Liberate Bolsters MHP Portfolio With Technologies From IRT, the German
Research Institute Driving MHP Globally
SAN CARLOS, Calif., Oct. 17 /PRNewswire/ --
Liberate Technologies (Nasdaq: LBRT), the premier open software platform for
enhanced television, today announced it has expanded its solution set based on
the Multimedia Home Platform (MHP) standard by licensing the reference
implementation of the Institut fur Rundfunktechnik (IRT), the research and
development institute of the public broadcasting organizations in Germany,
Austria and Switzerland.
(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/19990630/LIBERATE )
IRT plays a key role in the certification of MHP solutions. Europe's
Digital Video Broadcast (DVB) organization, the body that defines MHP, has
accepted IRT's reference implementation for MHP, which will be used by
companies around the world seeking to certify their solutions to the MHP
standard.
"Our agreement with IRT is the latest demonstration of Liberate's
leadership in open standards," said Mitchell Kertzman, CEO, Liberate
Technologies. "As an active contributor to the MHP specification, we are
committed to delivering a complete portfolio of MHP-based solutions for our
customers worldwide."
"The integration of our MHP Reference Implementation and the Liberate TV
Platform will enable interoperability of millions of digital TV sets in the
near future," stated Dr. Henning Wilkens, CEO, IRT. "Coming along with our
existing almost 40 license agreements, our partnership with Liberate will
boost the introduction of the MHP standard, which is a key to creating an open
horizontal market for digital TV."
MHP is the digital television standard for Europe, Asia, Australia and
Latin America. It is also a basis for the Open Cable Application Platform
(OCAP) digital television standard in the United States currently under
development at CableLabs, for which Liberate is a lead author. The MHP
standard was defined by the DVB consortium as a common application program
interface (API) for delivering multimedia services.
Under the agreement with IRT, Liberate has licensed the MHP Reference
Implementation, commonly known as a software stack, developed by IRT. This
reference design will be used in the creation of future versions of the
Liberate(R) TV Navigator(TM) client component of the Liberate TV Platform(TM)
software. Licensing the IRT reference design enables Liberate to develop a
fully MHP-compliant software solution for digital TV set-top boxes.
Liberate offers the only software platform in the interactive television
industry built from the ground up on standards established for broadcast and
Internet technologies. The Liberate TV Platform software supports content
authored in HTML, Java, JavaScript, Macromedia Flash, MPEG Still Pictures, and
Liberate is a champion of numerous open standards efforts.
Supporting the collaboration between the companies, IRT also has joined
the Liberate PopTV(TM) Program, the largest partner program in the world for
interactive television.
About Liberate Technologies
Liberate Technologies is the premier provider of open platforms for
delivering enhanced content and services to television viewers around the
world. Liberate's software, based on Internet and broadcasting standards, is
the infrastructure platform supporting digital consumer services delivered by
cable, satellite and telecommunications companies. Headquartered in San
Carlos, California, the company has sales offices in the U.S., Canada, Japan,
and the U.K.
NOTE: Liberate and the Liberate design are registered trademarks of
Liberate Technologies. Other product names used in association with these
registered trademarks (including Liberate TV Platform and PopTV) are
trademarks of Liberate Technologies. All other trademarks are the property of
their respective owners.
About IRT (Institut fur Rundfunktechnik)
IRT, the Broadcast Technology Institute, was founded as a private company
in 1956 as the central research and development establishment for the public
broadcasting organizations in Germany (ARD, joined by the ZDF in 1964, and DLR
in 1993), in Austria (ORF, 1990), and in Switzerland (SRG/SSR, 1989).
The main focus of IRT's work is the improvement of existing and the
development of new -- particularly digital -- systems and their
standardization. IRT works mainly for its associates and increasingly also for
third parties through the business areas "Collaborative Research" and "R&D
Services."
Safe Harbor Statement: Any statements above that involve expectations,
intentions, or strategies are forward-looking statements that involve risks
and uncertainties, are based upon information now available to us, and are not
necessarily subject to update. These statements are not guarantees of future
performance, and actual results may vary materially. Our filings with the
Securities and Exchange Commission (including our most recent annual report on
Form 10K and quarterly reports on Form 10Q) discuss risks that could
contribute to such variations or otherwise hurt our business.
CONTACT: Dietrich Sauter, Public Relations of Institut fur
Rundfunktechnik GmbH, +49-89-323-99-204, or presse@irt.de; or Tom Neumayr of
Liberate Technologies, +1-650-701-4065, or tneumayr@liberate.com.
SOURCE Liberate Technologies
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Related links:
http://www.liberate.com
Photo Notes:
NewsCom:
http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/19990630/LIBERATE
AP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.org
PRN Photo Desk, +1-888-776-6555 or +1-212-782-2840
CONTACT:
Dietrich Sauter, Public Relations of Institut
fur Rundfunktechnik GmbH, +49-89-323-99-204, or presse@irt.de; or
Tom Neumayr of Liberate Technologies, +1-650-701-4065, or
tneumayr@liberate.com
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