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To: lkj who wrote (8277)	8/18/2000 7:05:25 AM
From: Allegoria	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 10309

There seems to be considerable confusion concerning Scientific Atlantic's (SFA) PowerTV subsidiary. Lets start with this: PowerTV Executive Summary: The paper I have referenced below introduces the SFA operating system (OS) for digital set-top boxes that will enable a wide range of services for the interactive television marketplace. It is this OS that is called PowerTV. It is a robust OS providing an open platform for developing and delivering interactive services and multimedia content to consumers across broadcast and client/server networks. The PowerTV solution is rather unique in that it represents a completely new approach that is developed specifically for implementation in an environment populated by multiple, competing suppliers of digital set-top boxes. I won't put the whole tech paper here as it might not be of interest to everyone, however it is an interesting read for WIND investors. The paper begins by describing the factors leading up to interactive TV, the key market players, and projected industry growth. It then defines the many challenges facing digital set-top box manufacturers and network operators: Real-time multimedia delivery Consumer expectations for ease of use, reliability, convenience, and entertainment value Consumer price constraints Mixed services and transmission options Multiple developer platforms A wide variety of applications, each with different run-time requirements A developing marketplace with evolving needs The heart of the paper discusses how PowerTV addresses these challenges. Rather than adapting existing technologies to the digital set-top box marketplace, PowerTV takes a different approach. Every aspect of the PowerTV architecture reflects its singular focus--interactive, consumer-driven multimedia. The paper concludes with an overview of the PowerTV architecture and its different delivery configurations. Ref: powertv.com Hope this helps, Eric

To: lkj who wrote (8277)	8/18/2000 7:38:26 AM
From: Snowshoe	Respond to of 10309

>>I doubt any of SA's STB has any PowerTV in it.<< PowerTV is widely mentioned on SFA's web site and press releases. I found abstracts for several of their STBs that specified PowerTV. However, it's possible that SFA is also using other OS's and not publicizing the fact. Do you have any further info on this? On a related note... Microsoft Confirms TV Software Delay dailynews.yahoo.com

To: lkj who wrote (8277)	8/18/2000 7:46:31 AM
From: Allegoria	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 10309

lkj wrote: Scientific Atlanta backs PowerTV, but I believe that PowerTV has been mostly a failure. I doubt any of SA's STB has any PowerTV in it. lkj, you couldn't be more wrong about SFA's PowerTV. First off, since the beginning of this year, SFA's shares have outperformed every other member of the S&P 500, more than tripling in value.!! (Disclaimer: The mo-mo's have pulled out of SFA in the past few days and SFA has fallen - and I haven't recalculated this quote in the past few days...) Imagine that though...a small little company like SFA! That doesn't happen with "PowerTV has been mostly a failure." Partnerships PowerTV has sold nearly 3 million licenses. Last quarter. its operating system reached the milestone of 2.5 million cumulative deployments in the quarter. *Recently, Time Warner Cable, along with nine other leading cable operators, selected PowerTV as the operating system for deployment in digital cable systems.* Further deployments in North America, South America, Europe and the United Kingdom include Pace Micro Technology, Panasonic and Pioneer. Also, Pioneer and Toshiba joined Scientific-Atlanta as OEM after adopting PowerTV's operating system and hardware designs. PowerTV is currently working with a number of major manufacturers, including Nokia, Pace, Pioneer, Sagam, Scientific-Atlanta, and Toshiba to incorporate the PowerTV OS into a variety of peripherals. They are working hard to licensing their technology to additional hardware manufacturers and being the de facto standard in advanced TV. But there is tough competition everywhere! MSFT, LBRT, OPTV... Open standards PowerTV is a very well-designed, high-quality modular system with a published API based on open standards. The various products housed in the OS are united by their use of standard interfaces such as TCP/UDP-IP, JavaScript, Java, and HTML. Recently PowerTV bought the PRASARA company and the combined companies now offer an open, end-to-end software solution for interactive television capable of running on any broadband delivery network, any server solution and any cable TV digital set-top. PRASARA's strength was its back office suite of applications that the cable companies have been clamoring for... This addition of PRASARA also includes over 175,000 digital cable subscribers in Honolulu, Hawaii, Tampa/St. Petersburg, Fla., and New York City, N.Y. History of PowerTV PowerTV was formed in July, 1994, with the founders coming from an IBM-Apple joint venture. Scientific-Atlanta, provided the seed capital for PowerTV's expansion. The seed capital coupled with business accomplishments, allowed PowerTV to recruit a great engineering team which then developed the software and graphics hardware for digital set-top boxes. The company shipped its first operating system thirteen months from PowerTV's inception. That is pretty quick! The ensuing months saw the shipment of the eagle graphics / audio chip. The design represented the first hardware product developed under PowerTV's PowerGrafixä banner. More recently, PowerTV licensed their graphics technology to two leading manufactures of MPEG decoders: LSI Logic and SGS-Thomson. These strategic partners have helped PowerTV set a compelling standard for television graphics. I hope this helps to correct the record wrt to PowerTV. Any WIND'ers comments? Good luck, Eric