Opera for iTV out of the box in Japan

Opera on Japanese Plat’C2 Broadband Terminal Box (BT Box)

Oslo, Norway, Tokyo, Japan – March 26, 2003

Plat’C2 Inc. today announced that the new Plat’C2 Broadband Terminal Box (BT Box) will include Opera for iTV, where allapplications and menus are presented with the use of HTML, Java, and CSSin Opera’s presentation engine. Today’s announcement represents Opera’s first entry into the IPTV market in Japan.

According to Strategy Analytics, Asia leads the way in IPTV deployments.Currently, as many as 33 carriers are deploying IPTV worldwide, and in 2008 it is estimatedthat more than 20 million homes will be subscribing to IPTV services.

“Japan has come very far when it comes to developing iTV services and applications, but until now we have not had a browser to match,” says John Tsukahara. CEO, Plat’C2 Inc. “Opera provides an excellentbrowser and presentation engine that is simple and cost-effective to implement. With Opera, users can enjoy a wide range of HTML news and services with the use of a simple numeric keypad.”

Thanks to Opera’s spatial navigation, users simply click the up and down arrows on their keypad to move between links in Web pages or between menu items, making the use of a keyboard unnecessary. The numeric keypad can be used to type e-mails, fill out forms, or enjoy the many TV applications that require easy text input.

“By utilizing Opera’s HTML presentation engine, middleware costs can be cut down to half compared to traditional broadcast boxes,” says Jon S. von Tetzchner, CEO, Opera Software ASA.”This coupled with advanced set-top box design gives Plat’C2 a competitive edge in penetrating the growing IPTVmarket in Asia.”

The Plat’C2 Broadband Terminal Box with Opera for iTV supports industry and Web standards such as: HTML 4.1, CSS 1 2, DOM 1 2, JavaScript 1.5, HTTP 1.1, HTTPS,SSL 3.0, TLS 1.0 and features such as font size adjustment, spatial navigation, JavaScript API to native code, and Unicode. The terminal also includes Macromedia Flash 5 player.

Read more about Opera for iTV

About Plat’C2

Plat Communication Components Incorporated (Plat’C2,Inc.) was formed on April 1st 2002 as a 100% subsidiary of Plat’Home Co., Ltd.. Inheriting the multi-platform development skills, manufacturing techniques and networking talent cultivated by Plat’Home Co., Ltd., Plat’C2 was created with the objective to plan, develop and manufacture products that meet the needs of broadband users in the coming ubiquitous network.