itvt

–Unveils New Implementation of OnRamp to OCAP
–Forms Advergaming Partnership with Skyworks
–Demo’s Patent-Pending "Zidget Framework"

Zodiac Interactive, a US developer of interactive TV applications, games and middleware (note: the company was formerly called Zodiac Gaming; for more on the reasons behind the name change, see [itvt] Issue 7.16 Part 1), has launched a Java middleware solution, called PowerRamp, which is targeted at legacy Scientific-Atlanta set-top boxes that cannot support a full OCAP environment, and which the company claims is the "most advanced, generally available implementation" of OnRamp to OCAP (note: OnRamp to OCAP is a Java-based API standard designed to allow the development of ITV applications capable of running both on advanced, OCAP-enabled set- top boxes, and on the low-end set-top boxes that have been widely deployed by US cable operators). According to the company, PowerRamp, which is based on the JSR 242 specification and optimized Sun Microsystems CLDC-HI JVM, allows relatively rich Java client applications to run on set-tops with limited memory and processing power, and is designed to provide forward-compatibility and portability to future OCAP-enabled set-tops. "We’re thrilled to offer PowerRamp to cable operators as a legacy box migration path to Java- based platforms such as OCAP," Zodiac co-founder and CEO, Mike Rivkin, said in a prepared statement. "PowerRamp is not intended to replace OCAP, which all major MSO’s are actively pursuing. Instead, it’s a way to bridge the gap for millions of legacy boxes still in the field and future low-powered boxes that are unable to deliver the most compelling ITV applications and services. The deployment of ITV in the North American cable market has been hampered by the lack of common, industry-wide middleware. OCAP is clearly the future for advanced set-tops as well as two-way, plug-and-play CE devices. However, the industry needs some way of enabling the widespread deployment of ITV applications before the deployment of OCAP set-tops hits critical mass. PowerRamp is the clear solution to this problem. Zodiac, throughout its history, has enhanced the performance of applications on the set-top box. Starting with games, Zodiac has pushed the limits of the set-top, developing powerful components that greatly enhance the performance of applications on legacy boxes. With PowerRamp, now all legacy Scientific-Atlanta set-top boxes can have advanced interactive capabilities, allowing the ITV industry to flourish."

Zodiac claims that PowerRamp has a footprint of under 2MB, and can enhance set-top box performance by more than three times "over generally available set-top box implementations of Java." Its components include:

• Power Nucleus, an embedded software stack that Zodiac says integrates into middleware and improves the performance of set-top applications. According to the company, it intelligently manages memory and directs requests to hardware-optimized modules for graphics, sound and file management.
• OCAP extensions to the JSR 242 specification.
• An optimized JVM based on the Sun Microsystems CLDC-HI 1.1 release.

In other Zodiac Interactive news:

• The company has entered a partnership agreement with Skyworks Technologies, a developer of advertising-supported video games (note: the latter claims that over 40 million brand-sponsored games are downloaded every month from its clients’ Web sites, and that over a billion of its advergames have been downloaded to date), that calls for them to collaborate on the design, development and deployment of dual-platform advergames for distribution on set-top boxes and the Internet. The partners claim that their advergames will debut on over 13 million digital set-tops this year, giving rise to the largest ad-supported interactive TV games network in the world. According to Zodiac and Skyworks, their advergames will be custom-designed around specific products, with product placements integrated into their storylines or appearing during natural pauses in gameplay. The games will also deliver sponsorship messages via pre-roll as they load. In addition, the companies say, actions within a game may trigger further activities: for example, inquiring about a pizza in a pizza-branded game might trigger an email to the player containing a coupon that can be exchanged for a pizza. According to the companies, the games they are working on may also incorporate store locators and embedded commerce and click-to-call opportunities, and may direct players to stores for contests or prize drawings.  
• At the NCTA Cable Show earlier this month (where it also demo’d its new PowerRamp middleware and various advergames), the company demo’d its patent-pending interactive TV "widget" framework, which it calls the Zidget Framework. According to the company, the Zidget Framework enables rapid integration of Web and other services into a sidebar that complements the TV experience without interrupting it. These sidebar applications, which Zodiac dubs "Zidgets," run directly on the set-top, requiring little processing power, the company says: in order to access them, the viewer clicks a button on the remote to pull up a menu that could contain such apps as news feeds, games, sports scores, auction alerts, traffic and weather apps and tcommerce services. Zidgets on display at the Cable Show included: 1) TVwatchME, a VOD-driven app that allows viewers to scroll dozens of videos without the need for buffering or session set-up on each video. Zodiac touts the app as responding to the rise of micro-networks and short-form user-generated content by giving "a ‘faster than channel change’ frontend experience to the next generation of VOD" and as "open[ing] the floodgates of Internet video on cable." 2) TVLocalSearch, an app that allows viewers to find and call local businesses from their TV, using a standard remote and without interrupting viewing. Zodiac’s demo of the app included a restaurant-search sub-application that allows viewers to pull up a sidebar menu and find a local restaurant. According to Zodiac, while TVLocalSearch would be offered free to consumers, businesses would bid for the top position in the search query listing (similar to Google’s pay-per-click model). The company says that the Zidget Framework makes it easy to display additional information–including reviews, store hours and menus–from a simple data feed. The Cable Show demo of TVLocalSearch was powered by Yahoo! Local Search, though Zodiac claims that any local listing service can be connected to it. 3) TVPhoto, an app that lets viewers access photos from sharing sites, such as Flickr (the site used for the Cable Show demo), set up full-screen slideshows of favorite photos, and navigate through and select photos based on tags, categories or keywords. 4) TVcallME, an app that allows TVLocalSearch users to connect to local businesses via VoIP. According to Zodiac, the app works with any telephony provider, requires no additional equipment to deploy, and can be used to earn transactional fees on calls. The company says it can also be used to send content, such as games, to mobile phones. 5) An array of casual games.

Originally Published: May 30, 2007 in [itvt] Issue 7.32 Part 2

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