Wal-Mart (WMT) selects Sigma Designs Netstream MPEG cards for in store interactive stations:
biz.yahoo.com
Thursday January 8, 8:00 am Eastern Time
Company Press Release
Wal-Mart Installs Interactive Kiosks Using REALmagic
Boards From Sigma Designs
Sigma Designs Helps Wal-Mart Enhance The Customer Experience
FREMONT, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 8, 1998--Sigma Designs, Inc. (Nasdaq:SIGM -
news), a recognized leader in digital video solutions for networked multimedia applications, today
announced that its REALmagic NetStream MPEG playback boards are being used in the new
Electronics interactive department in Wal-Mart stores across the continental United States, giving
customers the ability to preview home videos, CDs and tapes before buying.
By scanning the product's bar codes at special Interactive Endcaps(TM), customers will be able to
view a 30-second music video followed by three 30-second audio clips from each CD or tape
before buying. Multiple in-line listening stations, spread throughout the electronics department, will
permit listeners to hear up to three 30-second audio clips from each individual CD and tape.
Customers can preview thousands of CDs and tapes before purchase.
In-line home video stations will allow customers to view 30-second clips of each home video on the
shelf. Customers will be able to sample up to 400 home video titles. In addition, the Wal-Mart TV
Network, a two-hour show of original entertainment programming and in-store advertising will be
broadcast on all 30-40 TVs on display in the department.
The nerve center that runs the interactive systems in the electronics departments is a networked video
application using PC based servers and kiosks/clients in each of the approximate 1950 participating
Wal-Mart stores. Wal-Mart purchased a total of 6000 REALmagic NetStream MPEG playback
boards. The PCs were custom configured by Dell with special proprietary software, network
interface cards and special Sigma Designs MPEG cards. The servers will receive data from a satellite
uplink, which will connect all of the stores.
Wal-Mart's technology innovation appears to be the first of its kind among the discount retail giants.
The audio-visual technology has began roll out in Wal-Mart stores and will continue to be installed
throughout the first of the year.
Sigma Designs, headquartered in Fremont, is an acknowledged leader in the fast-growing multimedia
market. Sigma entered the multimedia market in 1993 with products based on the MPEG (Moving
Picture Experts Group) standard for compressing and decompressing digital audio and video signals.
Sigma is a driving force in advancement of the MPEG technology used in most multimedia products
on the market today. Sigma Designs' products, marketed under the REALmagic trade name, include
affordable MPEG/DVD video and audio decoding hardware used in consumer and commercial
PC-based applications. Sigma products are sold worldwide through a direct sales force, distributors,
and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). For more information, visit the Company's web site
at sigmadesigns.com . |
