ANT brings tomorrow's user interface to today's digital TV

Pace first to design the new ANT Galio into its set-top box

Cambridge, 14 December 2004

ANT, the leading provider of user-interface software for digital TV and consumer electronics, today announced new content presentation and control software which is set to accelerate the realisation of next-generation digital TV. ANT Galio™ allows service operators and middleware companies to offer superior digital TV services, with broader ranges of highly dynamic interactive content, using existing hardware, infrastructure and off-the-shelf development tools. Until now, such services have been too complex and expensive to develop for mass deployment. Pace Micro Technology, a long-standing partner of ANT, has announced that it will be the first to license ANT Galio for its IPTV set-top boxes (STBs).

By basing Galio on the latest W3C standards, ANT has ensured that ground-breaking interactive content can be developed easily, quickly and cost effectively. Complex TV-based applications can now be designed and built by web developers using existing knowledge and off-the-shelf tools. Additionally, a wide range of existing web-based content can easily be dynamically referenced to provide customisable services.

ANT Galio has been created to meet the needs of telcos, ISPs, cable operators, broadcasters and middleware companies wishing to deliver sophisticated combinations of digital TV programming with interactive content and services to the customer's set-top box. Galio is designed to be embedded within today's consumer electronics devices such as STBs, digital TVs, DVD players and PVRs (personal video recorders). ANT Galio provides a single solution for all aspects of the user interface, from local device set-up menus and controls through to complex remote services such as electronic programme guides (EPGs), video on demand (VOD) interfaces, dynamic news and communications applications.

"With Galio, not only will operators be able to improve and enhance existing service offerings, they will also be able to create a broader range of additional dynamic services and content for their customers", said Stephen Reeder, Executive Director of Sales & Marketing at ANT Limited. "Until now, many such services have required new set-top box hardware or complex custom content that is expensive and time-consuming to develop. Galio removes these constraints and their limitations on the growth of many digital TV deployments."

"The user interface is the primary experience a customer has with a consumer electronics product, so choosing the right user interface software to ensure services and content are optimally rendered is critical," said David Gillies, Director of Technology at Pace Micro Technology. "ANT's Galio browser offers end-users a wide range of high quality interactive services and by integrating it into our IPTV set-top box range, Pace continues to demonstrate its market leading position."

ANT Galio combines the latest Cascading Style Sheet standards (CSS2.1, CSS-TV and aspects of the draft CSS3), with a highly dynamic, JavaScript-driven Document Object Model (DOM2). This allows total creative flexibility with full separation of content from behaviour and style to streamline and optimise the development process. For example, this flexibility allows quick re-branding or co-branding of content and enables GUI themes or re-skinning to coincide with major sports events and public holidays.

ANT Galio builds on the technical expertise and experience gained from ANT Fresco®, the market leading browser solution for IPTV that has been extensively deployed with operators worldwide. ANT Galio provides a significantly more powerful rendering engine but with the same low memory and processor resource requirements as Fresco, ensuring that the set-top box bill of materials (BOM) is kept as low as possible.

Using ANT Galio, operators will be able to offer a more engaging and responsive experience, with access to a much richer set of information and services. ANT Galio's "User First" architecture has made application responsiveness a top priority, such that the application will react immediately upon a command, ensuring increased customer satisfaction in using the interactive services.

About ANT Software Limited

ANT plc (www.antplc.com) is a leading provider of digital TV client and consumer electronic software solutions. ANT's unique client solutions allow robust and consistent delivery of digital-media, user interfaces, interactive services and applications to the TV and portable media devices. ANT enables service providers to efficiently create and deploy successful solutions to the market that deliver high value and clear differentiation.

ANT's products are pre-integrated with many industry-leading solutions and are based upon open standards, enabling low-risk, cost-effective roll-out of services, while ensuring flexible client hardware choice with efficient bill of materials. ANT software has been extensively deployed by customers throughout the world including Chunghwa Telecom, Foxconn, France Telecom, Humax, LG/Nortel, Philips, Sagem, Samsung, SaskTel, Telecom Italia and Thomson.

ANT plc's shares are listed on AIM, a London Stock Exchange regulated market, under the ticker ANTP (Reuters: ANTP.L, Bloomberg: ANTP.LN).

About Pace Micro Technology

Pace Micro Technology plc (LSE: PIC) is a leader in digital television technology. The Company's primary focus is the development of innovative set-top box solutions for operators, broadcasters, telecommunications companies and retail markets worldwide. Pace's head office is in Shipley West Yorkshire, with further offices in the USA, Hong Kong, Germany and France. For further information, please visit Pace's web site at www.pacemicro.com.

Trademarks

ANT, the ANT logo, Galio, Fresco and PurePlay are all trademarks or registered trademarks of ANT Software Limited. All other brand and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.

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