Wavexpress Incorporates Triveni Digital Technology in DTV Broadcast Pilot
Agreement Marks Industry's First Step Towards Interoperable Data Broadcast Systems Based On Open Standards
New York, November 30, 2000
Triveni Digital and Wavexpress – two pioneer companies in the emerging field of data broadcasting over the digital television (DTV) spectrum, today announced a landmark agreement to integrate Triveni Digital's SkyScraper™ data broadcast architecture with Wavexpress' content distribution system and unique e-commerce platform. Wavexpress is currently expanding its pilot broadcast-to-PC programs with broadcasters across the U.S.
"Our partnership with Triveni Digital is already in operation in the Wavexpress pilot currently being conducted in partnership with Capitol Broadcasting's DTV Plus Unit at WRAL Digital in Raleigh, North Carolina," said Steve Carrol, Vice President of Broadcast Distribution for Wavexpress. "We are delighted with the potential created by this collaboration."
The interoperable system combines the capabilities and advantages both companies offer to the digital broadcasting industry, giving DTV stations the ability to combine a national data feed, provided by Wavexpress via satellite downlinks, with content aggregated on Triveni Digital's SkyScraper DataHub system. This broadcast data is then delivered to PC-based receiver cards and viewed as channels within the Wavexpress application. Channels are no longer limited to video programming, but incorporate rich media content such as interactive television, games, music, and software. Triveni Digital's SkyScraper DataReceiver exposes standards-based APIs in support of Wavexpress' e-commerce receiver applications, making available a wide choice of standards compliant receivers to digital consumers. In addition to these benefits, the Wavexpress solution integrates Wave Systems (Nasdaq – WAVX) EMBASSY® technology to allow the private, secure, and convenient purchase of content without requiring the customer to connect to the Internet.
"We are happy to be partnering with Wavexpress -- a pioneer in the field of digital broadcasting and interactive programming," said Mark Simpson, President of Triveni Digital. "This agreement truly illustrates what the concept of "open systems" is all about—two independent companies seamlessly integrating their respective systems into a single DTV data broadcast solution that combines the strengths and complementary features of each system to the benefits of information providers, DTV broadcasters and data broadcast consumers."
Triveni Digital's SkyScraper data broadcasting system is based on a unique and innovative three-component architecture. The SkyScraper DataFab component provides content management, scheduling and customer subscription features allowing information providers to prepare and send their data to DTV stations for data broadcasting using the digital television bandwidth. The SkyScraper DataHub component allows a DTV station to manage bandwidth allocated to several concurrent services and charge for bandwidth usage for maximum flexibility in datacasting. The SkyScraper DataReceiver component is a PC-based DTV receiver that allows (business or consumer) end users to receive, record and display digital television audio/video streams, as well as data broadcast streams on PCs
About Triveni Digital
Triveni Digital (formerly LG Electronics Research Center of America), a subsidiary of LG Electronics, was founded in 1997 in Princeton, New Jersey. Triveni Digital develops digital television software, systems and solutions, focusing on ATSC PSIP systems and solutions, data broadcasting systems and solutions, and instruments for analyzing and monitoring the integrity of complex ATSC transport streams and signals. It is working with a number of partners to bring innovative products based on open and standards-compliant architecture to market. Triveni Digital's staff brings years of experience in industrial research and leading edge product development to bear on the emerging DTV industry.
About Wavexpress, Inc.
Wavexpress is developing a digital broadcasting e-commerce platform that enables broadcasters, cable and satellite operators to offer secure transmission and payment for premium copyrighted content to their consumers. A joint venture of Wave Systems Corp. (Nasdaq: WAVX) and Sarnoff Corporation, Wavexpress delivers rich content—movies, music, sports, news, computer games, software—over a digital broadcast signal direct to any DTV-enabled PC. Wavexpress provides a full range of secure data broadcast architecture, infrastructure, and services to broadcasters, content providers and consumers. Wavexpress' broadcast e-commerce system offers a variety of business models, including ad-supported content distribution, pay-per-use, purchase transactions, and subscription services. Integrating over $100 million in research and development, Wavexpress capitalizes on the broadcast engineering expertise of Sarnoff, and Wave Systems' Embassy technology and back-office systems that handle distributed content protection and transaction reporting functions. For more information, visit the Wavexpress web site at: www.wavexpress.com.
Wavexpress has announced agreements with 5 broadcast groups, representing a potential 112 stations and covering over 39% of the U.S.
