Press Release - Archives 2000

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Markham, Ontario - ATI Technologies Inc. (TSE: ATY, NASDAQ: ATYT) today unveiled its set-top box Technology Access Program (TAP), which is designed to enable third party software and hardware system integrators with the necessary technology to support ATI's set-top box components.

The initial TAP partners are Metro Link and BSQUARE. Metro Link is a specialist in embedded Linux and VxWorks, while BSQUARE specializes in Windows CE and Microsoft TV.

Authorized TAP partners are afforded access to ATI's proprietary set-top hardware and software technology, reference software drivers, documentation, training and equipment. In return, the TAP partners provide development expertise to consumer electronics manufacturers creating the next generation of advanced digital cable, satellite, terrestrial and xDSL set-top boxes.

Typical assignments that a TAP software integrator would undertake include adapting middleware (Liberate, Microsoft TV, OpenTV, etc.) to the ATI reference drivers, developing drivers for specific broadcast standards (ATSC, DVB, etc.), developing applications and user interfaces, developing drivers for other components in the system, and creating board support packages.

"Every set-top box contains a different combination of CPU, operating system, middleware and front-end, making software development one of the biggest hurdles facing OEMs in their efforts to deploy new consumer devices," said Dan Eiref, Director of Marketing, Convergence Products Group, ATI Technologies Inc. "We've selected the premier software integrators to become experts in ATI's technology and to work with OEMs to help make these deployments occur much faster."

Morgan Von Essen, President and CEO, Metro Link, Inc. said, "We are delighted with ATI's commitment to provide cutting-edge graphics technologies to the digital TV and set top box space and that ATI selected us to be a TAP partner. Metro Link's revolutionary build and development environment enables us to instantly support ATI's SET TOP WONDER HDTV reference design on Linux, embedded Linux, VxWorks, LynxOS, QNX and Embedix, all on multiple hardware architectures like X86, MIPS, PowerPC and StrongArm."

Set-top-Wonder Reference Design
ATI also announced the availability of its SET TOP WONDER™ HDTV reference design to qualified consumer electronics manufacturers and system integrators. SET TOP WONDER is a unique platform that integrates the entire set-top box back-end, including CPU, graphics, HDTV MPEG-2 decode, hard disk, USB, and memory.

The heart of SET TOP WONDER HDTV is ATI's RAGE™ HDTV chip, the highest performing graphics/video component in consumer electronics industry. RAGE HDTV is the only single-chip solution to integrate 2D, 3D, HD MPEG-2 decode, transport demux, a direct high-definition TV interface, and video input and output ports for analog TV. RAGE HDTV is designed to work in all DVB, ATSC, and OpenCable environments and it provides rich true-color (32 bit/pixel) graphics.

The reference design includes set-top box hardware, software, schematics and documentation. Qualified OEMs and integrators will be able to immediately use it as a platform to launch their development efforts. ATI's TAP partners are available to assist with customizing the software on the SET TOP WONDER to meet specific OEM needs.

Contact information and further information about ATI's set-top box products is available on the ATI web site, or through the TAP partners.

ATI at the Western Cable Show
ATI will be demonstrating a number of its set-top technologies at the Western Cable Show, November 29th through December 1st at the Los Angeles Convention Center (booth #3055). The Western Cable Show is a premier event for the cable and broadband industries. Among the demonstrations on display will be the following:

• Decode and display of ATSC HDTV content using RAGE HDTV and Microsoft TV;
• Decode of live satellite DVB broadcasts using SET TOP WONDER HDTV;
• DVD playback under Linux using RAGE HDTV;
• TV ON DEMAND™ (time shifting of analog video) using ALL IN WONDER® Radeon®.

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