Although last year was a barren one as far as set top box sales were concerned, Cambridge, UK-based Acorn Computer Group Plc is having a second go with a new box, purpose-built for interactive television. The STB22 set top, developed by the company’s Online Media unit, is intended for interactive video and audio, online banking and shopping services, web-browsing, games, education services and multicasting, and will be sold into commecial, educational and domestic markets, says the company. The ST22 is currently on trial in the US, Europe and Asia, and was demonstrated in conjunction with Sun Microsystems Inc last week at CebiT. Sun is licencing STB22 as a client for its MediaCenter corporate video servers (CI No 2,769). The company is also negotiating with prospective corporate clients who are interested in converting existing video archives for digitised implementation over their networks, and with vertical market firms in retailing and hotels and universities. The box is commercially available now and its associated technology is ready for licensing, but pricing has not been disclosed.
