Microsoft Showcases OEM Partners Shipping Connected Media Devices at CES

REDMOND, Wash. — Jan. 6, 2011 — This year at the 2011 International Consumer Electronics Show, Windows Embedded and its partners are showcasing how connected media devices built on the Windows Embedded Standard 7 platform provide an enriched entertainment experience in the heart of the living room. Windows Embedded Standard 7 delivers the power, familiarity and reliability of the Windows 7 operating system in a form that manufacturers use to create advanced commercial and consumer devices running thousands of existing Windows applications and drivers.

At the show, Windows Embedded will use a walk-through “connected living room” environment to feature innovative products from several of its global partners including Haier, Reycom, Prime Time, Acer Gateway and Evolve. These devices work with Microsoft technology such as Windows Phone 7 and Windows Home Server to create a media experience that delivers more than the sum of its parts. By using connected media devices built on Microsoft products together, consumers will be able to merge multimedia content from various sources and locations such as the Internet and broadcast TV, social media portals, and personal libraries of photos, music and videos. All of this content comes together in a centralized entertainment hub that’s accessible by other Windows powered devices throughout the networked home.

Evolve Media, a custom media server manufacturer from the United Kingdom, is announcing all-new embedded software media servers designed for integration into the connected home. The new software platform, dubbed “PRIME,” brings Windows Embedded Standard 7 technologies to Evolve’s award-winning “life” range of products, including the lifeStation, the lifeStream, the lifeStream Mini and the lifeStore home server.



Evolve’s lifeStream Mini is big on features.

“The incredible flexibility of the Windows Embedded Standard 7 platform has allowed us to create an essential suite of services and applications that work in sync with established, robust features, such as Windows Media Center, enabling Evolve to deliver the highest-quality media experience in the connected home,” says Charlie Mertz, commercial director at Evolve Media. “I am confident all who see the product at CES 2011 will be suitably impressed.”

Reycom is presenting the REC®100, its next-generation hybrid set-top box based on Windows Embedded Standard 7 using high-performance components from Intel® and NVIDIA®. Users can enjoy live TV in HD with time-shift, and access to the Internet providing a wide range of films, TV shows, gaming, Internet TV, music, and apps such as weather and YouTube.

Much of this content can be stored and played with the REC 100’s integrated hard disk and DVD or Blu-ray player. The REC‘s multiroom features allow users to transfer videos, music and pictures between the REC and their personal computers, home server, and Windows Phone 7 — plus, they can use Xbox 360 as a Media Center Extender. The REC can be controlled by the supplied remote control or through a Windows Phone 7 handset. Reycom will launch REC’s U.S. retail version in the first quarter of 2011, followed by dedicated versions for U.S. cable operators and U.S. telecom company operators by mid-2011.

Pascal Rey, CEO and founder of Reycom, says, “Using Windows Embedded Standard 7 as a foundation for the REC allows



The REC, Reycom’s next-generation set-top box.

us to deliver a ‘Swiss Army knife’ entertainment experience on consumers’ television screens. The degree of control and choice that users have over how, when and where they view their content is unprecedented. We have benefited greatly from our partnership with Windows Embedded, and are eager to continue working with them to deliver even more amazing experiences through connected media devices.”

For live Twitter updates from CES 2011, follow @MSFTWEB, @Microsoft and @MSFTNews.

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