Wave Systems Corp. Forms Strategic Relationship With a Leading European ISDN Communications Manufacturer
LEE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 8, 1997--
WaveMeter Expected to Be Bundled on 300,000-plus ISDN Modems in 1998
Wave Systems Corp. (NASDAQ:WAVX; wave.com) Friday announced that it has signed an agreement with Berlin-based ACOTEC GmbH (www.acotec.de/english) to bundle Wave's proprietary WaveMeter technology with a wide variety of ISDN modems and routers that incorporate ACOTEC's ISDN cards and software drivers.
The relationship should allow Wave to tap into the rapidly expanding European ISDN data delivery marketplace.
The purpose of this agreement is to establish a meaningful installed base of users, while providing the security, metering and transaction processing services essential to broad-based electronic commerce.
ACOTEC, a provider of software drivers to Microsoft, projects that it will add 300,000 to 400,000 new users of Wave technology in Europe via the inclusion of the WaveMeter chip in its low-cost ISDN driver designs and cards. The first of these products is scheduled to ship in the first quarter of 1998.
The agreement allows ACOTEC to securely and inexpensively distribute its entire family of ISDN router and network software in an encrypted fashion on a single CD-ROM or DVD to PC users who buy any ISDN card or router. There are an estimated 7 million ISDN users in Europe; 100,000 units are currently being installed in Germany each month.
The United Kingdom is expected to have about 1 million ISDN links by December 1998. ISDN modems and routers provide data transmission at more than four times the speed of a 28.8 modem and twice as fast as the 56kbps modem standard.
``ACOTEC is committed to reaching its target of 300,000 to 400,000 new users by next year who will be able to use the WaveMeter technology for electronic commerce,'' said Thomas Schroeter, general manager of ACOTEC Germany. ``We feel that the Wave technology combined with ISDN's ease of use will bring high-speed electronic commerce into the mainstream in Europe by late next year.''
The ACOTEC agreement extends Wave's recent progress in building hardware and marketing relationships in Europe. In early July, Wave announced that it had agreed with British ADSL modem manufacturer EPL Ltd. to incorporate the WaveMeter in the reference design of EPL's next-generation ADSL (T-1 speed) modems.
In mid-July, Wave formed Global Wave, a joint venture with Internet Technology Group (the parent company for British ISP, Global Internet). The joint venture agreement, which includes a $5 million license fee payable to Wave, establishes a broad distribution network across Europe for distributing rent-to-own and pay-per-use content using Wave's encryption-based metering and transaction processing technology.
``Europe already boasts a substantial volume of users in its high-speed data delivery market. The adoption of Wave's technology in the reference design of future ACOTEC-based platforms should enable the rapid deployment of a sizable base of Wave System users, paralleling the accelerating speed of adoption of ISDN throughout Europe,'' said Steven Sprague, president of Wave.
``We also anticipate Wave's growing base of European OEM relationships will support the success of Wave and Global Wave's initiatives in Europe and other territories. These agreements illustrate the means by which Wave can enable digital content distribution via Internet, CD-ROM and broadband applications alike.''
Wave, with headquarters in Lee, produces a distributed information metering and transaction service, the Wave System, for use in consumer entertainment and education applications. This year, Wave introduced the ``Great Stuff Network'' for individual and corporate content creators to securely sell and distribute their products through the Internet via the Wave System. The Wave System permits microtransactions as low as fractions of a penny.
Wave is also developing electronic commerce solutions that will provide electronic content providers with secure distribution as well as new marketing and pricing options that include rental, rent-to-own, purchase and pay-per-use transactions. The Wave System gives consumers the convenience and control of obtaining content via the Internet, and eventually CD-ROM and broadband transmissions. |
