AOL and D-Link partner on home entertainment
- — 08 January, 2004 07:55
A new partnership between Internet service provider America Online Inc. (AOL) and network hardware vendor D-Link Systems Inc. will bring AOL content, including digital radio and photographs, to home entertainment centers.
The companies are collaborating on a new line of wireless media players that will allow consumers with broadband Internet connections to listen to AOL's Radio@AOL using a TV or home stereo system and are working on technology that will permit consumers to view photos stored on AOL's digital picture service called "You've Got Pictures" on their television sets, according to a joint statement Wednesday.
The announcement was made at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, which runs from Thursday through Sunday. D-Link will display the new D-Link Wireless Network Players using AOL content at the show, the companies said.
Those new players take digital content from a broadband Internet connection and transmit it across the home to entertainment centers, where the media is played or displayed. Customers can interact with the Wireless Network Players and choose various AOL services through a television-based user interface and D-Link remote control. Wireless Network Players also come outfitted with optional DVD players or 5-in-1 flash card readers, the companies said.
XML (Extensible Markup Language) and SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol) will enable the AOL content to be shared with the D-Link Player and consumer devices. An authentication scheme based on specifications developed by the Liberty Alliance, an industry consortium developing open standards for federated network identity, will be used to secure the AOL content as it is transmitted, the companies said.
The news is just the latest in a string of announcements by major technology vendors and media companies to extend Internet content into the living room.
Intel Corp. said Tuesday that it would invest US$200 million in companies developing new types of hardware, software and networking products that will make it easier for individuals to use digital content at home. Other major technology vendors, including Microsoft Corp. and Dell Inc. are also expected to display new consumer products at the CES show.
