Sybase Unveils Interactive Content Strategy With New Products, Key Industry
Partnerships and Programs for OEMs, Developers

SYBASE NEW MEDIA DIVISION COMBINING FORCES WITH INDUSTRY LEADERS TO ENABLE
MASS PRODUCTION OF HIGH-QUALITY ONLINE CONTENT

MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA, July 17, 1995 -- The New Media Division of Sybase Inc.,
today announced a broad set of program, partner and product initiatives
designed to increase the quality and flow of content for interactive
services and to enable both ITV and Internet access to these services from
multiple television set-top and computer platforms. Included in the Sybase
announcements were:

* SYBASE New Media Studio, a new content production environment for Windows
95, Windows-NT and UNIX

* Windows 95 and Macintosh OS support for the SYBASE Interplay interactive
player product

* An OEM program for set-top box manufacturers

* A Sybase Worldwide Content Developers Program

* A joint New Media Partners Developers College with Hewlett-Packard,
Scientific-Atlanta Broadband Communications and PowerTV, Inc.

Sybases strategy is focused in three major areas:

* Addressing the new challenges facing content developers as they make the
transition from static, offline CD-ROM deployment to dynamic, online
distributed environments.

* Providing users easy, multi-platform access to ITV services.

* Enabling a content industry franchise made up of leading content
developer partners, systems integrators, hardware suppliers and business
systems providers.

Russell Werner, vice president and general manager of Sybase's New Media
Division, commented, "We are providing a content production framework that
enables developers to create highly adaptable, personalized interactive
services. The announcements we are making today offer powerful content
solutions to developers that give them the first real opportunity to
escape the limitations of CD-ROM and Hypercard and to experience the 21st
century world of networked media systems."

NEW PRODUCT ANNOUNCEMENTS

Sybase announced two new products within its SYBASE Intermedia product
family to streamline content production and application delivery: SYBASE
New Media Studio and a new, enhanced version of SYBASE Interplay. The
first of these products, SYBASE New Media Studio, is available immediately
to participating developers in Sybases Worldwide Content Developer
Program. Based on proven Sybase products, SYBASE New Media Studio provides
a comprehensive content production environment for Windows 95, Windows-NT
and UNIX development platforms. Designed for maximum performance and
efficiency over switched video, cable and digital broadcast networks, New
Media Studio applications are accessed from set-top box and PC delivery
platforms using the SYBASE Interplay interactive player product.

The company also announced versions of the SYBASE Interplay product for the
Windows 95 and Macintosh platforms. This is in addition to its current
support for Microware's OS-9 and OS-9000, the PowerTV OS, and Windows 3.x
platforms. SYBASE Interplay is the only interactive player solution for
cross channel access to both ITV and Internet services.

The success of new media depends on the artful integration of
communications and entertainment, said Doug Keeley, president, ICE
Integrated Communications & Entertainment, a leading developer of
interactive content. As pioneers in new media design and development, we
are excited about the opportunity to contribute our proven convergence
expertise to the Sybase ITV initiative. The ambitious array of program,
partner and product initiatives that Sybase unveiled today will allow us
to speed up the mass delivery of superior-quality ITV content.

ENABLING INTERACTIVE CONTENT - SYBASE FOCUSES ON CONTENT DEVELOPER
PROGRAMS

To empower content developers with the skills and tools essential to
produce a new generation of distributed content applications for
interactive networks, Sybase today announced a series of developer
programs.

SYBASE WORLDWIDE CONTENT DEVELOPERS PROGRAMS

Sybase announced a Worldwide Content Developers Program that focuses on
providing training and support for its SYBASE Intermedia software
products. This program is initially targeted at ITV developers with
follow-on Internet developer programs scheduled for the Fall of 1995. The
company kicked off this program with a three-day content developer
workshop beginning July 17 in its recently-opened New Media Division
headquarters in Mountain View, California. The workshop participants
included Access Systems Pty. Limited, Alcatel SEL AG, Digital Media
Studios, Discovery Communications, Inc., General Research Corporation
(GRC), HP, ICE Integrated Communications & Entertainment, Internal
External Communications (IEC), Interactive Systems, Inc., Integrated
Systems S olutions Corp. (ISSC), The Lightspan Partnership, Inc., Siemens
AG, Southern New England Telecommunications (SNET), The Weather Channel
and Worldspan.

THE NEW MEDIA DEVELOPERS COLLEGES

Sybase also announced The New Media Partners Developers Colleges. Starting
with a conference in September, 1995, the colleges will combine products,
training and support from Sybase, Inc., HP, PowerTV, Inc. and
Scientific-Atlanta Broadband Communications. This college will offer
content developers the first fully integrated end-to-end interactive TV
Developers Kit, consisting of HPs MediaStream Server video server,
Scientific-Atlantas Digital Home Communications Terminal (DHCT), PowerTV,
Inc.'s operating system and Sybase's Intermedia software product family. A
primary aim of this program is to offer developers the skills and tools
needed to get in on the ground floor of the ITV production industry, and
to create the first generation of video applications needed to support the
ITV field trials taking place worldwide.

From our hands-on experience in ITV deployments, we understand the need for
advances in content development to drive profitability quickly, said James
D. Olson, general manager of HPs Video Communications Division. We view
the New Media Partners Developers Colleges as an important catalyst to
enable the availability of rich ITV content to our customers by
dramatically improving productivity of content developers themselves.

UNIVERSAL ACCESS TO ITV CONTENT - SYBASE INTERPLAY ON BOARD

For manufacturers of set-top boxes and smart headends, the company
announced the SYBASE Interplay On Board OEM program. This program, in
conjunction with Sybase leadership in key standards initiatives, promises
to propel SYBASE Interplay as a de facto industry standard. Standards
initiatives include chairing the Standard Runtime Technical Working Group
of the Interactive Multimedia Association (IMA) and the
Multimedia/Hypermedia Experts GroupApplication Interchange Standards body
(MHEG-5). Sybase has commitments from leading set-top box manufacturers to
participate in this OEM program. These OEM partners currently include
DiviCom, HP, Philips Consumer Electronics, Stellar One Corporation, Nokia
Consumer Electronics and Scientific-Atlanta Broadband Communications.
SYBASE Interplay is also being used in ICTVs smart headend solution being
tested by Cox Cable in its Omaha, Nebraska field trial.

Scientific-Atlanta has been an early supporter of Sybase in their ITV
program, said David Levitan, vice president and general manager of
subscriber systems for Scientific-Atlanta Broadband Communications.
Scientific Atlanta is in a unique position among set-top terminal
manufacturers because we support SYBASE Interplay in both our hardware and
software designs. Our Digital Home Communications Terminals (DHCTs) and
the PowerTV OS are fully compatible with the Intermedia open architecture
and we are working with Sybase to enable ITV content development on both
platforms. We believe Sybase has established significant industry momentum
for their ITV products and that content developed with their software will
be ideally suited for our DHCTs.

MEDIA SERVER RELATIONSHIPS

Sybase revealed a strategic relationship with media server supplier Silicon
Graphics Inc., complementing their previously announced relationships with
HP and Digital Equipment Corporation. The SYBASE Intermedia architecture
is fully compatible with the media servers offered by these hardware
vendors. By delivering customized, optimized solutions of its SYBASE
Intermedia architecture for each of these platforms, Sybase offers the ITV
industry the widest possible range of options for selecting an end-to-end
ITV platform to match their business and technical requirements.

SYSTEMS INTEGRATION PARTNERS

To help the ITV industry achieve critical mass in the quantity and quality
of content production, Sybase has announced partnerships with leading ITV
systems integrators including Andersen Consulting, EDS, Lockheed Martin
and Logica Inc. These partners have incorporated SYBASE software products
in integration projects and proposals worldwide and are participating in
the Sybases Worldwide Content Developer Program.

SYBASE, INC.

Sybase, Inc., is a worldwide leader in client/server software. Sybase
develops database, middleware and tools products for four major
client/server market segments: new media, online transaction processing,
data warehousing and mass deployment. The company's mission is to provide
its customers with an open, adaptable information systems architecture
that enables rapid business change. Headquartered in Emeryville, CA,
Sybase is the sixth largest independent software company in the world.

Sybase entered the ITV market in May, 1994 when it announced the SYBASE
Intermedia architecture, which has since been chosen by many leading
worldwide telecommunications and cable television companies. The announced
video services trials include Singapore Telecom, BellSouth, ICTV for Cox
Cable and Southern New England Telecommunications (SNET).
 
 =========================================================
 From the 'New Product News' Electronic News Service on...
 AOL (Keyword = New Products) and Delphi (GO COMP PROD)
 =========================================================
 This information was processed from data provided by the
 company/author mentioned. For additional details, please
 contact them directly at the address/phone# indicated.
 Trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
 =========================================================
 All submissions for this service should be addressed to:
 BAKER ENTERPRISES,  20 Ferro Dr,  Sewell, NJ  08080  USA
 Email: rbakerpc@delphi.com  -or- RBakerPC (on AOL/Delphi)
 =========================================================
