Oracle Corp’s Network Computer Inc (NCI) subsidiary has won its second major cable customer for its DTV Navigator digital set-top box software platform in the shape of Cable & Wireless Plc. Beginning in the UK at the end of this year, C&W will eventually offer DTV to all of its companies around the world, the most important of which are in the UK, Hong Kong, Australia and the Caribbean region. The deal in the UK will see NCI’s DTV Navigator platform integrated into about five million digital set-top boxes manufactured for C&W by General Instrument Corp. NCI said the full roll-out will happen in the first quarter of next year. The boxes will offer cable subscribers internet services including e- mail, web browser and an electronic programming guide based on NCI’s Enhanced TV platform that uses the television’s vertical blanking interval to send data down to TV screens. NCI will work with C&W to develop the applications, which are based on HTML and JavaScript. It said that things such as home shopping will eventually be included, probably about a year from now. NCI emphasizes that it is getting paid by C&W for its technology, not the other way around. DTV Navigator was licensed last year by Scientific-Atlanta Inc and NetChannel Inc for use in its non-cable TV set-top boxes, manufactured by Thomson Consumer Electronics’ RCA unit. The DTV Navigator technology is the combination of NCI’s network computer software adapted for set-top boxes and the browser technology developed by Navio, formerly a subsidiary of Netscape Communications Corp that it sold to Oracle in May last year.
