NEWS!!!
Company Press Release
Sigma Designs Teams with FVC.Com to Deliver Next Generation Internet
Solutions
Technology Leaders in Alliance to Provide Advanced Distance Learning and
Video on Demand Applications Over Next Generation Internets
FREMONT, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 18, 1998-- Sigma Designs Inc.
(NASDAQ:SIGM - news) and FVC.Com, formerly known as First Virtual
Corporation, (NASDAQ:FVCX - news) today announced that FVC.Com has
integrated Sigma's REALmagic NetStream 2 card into the FVC.Com family of
video on demand and video broadcast products.
The REALmagic NetStream 2 cards are being deployed by FVC.Com in video
server and video broadcast solutions in several projects, most notably
in the world's largest distance learning program -- a nationwide, Next
Generation Internet (NGI) classroom project being deployed by the Army
National Guard.
The Guard is currently deploying 112 classrooms in a wide-area ATM
network and will connect an additional 600 classrooms by 2000. This
system will eventually link over 387,000 soldiers throughout the United
States, the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, and Guam.
''Our collaboration with Sigma Designs and our established position
within education, government, and corporate industries reinforce
FVC.Com's mission to be a driving force in the implementation of
NGI-based learning systems,'' said Ralph Ungermann, CEO of FVC.Com.
''The solutions offered by FVC.Com and Sigma Designs enable our
customers and partners to conduct improved training programs over their
existing network infrastructure.''
High-Quality Video Solutions for Next Generation Internet
The following projects using FVC.Com's video products and Sigma's
REALmagic NetStream 2 have recently been announced:
-- Installation of an NGI video network at the University of
Virginia's Darden Graduate School of Business Administration. The
project will eventually enable faculty and student access to a
broad range of course materials and content-rich multimedia.
-- An agreement with Bell Atlantic Network Integration to provide
NGI broadband video applications within government, education,
and Fortune 1000 corporations, enabling enterprises to eventually
deploy video applications such as distance learning, criminal
arraignment, and alternative retail delivery.
-- An agreement with NEC to build NGI technologies in Japan to train
Japan's students and workforce.
Video Over the Next Generation Internet (NGI)
The Next Generation Internet (NGI) initiative is being driven by the
Federal Government, universities, and private industry to endow the
Internet with critical capabilities that are missing from the existing
Internet structure.
A key characteristic of the NGI (http://www.ngi.gov) is the ability to
handle multimedia applications such as real-time interactive video, as
well as stored and live video-on-demand.
FVC.Com combines its expertise in interactive MPEG and streaming video
to play back networked video over the NGI for key video applications
such as distance learning, telemedicine, video marketing, and video
manufacturing. NetStream 2 cards, when installed in client workstations,
enable high-quality video playback across the NGI.
NetStream 2 offers industry-leading, standards-based features that
enhance the VOD and distance learning capabilities of FVC.Com products
by offering high-quality playback, compatibility with MPEG-1, MPEG-2,
and DirectShow standards, and very low pricing.
NetStream 2's open architecture and advanced software features
facilitate the implementation of NGI networks by offering customers the
freedom to mix and match VOD systems from various vendors. This is
essential in an NGI deployment, where industrial and educational
institutions connecting to one another may use video servers from
different vendors.
About FVC.Com
FVC.Com is the leading manufacturer of products that deploy business
quality video over the Next Generation Internet (NGI).
FVC.Com designs, manufactures, and supports a full multimedia product
family that includes switches, multipoint conferencing units, adapters,
gateways, and video storage servers, all of which utilize the company's
Multimedia Operating Software (MOS) for advanced Quality of Service
(QoS) and bandwidth capabilities.
FVC.Com's distribution and system integration partners include Ascend
Communications (NASDAQ:ASND - news), Bay Networks (NYSE:BAY - news),
Bell Atlantic Network Integration (NYSE:BEL - news), British Telecom
(NYSE:BTY - news), EDS (NYSE:EDS - news), France Telecom (NYSE:FTE -
news), IBM (NYSE:IBM - news), Lucent Technologies (NYSE:LU - news), NEC
(NASDAQ:NIPNY - news), and Nortel (NYSE:NT - news).
About Sigma Designs Inc.
Sigma Designs 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.
Since then, Sigma has been a driving force behind advancement of the
MPEG technology used in most multimedia products on the market today.
Sigma Designs' products include affordable MPEG video and audio decoding
hardware. All Sigma Designs products are sold worldwide through a
network of dealers, distributors, and original equipment manufacturers
(OEMs).
For additional information, call 800/845-8086 or 510/770-0100, fax
510/770-2640, or visit Sigma's Web site at sigmadesigns.com.
Note to Editors: This press release contains forward-looking statements,
including those regarding the market for NGI products and services and
the features, potential growth prospects, and market acceptance of NGI
products and services. Actual results may differ materially due to a
number of factors including, but not limited to, the ability of FVC.Com
and Sigma products to compete with other technologies in this emerging
market, the risk that such products in particular or NGI products and
services in general will not gain widespread acceptance or will be
rendered obsolete by product offerings of competitors or by alternative
technologies, and the risk that the agreement between Sigma Designs and
FVC.Com will not result in increased sales of the two companies'
products.
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Contact:
Sigma Designs Inc.
Carol Kaplan, 510/770-2991 (Investor Relations Contact)
carol_kaplan@sdesigns.com
or
Marken Communications
Andy Marken, 408/986-0100 (Media Contact)
marken@cerf.net
or
FVC.Com
Elyse Phillips, 408/567-7230
elyse@fvc.com |
