Be
Unveils BeIA In Affiliation
=@MACARLO MICROSOFT= =@MACARLO YAHOO= =@MACARLO WEBALIAS= =@MACARLO ALTAVISTA=
|
BeIA Delivers Superior Performance and Flexibility for Next-Generation Post-PC Lifestyle Devices.
Demo 2000 Conference, Indian Wells, Calif. - February 7, 2000 - Be Incorporated (Nasdaq: BEOS) today formally announced BeIA™, previously known by the code name Stinger, its software platform for appliances that deliver information and entertainment over the Internet. At the basis of these devices is the need for a simple, intuitive means of accessing the Internet without the cost, complexity and hassles often associated with personal computers. Characterized by exceptional media handling, unfaltering stability, and broad application flexibility, devices based on the BeIA platform will deliver the richest possible web experience to consumers at a low cost and with the ease of use typical of popular consumer electronics appliances.
BeIA: Software
Platform for the Post-PC Era
BeIA is a device-independent
software platform for post-PC era Internet appliances focused on the personalization
of multimedia and information-rich products that enhance a user's lifestyle.
The design flexibility of BeIA allows Internet appliances to be configured as
information devices such as personal online portals or financial management
monitors. The adaptive configuration of BeIA also extends into entertainment
devices such as movie or music download and playback systems.
"Today, consumers predominantly use general-purpose PCs to access the Internet, send and receive e-mail and conduct e-commerce transactions, but this is changing rapidly. While PCs have become an accepted tool for both work and play, for many people PCs are still viewed as complex, intimidating and unstable. They lack the 'instant on' gratification and media handling capabilities consumers have grown to expect from their home appliances such as televisions and other audio and stereo equipment," said Jean-Louis Gassée, chairman and chief executive officer of Be. "To truly make computing technology pervasive in the home, a new model for lifestyle devices is required. Our new BeIA platform is a foundation for that model." "The utility and pervasiveness of the Internet has created a need for a variety of targeted, affordable and easy-to-use devices other than the PC," said IDC consumer device analyst Bryan Ma. "IDC believes that Information Appliances (IAs) will address the needs of not only the technophobe, but also the PC user who will use IAs in an adjunct role in a number of different usage scenarios." A just-finished IDC report forecasts the worldwide information appliance market to grow from 11 million units and $2.4 billion in 1999 to a market of 89 million units and $17.8 billion in 2004.
Support from Technology
Leaders
Be has already announced
partnerships in support of the BeIA platform with leading hardware and system
manufacturers including Compaq, National Semiconductor, Qubit and leading motherboard
manufacturer First International Computer (FIC) of Taiwan. Additionally, Be
has developed relationships with technology partners to provide the most complete,
robust and media-rich experience, including Opera Software and RealNetworks.
Internet Appliances
- The Requirements for Success
The Internet appliance is
a new paradigm in computing without a required or established cartel of hardware
reference designs or chip sets. The openness and flexibility of this new computing
model more closely resembles the "consumer electronics" market than
the "computing electronics" market, with a broader set of players
and consumer choices. To be a player in the Internet appliance space, vendors
need to deliver the user experience of high-quality, advanced technology with
the operational simplicity of basic consumer electronics. BeIA delivers these
characteristics for both consumers and appliance vendors:
Ultra stable environment
with minimal boot times
BeIA delivers instant-on
and fail-safe reliability that consumers have grown to expect from consumer
technology devices such as television and cell phones.
Small footprint
with highly scalable, modular environment
BeIA's small footprint allows
vendors to take advantage of this powerful platform with popular mobile and
personal Internet appliances. Vendors can leverage their design investments
with BeIA across multiple devices and multiple architectures. As a complete
platform, featuring the Opera browser, RealPlayer and a comprehensive set of
media services, BeIA consumes less than eight megabytes of persistent storage.
Media savvy
Internet appliance content
is inherently media-rich and highly interactive in nature, both of which are
core attributes of BeIA's architecture.
Branded Internet access BeIA enables channel branding similar to what cable television has done with popular news programming such as CNN. Service providers can brand an Internet appliance as a transparent extension of their website or portal to increase customer traffic and brand affinity by using the Internet to deliver their own Internet channel.
Rich set of de
facto standards
Internet appliances need
to be standards-rich to protect consumer hardware investments as well as reducing
developer's implementation cost and speeding time-to-market.
Devices Designed
for Form and Function
Unlike PCs, which offer a
generic set of features for virtually every application, lifestyle devices will
more commonly serve as single function devices that excel in a specific area
of focus. Therefore, an entertainment device will have a different look and
feel and set of functions than a device from a financial services company that
is designed to support online investing. To exploit the capabilities and form
factor of the device, BeIA offers a powerful and configurable interface and
the ability to offer custom application services, regardless of the chipset,
motherboard or hardware OEM.
Architected for
Performance and Portability
BeIA is a robust, multi-layered
architecture designed to offer application developers maximum design flexibility
and to minimize the porting effort for hardware manufacturers to deliver a full-featured
lifestyle experience. At the foundation of BeIA are a core set of system functions,
leveraged from BeOS, which talk directly to the individual hardware designs.
These functions perform tasks such as low-level I/O, memory and media management.
Coupled with these core functions is a rich API development layer allowing ultimate
control over look and feel. As customization of Internet appliances is key to
their popularity, Be offers a developer design kit that requires no more programming
experience than HTML yet allows full control over look and feel, buttons, logos
and other elements of product branding.
Layered above the core functions are an integrated Internet browser and a Java virtual machine, respectively. These applications can easily and efficiently interface with the Internet appliance through HTML, Java and JavaScript. The user interface is fully configurable at these levels and offers transparent access to the Internet.
At the heart of most Internet appliances is the reliance on audio and video multimedia. The next level of the BeIA platform focuses on streaming media services. Working in concert with the core system functions, these media services handle conversion, buffering, special I/O and presentation. This level also supports downloadable codecs to take advantage of the latest multimedia technology standards.
At the highest level of the BeIA architecture lie application services and integration services. The application services capitalize on either client-side or host-side services to complement the tailored offering of the Internet appliance. These services can include, among other things, e-mail support, file viewing and a personal information manager. By offering these services, BeIA frees the vendor from developing applications outside their area of expertise and help expedite time to market. The integration services allow all of the product's capabilities to appear unified and work in concert. The services also enable updates and upgrades as well as information synchronization.
Support for Industry Standards Building on its heritage as a desktop operating system with rich multimedia capabilities, BeIA supports a wide range of industry standards, offering OEMs the opportunity to take advantage of PC technology and allowing application developers to tap into an existing set of multimedia resources. Devices can be configured with the following standards: Web
Languages
Availability
Be expects to make BeIA available
to device manufacturers later in Q1 2000. Commercial products based on the BeIA
platform are expected to begin shipping in Q2 2000.
About Be Incorporated Founded in 1990, Be Incorporated creates software platforms that enable rich media and web experiences on Internet appliances and personal computers. Be's headquarters are in Menlo Park, California, with offices in Paris and Tokyo. It is publicly traded on the Nasdaq National Market under the symbol BEOS.
CONTACT AUTHOR
Be Incorporated
For more
information, contact:
A&R Partners for Be, Incorporated
Lisa Auslen, 650/762-2805
lauslen@arpartners.com
In Europe:
Be Incorporated
Marie-Francoise Lelong-Weinberg, +33 (0)1 55 91 77 36
mflelong@beeurope.com
|
|
|
@Macarlo, Inc.
@Macarlo's Shareware & Web
OS/2
Java Lobby Member
Java Site Accredited
