LONDON, Oct. 23, 2001 — At Streaming Media Europe 2001, Streambuster Technologies, a leading broadband entertainment solutions provider in Europe, and Microsoft Corp. unveiled Streambuster’s Version II, a breakthrough new software solution built on the Microsoft® Windows® 2000 Server operating system and Windows Media™
Technologies. This solution offers streamed and downloadable video programming, including on-demand, full-length major motion pictures, on-air television broadcasts, and unique customized time-shifting streaming video services. Now broadband consumers can have the power to personalize and control when they can view streaming video of their favorite on-air television programs. Streambuster offers an innovative way for broadband Internet providers to deliver on-demand entertainment to broadband-connected PCs and to next-generation set-top boxes as they are deployed for the rapidly growing number of broadband consumers in Scandinavia and elsewhere in Europe. IDC’s April 2001 report projects broadband access among consumers in Western Europe will grow 256 percent in 2001 to nearly 5 million users. In 2004, the Internet broadband audience is expected to comprise 34 million households.
“The availability of broadband access is growing throughout Europe, and Streambuster’s new Version II solution is designed to help provide new levels of entertainment and convenience in the home using broadband technologies,”
said John Jensen, managing director of Streambuster.
“The quality, scalability, reliability and security of the Microsoft Windows Media Technologies features in the Windows 2000 Server provided us a rock-solid foundation on which we could design breakthrough innovations for consumers and network operators throughout Europe.”
Streambuster’s new Version II on-demand solution is a revolutionary addition to the home entertainment system combining developments in broadband technology with state-of-the-art digital media technologies from Microsoft. The service can be accessed via a normal television connected to an intelligent set-top box or via a PC connected to the Internet. Through a dynamic interface, users select the movies they want to watch, pay for the digital content online, and stream or download their selection.
Developed using Windows 2000 Server and Windows Media digital rights management (DRM) technology, Streambuster’s custom payment system gives individual users the right to watch their selection for a defined period. All movies are delivered in Windows Media Video, offering near-DVD video quality at rates as low as 500 Kbps, and consumers can have all the same features they expect from their VCR or DVD, such as pause, rewind, fast-forward and scene selections.
“As the broadband Internet audience quickly expands, there is a growing parallel need for richer and more personalized entertainment experiences using this bandwidth to attract consumer demand,”
said Dave Fester, general manager of the Windows Digital Media Division at Microsoft.
“Streambuster offers one of the most comprehensive and unique solutions in the world to fulfill this new broadband entertainment opportunity.”
Streambuster has already begun to deploy Version II with key telecoms, including Cirque, Bredbandsbolaget Denmark, Telia and Semco, reaching up to 200,000 broadband users across Denmark. It will provide this solution to other broadband network operators for deployment to consumers throughout Europe and worldwide.
Streambuster Technologies has entered content distribution and cooperation agreements for pilot test projects to distribute libraries of more than 400 films. In addition, the company has agreements with Danish CopyDan allowing Streambuster to pioneer the Internet distribution of 30 national and international on-air TV channels. Distribution rights include such stations as German
“Sat1”
and
“RTL,”
Turkish
“Show TV,”
and Danish
“DR1”
and
“TV2.”
About Streambuster Technologies
Streambuster Technologies was set up in 2001 as a technology provider to develop interactive state-of-the-art on-demand solutions aimed at the broadband entertainment market and to license that technology to telcos and network operators on an OEM basis. Streambuster is a Danish undertaking and the company’s domicile is located in the city of Viborg, where the company employs 30 staff members. Streambuster has formed strategic alliances with several market-leading suppliers and partners including Microsoft, Compaq and Intel Corp. More information about Streambuster is available at http://www.streambuster.com/ .
About Windows Media
Windows Media is the leading digital media platform, providing unmatched audio and video quality to consumers, content providers, solution providers, software developers and corporations. Windows Media offers the industry’s only integrated rights-management solution and the most scalable and reliable streaming technology tested by independent labs. Windows
Media Technologies includes Windows Media Player for consumers, Windows Media Services for servers, Windows Media Tools for content creation, and the Windows Media Software Development Kit (SDK) for software developers. Windows Media Player, available in
26 languages, is the fastest-growing media player. More information about Windows Media can be found at http://www.microsoft.com/windowsmedia/ .
About Microsoft
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq
“MSFT”
) is the worldwide leader in software, services and Internet technologies for personal and business computing. The company offers a wide range of products and services designed to empower people through great software — any time, any place and on any device.
Microsoft, Windows and Windows Media are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries.
The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.
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