The Pace cable box uses Broadcom's cable modem chips, and Broadcom's Front end chip. TV/COM supplies a lot of set tops with Front end chips. This is a C-Cube box.............
newsalert.com
September 30, 1999 15:31
Interactive Television Rolled Out On Pace's DOCSIS Box
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BOCA RATON, Fla., Sept. 30 /PRNewswire/ -- Pace Micro Technology plc, Europe's largest manufacturer of digital set-top boxes, announced today the roll out of Interactive TV services on its DOCSIS-compliant set-top box for Cable & Wireless Communications' customers in Northwest England. This will allow customers of the C&W service to take advantage of high-speed Internet services such as concert ticket purchase, retail shopping, investing and e- mail through their television sets.
A range of features -- including e-mail from the TV and an initial selection of Internet-based interactive sites -- will become available in Cable & Wireless Communications' digital homes between now and October, a first for the U.K.
This accelerated roll out of Interactive TV follows Pace's July deployment of the world's first set-top box. It is integrated with Cisco Systems, Inc.'s DOCSIS-compliant cable modem, powered by Hitachi's super SH3 chip, and Broadcom's integrated, front-end transmission chip. Pace's box, known as the Di4100, will run U.S.-based Liberate Technologies' software, which enables Web browsing and e-mail using a remote control.
The following services are now available as part of Cable & Wireless' Access Pack, which includes telephone line rental, a basic digital television package, 100 minutes of free local calls per month and Pace's set top box containing a cable modem.
* E-mail: A free e-mail account per household allows customers to exchange messages with any e-mail address in the world -- using their remote control. This service provides e-mail with no Internet subscription, no telephone charges, and no PC.
* Retail: Using their remote control, customers can order groceries from Tesco, a leading grocer in the UK, and have them delivered to their front door. Other major retailers offering interactive services include Littlewoods/Granada, a clothing and home-based retailer.
* Information: Subscribers can access interactive news, sport, weather, and holidays with a touch of a button on their remote control. They can also research local services and suppliers with an online classified directory covering everything from local restaurants to landscapers.
* Travel: The remote control can also be used to book flights, last minute vacations, and luxury packages online with British Airways, ABC Connect, an Internet travel agency, and through bargainholidays.com.
* Education: Customers can learn online, with thousands of pages of interactive education resources from publishers Dorling Kindersley and Anglia Campus.
* Financial Services: Advice on mortgages, retirement plans, life insurance and loans will be available at the touch of a button through MoneyWorld co.uk. Bloomberg will also offer business information online.
* Entertainment: Instead of picking up the phone, customers will be able to book theater and concert tickets online. They will also get entertainment guides in their local area, as well as national TV and radio listings. Partners include Flextech Interactive, Guardian Unlimited and Electronic Telegraph.
By October's end, the lineup of interactive sites will increase to approximately 100 with other services such as interactive games and full Internet access. In addition, customers will soon be able to connect the set top box to a PC to access high-speed Internet services using Liberate Technologies' software.
Pace's Chief Technology Officer, Andy Trott, said, "As an example of how we create boxes without boundaries, and are consistently first to market, Pace's Di4100 is enabling the first advanced portfolio of Interactive TV services. Pace's box can easily be configured for American TV standards, i.e. NTSC and Annex B," he added.
"Pace is showing the world DVB and DOCSIS provide the ideal open standards based platform for next generation digital television and interactive entertainment. Cisco is thrilled to be participating with Pace in the Di4100 rollouts," said Paul Bosco, GM of Cisco, cable products and solutions.
Pace Micro Technology plc, based in the U.S. and headquartered in the U.K., is Europe's largest manufacturer of integrated digital receiver decoders, the set-top boxes necessary to receive digital broadcast and value added services. The company is actively involved in all digital TV platforms -- satellite, terrestrial, cable, MMDS and xDSL -- and has played a key role in the creation of the digital pay television market worldwide. Pace has manufactured over 2.5 million digital set-top boxes that were delivered to 19 international broadcasters in the U.K., Europe, Latin America, Australasia and the Far East.
Cable & Wireless Communications is the largest provider of integrated telecommunications and television entertainment services in the United Kingdom. The company serves customers nationally with a broad range of facilities-based network services including local, national and international voice, data and Internet services, and in certain regions, multichannel television and, through resale, mobile telecommunications services. Cable & Wireless Communications is one of the largest carriers of wholesale telecommunications traffic in the United Kingdom and the seventh largest carrier of international traffic in the world.
SOURCE Pace Micro Technology plc
/CONTACT: Tammy Snook of High-Tech Public Relations, Inc., 407-667-9355,
or toll free, 877-878-0078, or TammySnook@HIGHTECHPR.net, for Pace Micro
Technology plc/ |
