Ikonic Interactive Inc and Interactive Digital Solutions Inc plan to simplify the construction of interactive content with a suite of hardware and software applications for content providers. Ikonic and Interactive Digital Solutions, the joint venture of AT&T Network Systems and Silicon Graphics Inc, will co-operate in marketing Ikonic’s complete line of interactive television software, Ikonic MAUI, IkonicTV, Ikonic Remote, and US Ikonic Propagation Manager. The two have been working to convert IkonicTV and Ikonic Remote to run under the UnityOS television set-top operating system developed by Silicon Graphics and Interactive Digital Systems. Content providers do not have the time to develop interfaces and software to make their material interactive. Instead, they want to pour content into a ready-to-go standard software backed by a company that has the expertise to guide them in the interactive arena, says Robert May, Ikonic’s chairman. The goal is to build a service offering hardware, software, user interface, content development, support and maintenance. In addition to standard software, Ikonic will customise its products to meet individual customer needs and help customers convert traditional, non-interactive content into interactive programming. Ikonic MAUI is an interactive on-screen navigator designed to organise and present choices available to the consumer. IkonicTV is an object-oriented applicat ion which delivers real- time MPEG- compressed data. Ikonic Remote enables con tent providers to update their content, such as news services, and replace or rearrange graphical screen elements on Ikonic TV.
