0145.1
Hot Topics
e.Digital and Actel to
Deliver Silicon Solution for
Digital Music and Voice
Recorder/Players
National Semiconductor
Unveils Next-generation Geode
Processor Family
MVNOs Will Account for Over 10% of Subscribers by
2006
Tutorial: http://www.wave-report.com/tutorials/MVNO.htm
0145.2
Story of the Issue
Blue Falcon and MeasureCast
Offer Peer-to-Peer Metrics
0145.3
Semiconductor and Chips
Equator Technologies Announces
Digital Signal Processor
SEMI Receives NIST Grant
to Develop Internet-Based
Security Framework For
Semiconductor Manufacturing
Productivity
Tutorial: http://www.wave-report.com/tutorials/NIST.htm
0145.4 3D
VIRTOOLS and Alias|Wavefront
Announce Release of
Virtools Exporter for
Maya
Fourth Annual Report on
Virtual Reality Marketplace
Released
Advanced Rendering Technology
Teams With AliasWavefront
to Premiere PURE 3D
Rendering
NVIDIA Corporation Evans
& Sutherland Strategic Alliance
0145.5
Wireless
XM Satellite Radio Expands
Rollout Across Southwest
and Southeast U.S.
0145.6
Deals
Samsung and Microsoft
Announce Strategic Alliance to
Collaborate on Digital
Home Technologies
--------------------------------------
0145.1
Hot Topics
***e.Digital
and Actel to Deliver Silicon Solution for Digital
Music
and Voice Recorder/Players
(October
16)
e.Digital,
a global provider of digital product development and
designs,
and Actel, a supplier of programmable logic solutions,
have
announced a technology relationship that will allow
e.Digital's
design to be produced within Actel's ASIC-like
(application-specific
integrated circuit-like) eX field-
programmable
gate array (FPGA) devices. e.Digital's solution is
designed
to increase reliability and reduce the board space
required
for implementation of digital voice and music
recorder/player
functionality in small portable devices, such as
portable
Internet music players and personal digital jukeboxes.
e.Digital's
solution has potential applications in automotive
stereos,
home stereo systems, laptop and handheld computers,
desktop
PCs, cellular phones and dictation systems.
Actel's
eX product family offers designers a low power, high
performance,
low cost complex programmable logic device (CPLD)
solution.
Aimed at the growing e-Appliance and communications
markets,
Actel's eX family of FPGAs enables designers to use
single-chip
programmable logic for their traditionally low
density
ASIC requirements, eliminating the long lead times and
non-recurring
engineering (NRE) charges. Actel devices are used
in
digital cameras, digital film, multimedia products and smart-
card
readers.
http://www.edig.com
http://www.actel.com
***National
Semiconductor Unveils Next-generation Geode Processor
Family
(October
17)
National
Semiconductor has unveiled the next Geode family of x86-
based,
integrated processors designed for information appliances.
The
introduction of the Geode GX2 family is National's latest
move
to extend its involvement in the development of information
appliances
such as thin clients, digital set-top boxes,
residential
gateways and personal Internet access devices.
The
GX2 family offers power consumption levels of less than 1
watt
in typical applications and 3 watts for streaming media-
intensive
applications. Designed on the 0.15-micron process
technology,
the Geode GX2 processor includes the following
features:
high-performance x86 CPU core with 3DNow! instructions,
16K
Instruction and 16K Data caches, and architectural
enhancements
for optimal streaming multimedia.
Additionally,
the GX2 family integrates a SDRAM/double-data-rate
(DDR)-SDRAM
memory controller, 32-bit 2D graphics controller,
PCI-66
interface, high resolution 1600x1200x24 bit display with
video
scaling, CRT digital-to-analog converters (DACs) and a
unified
memory architecture (UMA) DSTN/TFT controller.
At
the heart of the GX2 processor is National's GeodeLink IA
system
architecture, which enables low-power designs, improved
silicon
design productivity and reuse of intellectual property
(IP).
The
GeodeLink architecture is a single on-chip interconnect that
facilitates
the integration of modules and allows use of UMA.
This
architecture provides 6 GB/s on-chip bandwidth, up to 2 GB/s
memory
bandwidth, diagnostics, and active hardware power
management
that reduces power with architectural power-saving
techniques.
National
also developed a reference design platform based on the
Geode
GX2 family of processors targeting Internet access devices.
The
Geode GX2 family includes on-chip support for software
debugging,
enabling high-performance peripherals.
The
Geode GX2 reference platform includes CRT/TFT output, DDR-
SDRAM
and SDRAM support, universal serial bus (USB) support, 4
PCI
slots for development and additional boards for increased
functionality:
flash support, super I/O and touch screen
controller.
It also comes with firmware and drivers to support
such
operating systems as Microsoft Windows XP, Windows XP
Embedded
and Windows CE; Lineo; Tuxia; RedHat; Century Software
and
other versions of Linux. The JTAG interface on silicon
ensures
fast software development.
Packaged
in a 368-pin enhanced ball grid array (EBGA), National
Semiconductor's
Geode GX2 processor, together with a companion
chip,
is priced below US$50 each in high volume. Production is
expected
in the first half of 2002.
http://www.national.com
***MVNOs
Will Account for Over 10% of Subscribers by 2006
(October
18)
Subscribers
to MVNO (Mobile Virtual Network Operator) services
will
increase dramatically over the next five years, accounting
for
195 million of the world's 1,895m mobile subscribers by end
2006,
according to a study from ARC Group. This means that by the
end
of 2006 just over 10% of all mobile subscribers will be
served
by virtual network operators. ARC Group expects a 127%
Annual
Average Growth Rate (AAGR) of subscribers to virtual
operators
between 2001 and 2006, compared to a 17% AAGR for
mobile
subscribers as a whole.
Worldwide
Subscribers to MVNOs, 2001-2006
(Millions)
2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006
Total
MVNO subs
3.22 15.37 32.60 62.72 109.97 195.44
%
of total subs
0.4% 1.5% 2.7% 4.4% 6.6% 10.3%
According
to the study, the incidence of MVNOs varies between
regions,
so there is disparity of MVNO subscribers as a
proportion
of total subscribers in various regions. MVNOs will be
ten
times as successful in Western Europe as in Japan by 2006.
The
study also points out that in the Asia-Pacific region, there
will
be a fast take-up of virtual operators in the most advanced
economies
with a migration to third-generation services, and then
a
further take-off of virtual operators as the larger
territories,
like China, open their markets to MVNO entrants. In
Japan,
the dominance of DoCoMo and the speedy uptake of 3G
services
without the involvement of MVNOs or service providers,
suggests
that MVNO prevalence in Japan will stay low.
For
the US, the mix of cellular technologies across the country
makes
it more difficult for a non-telecommunications company to
make
impact on the market. However, the relatively low
penetration
of mobile, particularly amongst the younger
generation,
holds an attraction for strong-brand entrants to
gather
future market share.
In
the Rest of the World, it is expected that the richer
territories
in the region, such as Canada, Brazil and Poland,
will
see a rise in MVNO partnering in the next 5 years. However,
the
relatively poorer countries will not have mobile markets that
are
sufficiently mature or liberalized to tempt external players
to
enter their markets.
The
study covers:
* Migration to 2.5G and 3G issues for MVNOs
* Market entry strategies
* Market forecasts by region and technology to
2006
* Strategic rationales for partner and host
* MVNO positioning along the value chain
http://www.arcgroup.com
What
is an MVNO? Find additional information at:
http://www.wave-report.com/tutorials/MVNO.htm
0145.2
Story of the Issue
***Blue
Falcon and MeasureCast Offer Peer-to-Peer Metrics
By
James Sneeringer
On
October 9, Blue Falcon Networks, a peer-to-peer streaming
media
delivery solutions provider, announced a strategic
partnership
with MeasureCast, a third-party streaming audience
measurement
company with more than 1,000 customer stations. Blue
Falcon
will incorporate the MeasureCast Streaming Audience
Measurement
Service into its streaming delivery technology to
offer
to its Internet broadcasting customers.
The
partnership enables Blue Falcon to offer its streaming
customers
access to third-party audience measurement services
from
an established company. At the same time, MeasureCast hopes
the
partnership will position it to capture a large percentage of
any
online broadcasters who decide to adopt peer-to-peer
streaming
content delivery. Blue Falcon customer Radio Free
Virgin
is the first to deploy the combined solution. The WAVE
Report
spoke with Blue Falcon President and CEO Jay Haynes to get
the
details of the deal, and his take on the peer-to-peer market.
Why
Peer to Peer Webcasting?
In
a traditional webcast, all client connections are long haul:
every
person who wants to download the webcast must connect
through
directly to the webcast server, which has a finite
bandwidth
and number of connections. According to Haynes, this
has
two consequences. First, the more popular a piece of content
becomes,
the less likely it is that it will be available to a
user
desiring to see it. Second, bandwidth is by far the largest
cost
component of webcasting. And as Haynes pointed out, the
vagaries
of broadcasting almost guarantee that the bandwidth
bought
will either be too much or too little.
Blue
Falcon's services seek to make use of the wasted bandwidth
during
a webcast, by linking client computers directly to each
other.
Haynes stated that with Blue Falcon's software in place, a
computer
downloading a stream of media could also serve that
stream
to other local computers. As a result, the majority of
computers
on a Blue Falcon webcast are downloading from other
client
computers, rather than the webcast server. The hardware
and
bandwidth requirements for the primary webcast server are
greatly
reduced, which in turn reduces costs. In addition,
receiving
streams from local machines rather than distant servers
uses
local bandwidth as efficiently as possible, and reduces
problems
such as packet loss.
Haynes
explained that the technology behind Blue Falcon's peer-
to-peer
services is somewhere between Napster's fully centralized
server
directory, and Gnutella's completely distributed system.
The
user downloads the Blue Falcon plug-in for their media player
-
a process Haynes likened to getting the Flash player - clicks
on
the link for the webcast, and begins watching or listening. A
centralized
Blue Falcon server maintains a directory of clients
downloading
the stream, while the software on each client
computer
both manages the incoming stream, and serves it to
additional
users. The client software constantly monitors the
streams,
and switches sources as needed to maintain quality
standards.
According to Haynes, this maintains or improves the
streaming
quality as compared to traditional webcasting.
A
disadvantage to distributed webcasts such as Blue Falcon's
media,
has been the difficulty of obtaining accurate metrics,
such
as the size of the audience, entry and exit point, and
duration
of stay. Haynes stated that after 3 years of working on
their
software, Blue Falcon is finally able to collect data,
based
on the server portion of the service. The goal of their
partnership
with MeasureCast will complete this work by
facilitating
an audit system, which will take Blue Falcon's raw
data,
validate it, and then present it to customers in a non-
biased
fashion.
The
Peer-to-Peer Industry
The
Internet bubble has burst - how many times have we heard
this.
Yet Haynes pointed to statistics that still show explosive
growth
in streaming media. An October report from MeasureCast,
for
instance, shows that Internet radio listening has increased
191%
since January.
(http://www.measurecast.com/news/pr/2001/pr20011016.html)
At the
same
time, though, the patience of investors awaiting returns is
very
short. Profitability is key, and one component of that is
cost
reduction. He stated that peer-to-peer computing, in his
opinion,
is the key to cost reduction and scalability in the
delivery
of streaming content across the Internet.
Only
peer-to-peer delivery, he stated, was demand-driven. He drew
this
contrast: in traditional streaming, the content is served
from
a single source, and gets more expensive to provide and
harder
to get as it gets more popular. In peer-to-peer streaming,
users
serve each other - the more users on the system, the more
streams
become available to serve new users, increasing the
availability,
and using inexpensive, local bandwidth rather than
long-haul.
Two
sociological hurdles, according to Haynes, stand in the way
of
peer-to-peer streaming. One, the perceived risk of adopting
such
a new technology, which he hoped would be alleviated as Blue
Falcon
and other companies signed deals such as the one with
Radio
Free Virgin, and demonstrated the viability of their
service.
The other risk is the perceived security risk of serving
content
from a personal computer. This concern he addressed
directly.
He started by pointing out that every time a person
clicks
on a URL, they are sending information from their computer
across
the Internet. He emphasized that Blue Falcon's peer-to-
peer
streaming was really no different.
Live
streams, he stated, were not stored on the hard drive, and
stricken
from the memory upon any interruption. He also stated
that
while Blue Falcon's streaming on demand service does use the
hard
drive for storage, it only stores fragments of files - never
complete
streams. According to Haynes, the user has no access to
the
data, and the data has no read or write capability to the
computer
or the user, and therefore remains secure. He also
pointed
out that Blue Falcon is designed to work well with
firewalls.
Overall,
he said, it was an exciting time to be in the streaming
media
industry. There is no longer a question of whether media
content
will be delivered over the Internet - it already is. The
question
now, according to Haynes, is one of quality - of how it
will
be delivered, and how it will affect our lives.
http://www.bluefalcon.com
http://www.measurecast.com
0145.3
Semiconductor and Chips
***Equator
Technologies Announces Digital Signal Processor
(October
15)
Equator
Technologies, provider of broadband digital
communications
and media processing engines and systems, has
announced
its MAP-BSP-15 Broadband Signal Processor (BSP) chip.
Equator's
next-generation chip, which will be manufactured by
Taiwan
Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp. (TSMC), enhances
Equator's
BSP family of chips by introducing a low power
consumption,
more flexible and cost-effective universal media
processor
to the market. Operating at 333 MHz, the MAP-BSP-15
chip
will use 0.15-micron fabrication technology and will deliver
33
GOPs (billion operations per second).
The
low-voltage, software-programmable, MAP-BSP-15 chip enables
Equator
to strengthen its established position in the head-end,
set-top
box, video conferencing, video security and surveillance,
and
imaging markets. Equator's latest chip is targeted at
wireless,
handheld applications, digital cameras, telematics
(including
aviation, shipping and automotive), remote security,
low
bit-rate media streaming and HDTV-compliant set-top box
applications.
The
MAP-BSP-15 chip enables simultaneous high-quality video
encoding
streams at various bit rates, supporting all standard
and
non-standard compression algorithms. This is achieved by
using
only 1.2 volts and 2.5 watts, less than half the power of
its
predecessor, allowing applications to run more quickly. In
addition,
the smaller chip will be capable of handling more
applications,
making it a functionally cost-effective solution.
Equator
will work closely with TSMC to ensure that future
versions
of its BSP chip will map to TSMC's technology.
Building
on Equator's high-level C-programmable, system-on-a-chip
solution,
which is based on VLIW/SIMD architecture, the MAP-BSP-
15
chip can unify the host processor with the image processing
capabilities,
SDRAM and PCI interfaces, and a flexible multimedia
I/O
system to allow a single external bank of DRAM to support a
range
of product functions. Features and functions include:
*
Digital RGB – enables usage of and drives digital display
panels
*
Additional support for SDRAM – provides customers with the
flexibility
to choose from various types of memory, helping to
reduce
overall system cost
*
Data port that is fully compliant with PCI specifications –
eases
the adoption of any peripherals
*
Merged Video DSP and MPU – a fusion of general-purpose RISC
processor
architecture and high performance DSP architecture
seamlessly
integrated into a VLIW architecture framework
*
Partitioned, compiler managed, register sets – provides full
support
of a 100% C programming environment for digital signal
and
video image processing applications
*
Task-optimized functional units – allow DSP computational power
through
support of both instruction and data level parallelism,
providing
optimized hardware resources
*
Throughput-optimized Dcache – allows the Data Cache to be used
without
any need for software control, but alternatively, under
software
control, it can be used as a buffer memory. Efficient
pre-loading
of the Data Cache is also possible, using the on-chip
DataStreamer
DMA processor
*
Continued support for software tools and OS support
Equator's
iMMediaTools suite, which includes a parallelizing C
compiler,
linker, source level debugger, simulators and standard
libraries,
will support the MAP-BSP-15 processor. The chip will
be
integrated into Equator's development boards and reference
design
platforms, including its Shark, StingRay, and EagleRay
Development
Boards, as well as the Dolphin and Orca Reference
Design
Platforms.
Engineering
samples of the MAP-BSP-15 chip will be available in
Q1
2002, with production in Q2, 2002.
http://www.tsmc.com
http://www.equator.com
***SEMI
Receives NIST Grant to Develop Internet-Based Security
Framework
For Semiconductor Manufacturing Productivity
(October
16)
Semiconductor
Equipment and Materials International (SEMI), a
global
industry association, has announced that it has been
awarded
$5 million from the National Institute for Standards and
Technology
(NIST) through the Advanced Technology Program (ATP)
to
develop, prototype and validate a security framework for
electronic
collaboration via the Internet as a means of enhancing
semiconductor
manufacturing productivity.
SEMI,
serving as the project administrator for the cost-shared
project
that encompasses an approximately $10.1 million budget,
will
collaborate in a joint venture development partnership that
includes
Advanced Micro Devices, domainLogix, ILS Technology and
Oceana
Sensor Technologies. The joint venture aims to create
within
three years a security framework for electronic
collaboration
that will allow semiconductor manufacturers and
equipment
suppliers to share information while protecting
proprietary
information on both sides.
The
project team will validate its approach by building
eDiagnostics
and eManufacturing applications, demonstrating that
they
resolve security problems and offer improvements in factory
effectiveness,
and feeding back this direct experience to improve
the
security framework. The vendor- and party-neutral framework
will
be developed as an open standard. It will permit multiple
parties
to collaborate simultaneously on issues that involve
interactions
between multiple pieces of equipment.
A
security reference model will be created, allowing a firm to
specify
a formal security policy that describes under what
conditions
partner firms can access data. The model will reflect
the
way the customer really makes decisions about granting or
denying
access rather than the traditional procedural approach to
security.
The
project aims to create a flexible firewall, a novel
distributed
architecture that can protect any accessible device
(from
a factory server down to an embedded sensor) and that
enforces
the security policies of the fab and the equipment
suppliers.
ATP
provides cost-shared funding to industry, non-profits and
universities
to help advance particularly challenging, high-risk
research
and development projects that have the potential to
spark
important, broad-based economic or social benefits for the
United
States. The program supports projects that industry cannot
fully
fund on its own because of significant technical risks or
limited
resources.
http://www.atp.nist.gov
http://www.semi.org
http://www.amd.com
http://www.domainlogix.com
http://www.ilstechnology.com
Find
out more information on NIST and their ATP program at:
http://www.wave-report.com/tutorials/NIST.htm
0145.4 3D
***VIRTOOLS
and Alias|Wavefront Announce Release of Virtools
Exporter
for Maya
(October
15)
Virtools,
provider of interactive 3D development solutions, has
announced
the release of the Virtools Exporter for Maya. The
Exporter
combines Maya's 3D modeling and animation software with
Virtools
Dev 2.0's behavioral features to bring interactivity to
3D
content. The Virtools Exporter for Maya enables the export of
3D
models, lights, cameras, materials, textures and animations
into
Virtools Dev 2.0. Maya' s bones, skin, and vertex colors
features
are also supported.
Users
can also drag and drop interactive behaviors from the
Virtools
behavior library (more than 400 building blocks) onto
exported
3D objects to create interactive 3D applications for e-
learning,
e-marketing or games, on the web or CD-ROM.
Virtools'
technology allows users to create interactive
applications
by graphically assembling "behaviors" in Dev 2.0's
intuitive
interface. Virtools' reusable "behavior building
blocks"
accelerate the production cycle and reduce production
costs,
maximizing return on investment.
MAYA
is Alias|Wavefront's 3D animation and visual effects
software
for film, broadcast television, video, game development
and
location based entertainment markets. With an integrated,
single
environment that is customizable, Maya is optimized for
maximum
productivity.
http://www.virtools.com
http://www.aliaswavefront.com
***Fourth
Annual Report on Virtual Reality Marketplace Released
(October
15)
Virtual
Reality (VR), also known as Visual Simulation (VizSim),
is
a large and maturing market, according to a market study by
CyberEdge
Information Services (CEIS). The report, titled, The
Market
for Visual Simulation/Virtual Reality Systems, Fourth
Edition
(ISBN: 1-929696-05-1), is the latest report from an
ongoing
study started by CyberEdge in 1997. The report shows the
VizSim
Industry contracting around 17% under worldwide economic
pressure,
but still valued at more than $22 billion. VizSim
systems
are used for applications as diverse as medical training,
virtual
prototyping, entertainment, cultural preservation, and
architecture.
The
report offers findings in Financial, Demographic, and
Technology
Sections. The report also includes overall
satisfaction
ratings for 99 companies involved in VizSim/VR. The
ratings
are comprised of individual ratings for Hardware,
Software,
and Service satisfaction, and show nVidia, a graphics
card
manufacturer, leading the pack in overall customer
satisfaction.
Also
featured again in this year’s report is the Opportunity
Index,
CyberEdge’s tool for determining how to best leverage the
results
of the study for a business advantage. The Opportunity
Index
provides insight into nine component areas, and suggests
areas
where changes will provide the maximum marketing leverage.
Also
included is the VizSim Supplement, which includes the
VizSim/VR
Company Directory and Glossary of Terms.
Some
report findings in The Market for Visual Simulation/Virtual
Reality
Systems:
*The
VizSim market is valued at $22 billion in 2001
*8,512
organizations are involved in the industry worldwide
*The
average VizSim system costs $92,000
*Top
business applications of VizSim are Virtual prototyping,
Museum/Exhibition,
and Design evaluation
*18.5%
of systems use the Internet to deliver content
The
Market for Visual Simulation/Virtual Reality Systems, Third
Edition
is available now for $2,500. The VizSim Supplement is
priced
at $250 separately, or $175 when purchased with the
Report.
http://www.cyberedge.com
***Advanced
Rendering Technology Teams With AliasWavefront to
Premiere
PURE 3D Rendering
(October
9)
Advanced
Rendering Technology (ART) has premiered their PURE 3D
rendering
card on AliasWavefront's Booth at the Computer Arts
Live
2001 exhibition. PURE is ART's low-cost, small form-factor
3D
rendering solution that renders images up to 16X faster than
software-based
ray tracing and can simultaneously deliver high
quality
images through its silicon chip accelerated ray tracing
architecture.
Installed within a windows-compatible graphics
workstation,
PURE brings the power of a render farm onto a
designer's
desktop.
PURE
integrates with Maya through ART's RenderPipe for Maya plug-
in
interface. This provides seamless operation of PURE,
leveraging
the existing Maya rendering environment and adding
ART's
rendering features including physically based materials and
physically
accurate camera and lens effects.
PURE
comprises software and PCI card hardware based on the
company's
ray traced rendering 3D graphics chips, which
automatically
perform the geometry and shading operations of the
ray
tracing algorithm. PURE's toolset includes a host of features
that
allow users to integrate effects such as accurate real-world
lighting,
physically-based materials, motion blur, and depth of
field
to create images. Application plug-in interfaces to PURE
are
available for 3dsmax, 3D Studio VIZ, Maya, and the generic
RenderMan
language. PURE is available for PC's and workstations
running
Windows NT and Windows 2000.
http://www.art-render.com
***NVIDIA
Corporation Evans & Sutherland Strategic Alliance
(October
17)
NVIDIA
Corporation and Evans & Sutherland Computer Corporation
have
announced the creation of a broad strategic alliance, which
includes
three elements: (1) NVIDIA licensed its Shader
Technology
to E&S; (2) the companies agreed to a broad cross-
license
of technology; and (3) NVIDIA acquired 3D graphics
patents
from E&S.
The
NVIDIA Shader Technology is a collection of 3D technologies
enabling
the creation of interactive, cinematic-quality realism
through
the use of programmable processing elements. It is the
foundation
of NVIDIA's family of programmable graphics processor
units
(GPUs), starting with the GeForce3 GPU. Several basic
components
of the NVIDIA Shader Technology, particularly the
first-generation
programmable vertex and pixel shader, were
earlier
licensed to Microsoft for incorporation in the DirectX 8
Application
Programming Interface (API) and established as an
industry
standard.
Evans
& Sutherland produces professional hardware and software to
create
realistic visual images for simulation, training,
engineering,
and other applications. E&S visual systems are used
in
both military and commercial systems, as well as in
planetariums
and interactive theaters.
http://www.es.com
http://www.nvidia.com
0145.5
Wireless
***XM
Satellite Radio Expands Rollout Across Southwest and
Southeast
U.S.
(October
18)
XM
Satellite Radio has officially expanded the launch of its U.S.
digital
satellite radio service across the entire southern half
of
the United States, including cities such as Los Angeles,
Denver,
Houston, New Orleans, Atlanta and Miami, covering a
combined
136 million people. XM radios are available now in the
Southwest
and are arriving in the Southeast over the next two
weeks
at electronics retailers including Best Buy, Circuit City,
Tweeter,
participating RadioShack Dealers and Franchisees, Sears,
Crutchfield,
Good Guys, CarToys, Audio Express, Ultimate and
Sound
Advice.
XM's
programming lineup features 100 coast-to-coast digital
channels:
71 music channels, more than 30 of them commercial-
free;
and 29 channels of sports, talk, children's and
entertainment
including 13 premiere news channels covering
national,
world and financial developments like CNBC, CNN
Headline
News, CNNfn, FOX News, ABC News & Talk, USA Today,
Bloomberg,
BBC World Service, C-SPAN and its own XM News.
Manufacturers
such as Sony, Alpine and Pioneer will offer 24
models
of XM radios, including universal models that will enable
any
existing car stereo system to receive XM service, and new
AM/FM/XM
systems offering other features. Delphi-Delco systems
will
roll out initially in Cadillac DeVille and Seville models
beginning
in November, expanding to more than 20 GM models next
year.
XM
has also announced that it has reached agreement on the basic
terms
of a $66 million funding package, including $35 million in
new
debt financing with Boeing Capital Services Corporation and
$31
million in restructured obligations with Boeing Satellite
Systems
International. The company expects to close these
transactions
later this month.
http://www.xmradio.com
0145.6
Deals
***Samsung
and Microsoft Announce Strategic Alliance to
Collaborate
on Digital Home Technologies
(October
17)
Microsoft
and Samsung Electronics have announced an agreement to
collaborate
on consumer PCs and consumer electronics products for
the
digital home. The two companies intend to work together to
develop
and market products based on Samsung hardware and
Microsoft
Windows software including support for Windows Media
Technologies.
The joint effort is the first strategic alliance
for
Microsoft's eHome Division, a business unit formed earlier
this
year with the mission of developing technologies that bring
simplified
whole-home entertainment, communications and control
experiences
to everyday consumers.
As
part of the agreement, Samsung Electronics will support a
variety
of products and technology areas related to Microsoft's
desktop
and embedded Windows products including Windows Media
Technologies,
the Microsoft .NET Platform and upcoming eHome
initiatives.
For example, Samsung will expand on its Windows CE
investments
to develop a range of smart digital appliances as
part
of the Samsung Digital Platforms vision.
http://samsungelectronics.com/