Today at NAB2003, the National Association of Broadcasters convention, Microsoft Corp. announced that the forthcoming release of Microsoft® Windows® CE .NET version 4.2 will include the latest Windows Media® 9 Series, which offers the same video quality in one-third the bit rate of MPEG-2 and one-half the bit rate of MPEG-4 over Internet Protocol (IP) networks, Internet Explorer 6.0, with special support for a richer television Web browsing experience. The company also announced that top silicon vendors ATI Technologies Inc., National Semiconductor Corp., STMicroelectronics and VIA Technologies Inc., and leading set-top box software vendors iMagicTV and Stellar One Corp. will optimize their solutions for the Windows CE .NET operating system. In addition, set-top box original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) CosTron Co. Ltd., HUMAX Co. Ltd., NEC Corp. and Tcom&DTVro Co. Ltd are currently building set-top boxes powered by Windows CE NET.
"IP-based set-top boxes are emerging as a key delivery platform for multiple service operators (MSOs) that are eager to offer television and interactive content services to homes around the globe," said Keith White, senior director of marketing of the Embedded and Appliance Platforms Group at Microsoft. "Windows CE .NET 4.2 delivers a robust real-time operating system platform to enable the delivery of high-quality video services and Web capabilities. And MSOs can now choose from a broad range of hardware and software providers to help them develop new offerings that are feature-rich and cost-effective, and can be deployed quickly."