's equity interest in ITG, Wave will receive approximately $2,150,000 in cash and 83,910 registered shares of Concentric Common Stock valued at $3,650,000, based on Concentric's most recent closing price of $43.50 on February 1, 2000. GlobalWave will continue as an independent entity, partially owned by Wave, that is focused on marketing Wave's eCommerce technology and systems within Europe.
Steven Sprague, president of Wave, commented, ``Proceeds from the ITG purchase, combined with Wave's year-end cash position of approximately $6.3 million, provide resources to support our ongoing technology development and strategic initiatives including Wave's digital broadcast venture, WaveXpress. We're very encouraged by the broadcasting industry's response to WaveXpress and continue to achieve tangible progress in product testing, staffing and funding that joint venture.'
As evidenced by the following emerging industry trends and corporate successes ``Wave is perfectly positioned at the convergence point of the Internet and mass media networks (broadband, satellite, wireless, digital TV, etc.) to deliver the full range of secured multimedia content that can be purchased directly by users,' stated Sprague.
Several key industry developments taking place include:
Convergence: The Internet is now clearly converging with mass media digital broadcast networks to form the basis of the New Media Internet as evidenced by the AOL/Time Warner merger. The New Media Internet is quickly adding streaming media and high speed broadcast to today's interactive Internet and requires new technologies for secure distribution and purchase of content such as music, video, books and premium digital goods.
Development of digital rights management security solutions: Major piracy and security breaks, such as the proliferation of MP3 'free' music and the security breach of DVD movie disks, have accelerated the development of numerous digital rights management (DRM) technologies. The availability of these technologies is an important element in Wave Systems' comprehensive security solution for the distribution and payment of content on the New Media Internet. Wave's EMBASSY platform is ideally suited to serve as the secure hardware platform to anchor security for DRM technologies in each end user device.
Broad adoption of security hardware: In October 1999, the PC industry formed the Trusted Computing Platform Alliance (TCPA), which now has over 100 members working on hardware security specifications for the PC platform. The TCPA, comprised of leading organizations like HP, Compaq, IBM, Microsoft and Intel, has validated the concept that hardware is required for the strongest levels of security in order to distribute, view and pay for the best new media content. Wave is actively involved with the TCPA, and Wave's trusted client architecture extends the hardware-based security solutions that both businesses and consumers will demand to utilize the content available on the New Media Internet.
``Because of these trends in the market, 1999 was a year of significant progress for Wave Systems. Not only did Wave take significant steps in the development and deployment of our technology and services, but these and other industry developments have validated and contributed to the success of Wave's long term content distribution model for the Internet/New Media market,' said Sprague.
Recent key successes for Wave include:
Wave began shipping its EMBASSY (EMBedded Application Security SYstem) chip to Compaq Computer Corp.
Cyber-COMM, a consortium of the French banks and other companies, signed a licensing agreement to integrate Wave's trusted client EMBASSY technology into the industry's most secure smart card readers for supporting Internet e-commerce in Europe.
National Semiconductor announced a licensing agreement to build a family of advanced ``trusted' chips that will include the EMBASSY technology.
Wave demonstrated its advanced EMBASSY II chip to a select and very receptive audience at the RSA Data Security conference.
Wave delivered its first pay-per-view streaming media event using Wave's metering system.
In the coming months, Sprague added, ``Wave will deliver our robust solution for broadcast Internet to the mass media industry, expand significantly the number of content and technology partners who have selected Wave's platform solution and continue to extend the functionality and number of products that will integrate the EMBASSY trusted client technology. Everything is in place for 2000 to be a banner year for the Wave vision of the future.'
Additional information and recent news about Wave Systems is available on the company's home page: wave.com.
About Wave Systems Corp:
Founded in 1988, the mission of Wave Systems Corp. is to create the world's best technologies and services to secure and sell digital information. With the recently completed acquisition of N*Able Technologies, Wave now has a comprehensive line of trusted client co-processor systems. Wave's technology is an inexpensive, open standards, 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, Wave's trusted client technology 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.
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Contact:
Wave Media Contact Information:
Fleishman-Hillard
Brian Baker, 415/356-1003
bakerb@fleishman.com
or
Wave Investor Contact Information:
Jaffoni & Collins
David Collins, 212/835-8500
wavx@jcir.com |
