Major Cable Company SIGNS Oracle's NC For Interactive TV
Here's another example of reality. SRCM is not IMO a player in the interactive TV market. The company has patents which have IMO been used to promote the value of the stock. All signs indicate the cable market has NO interest in SRCM...
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NCI's DTV Navigator(tm) to Bring New Internet-Based Services to Cable & Wireless' Cable Customers Worldwide
LONDON, March 10, 1998 - Network Computer, Inc. (NCI) and Cable and Wireless plc, one of the world's largest telecommunications companies, today announced Cable & Wireless has chosen NCI's DTV Navigator platform technology for use in their broadband consumer services. NCI's technology will serve as the platform for a range of Internet-based services including Enhanced TV(tm) which combines Internet content and broadcast television to deliver a superior experience to cable subscribers. Cable & Wireless will offer the new Internet-based service to their companies around the world, beginning this year with Cable and Wireless Communications in the United Kingdom.
This agreement with Cable & Wireless places NCI among the top providers of interactive cable technology and presents tremendous growth opportunities in international markets where cable networks are very advanced. NCI's DTV Navigator will be available to Cable & Wireless' expansive family of communications companies whose networks pass up to 7 million households worldwide. Cable & Wireless Communications in the United Kingdom will be the first to deploy the new service to their customers in late 1998, offering premium Enhanced TV applications such as electronic mail and an electronic programming guide. Cable and Wireless plc operates in over 50 countries with integrated broadband services available from Optus Communications in Australia and Hong Kong Telecom as well as Cable and Wireless Communications in the United Kingdom.
NCI's DTV Navigator is the only software platform available today that is scaleable, platform-agnostic, and based on open standards. For cable operators, these characteristics simplify deployment of Internet-based services and translate into new revenue opportunities from their subscribers. DTV Navigator offers developers an open development environment based on HTML and JavaScript. Finally, DTV Navigator provides the digital cable subscriber the greatest breadth of content including electronic mail, electronic programming guides, home banking and shopping, Web browsing and other entertainment services, paired with the unsurpassed picture quality and speed of digital cable delivery.
"We're pleased that one of our first major cable deployments is with one of the largest and most respected communications companies in the world," said David Roux, CEO of NCI. "International cable companies have been searching for new ways to generate additional revenue without locking themselves into the purchase of costly proprietary systems that force them to overhaul their infrastructures. Cable & Wireless' selection of our technology demonstrates that cable companies want a viable and open software platform that gives them flexibility and control over their content, distribution and networks."
"We've asked our customers what they want from us, and they have told us that flexibility, choice and value come first for them - not technology," said Graham Wallace CEO of Cable & Wireless Communications. "The NCI platform gives us the ability to deliver a high level of choice and flexibility in terms of the applications we offer and it insures that we're not locking customers into equipment which will become redundant."
In recent months, cable operators worldwide have pursued integrating Internet-based services in next-generation cable set-top boxes. Last fall, CableLabs, a research and development consortium of cable television system operators, created OpenCable(r), a proposed industry standard designed to help cable operators identify the best Internet solution for their needs. DTV Navigator is the first software product available to meet the specifications currently outlined by OpenCable.
Cable and Wireless plc is one of the world's leading providers of international telecommunications services. Its businesses provide 15 million customers in 70 countries with a complete range of international, domestic and mobile communications. Cable & Wireless is the world's third largest carrier of international traffic and provides mobile communications in more than 30 countries.
Cable & Wireless Communications plc was created by the merger of Mercury Communications with Bell Cablemedia, NYNEX CableComms and Videotron in April, 1997. It is now the largest integrated supplier of telecommunications and television services in the UK.
NCI is an affiliate of Oracle Corp. and Netscape and is the leading provider of open software for easy to use Internet enhanced products. Founded in 1996, NCI brings its technology to homes, schools and businesses through its strategic worldwide alliances. NCI is based in Redwood Shores California, and can be reached at 650/631-4600. NCI's Web site is nc.com. |
