C-Cube's codec in the Big Easy.........................
biz.yahoo.com
Wednesday May 3, 6:06 am Eastern Time
Company Press Release
Metabyte Networks and Western Digital Announce Extension of Relationship
Metabyte Networks Will Demonstrate Western Digital's WD Performer Hard
Drives For Personal Video Recorders at NCTA Cable 2k, May 8 - 10, in
New Orleans
FREMONT, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 3, 2000--Metabyte Networks, Inc. and Western Digital Corporation (NYSE: WDC - news) today announced the extension of their joint development and marketing relationship to include development of advanced hard disk drive (HDD) file management software, that enables Metabyte's next generation Personal Video Recorders (PVRs) to automatically record television programs. Metabyte Networks will also feature a demonstration of Western Digital's WD Performer hard drives in their booth 5675 at NCTA Cable 2k, May 8 - 10, in New Orleans. The two companies began their development relationship in September 1999, to develop and market Metabyte Network's MbTV Personal TV software for automatic selection of television programs to match a viewer's preferences.
Metabyte's MbTV(TM) technology is unique in several ways. It is totally automatic. It learns viewers' television-watching preferences without any user intervention and then creates personalized profiles (MbTV Thumbprints(TM)) that can be used to provide a variety of services. It can recommend, record, and delete desirable programs based on viewers' preferences. MbTV's architecture is based on filtering relevant content into a home from a mass broadcast. It is fully effective on a one way broadcast stream and does not require changes to the existing infrastructure. The artificial intelligence built into MbTV identifies who in a household is in front of TV without requiring them to log in. MbTV protects viewers' privacy because it does not require any data to be transmitted from the viewers' home. MbTV does not require any monthly subscription.
WD Performer hard drives are enabled with Western Digital's StreamWeaver(TM) technology which allows consumers to tailor their viewing habits by saving broadcast programs for later viewing. Viewers are able to record and/or playback several channels simultaneously. They have the ability to ``pause'' a live TV program and then come back to it without missing any programming. StreamWeaver's interface command set allows the hard disk drive to seamlessly weave together streams of AV content without breaks or frozen screens. StreamWeaver is also designed to enable the balancing of performance, acoustics and power for A/V applications. Western Digital's WhisperDrive(TM) feature dramatically reduces noise, making WD Performer more compatible with use in a quiet home environment.
Russ Krapf, vice president, general manager of Western Digital's A/V Products business said, ``With MbTV, Metabyte Networks has developed the capability of accurately predicting television viewing preferences and prompting automatic recording of those programs onto the hard disk drive. This technology is central to devices like Personal Video Recorders. MbTV helps viewers manage the huge proliferation of television programming content by giving them quick, easy, private access to a large volume of information.''
Manu Mehta, president, CEO of Metabyte Networks added, ``Western Digital's StreamWeaver(TM) and WhisperDrive(TM) technologies combined with our MbTV preference engine are key building blocks to enable broad deployment of PVRs. Our joint efforts to bridge for our customers the software gap between an HDD file management system and the preference engine's storage management software are speeding up the incorporation of PVRs into set-top boxes and other consumer electronic products.''
One of the data storage industry's longtime leaders, Western Digital Corporation is leveraging its core strengths to become a leading Internet solutions company, providing services and products to manage, store and communicate both digital content and network intelligence. The Company remains an industry-leading designer and manufacturer of hard drives for desktop computers and home entertainment applications. Through its Connex subsidiary, Western Digital delivers enterprise-class storage functionality for the department and mid-sized business markets, including storage management software, network attached storage and storage area networks. The Company's SageTree subsidiary designs analytical data warehousing tools to help manufacturers manage quality and quality-related business decisions throughout the entire product lifecycle. Western Digital was founded in 1970. The Company's storage products are marketed to leading systems manufacturers and selected resellers under the Western Digital brand name. Its home page can be found at westerndigital.com.
Metabyte Networks, Inc. is a Personal TV company whose mission is to manage convergence to fit lifestyle. Its unique MbTV technology requires no behavior modification on the part of the consumer and totally protects consumers' privacy. MbTV integrates with the existing infrastructure and its business model complements, not competes, with the business models of the consumer electronics companies, cable/satellite system operators, broadcasters and advertisers. The MbTV architecture is designed to integrate with all leading interactive television operating systems and middleware. Investors in Metabyte Networks are THOMSON multimedia, and Seagate Technology. Metabyte Networks is a core member of the TV-Anytime forum. Additional information on Metabyte Networks is available at www.mbtv.com.
Note to Editors MbTV, Your Thumbprint on TV, Managing convergence to fit lifestyle, and MbTV Thumbprints are trademarks of Metabyte Networks, Inc. All other products or brand names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.
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Contact:
Metabyte Networks, Inc.
Vallal Jothilingam, 510/494-9700 Ext. 287
vallalj@mbtv.com
or
Western Digital Corporation
Steve Shattuck, 949/932-5178
steve.Shattuck@wdc.com
or
Ann McDougall Communications
Ann McDougall, 408/223-2779
annmcdcom@yahoo.com |
