LAS VEGAS, Jan.7, 2004 - Intel Corporation today announced plans to invest $200 million in companies developing innovative hardware and software technologies for the digital home. The Intel Digital Home Fund represents a significant step in the company's strategy to enable people to enjoy digital content - including music, photos and video - on multiple devices in the home and beyond. The new fund, which will be managed by Intel Capital, will invest in companies developing hardware and software, as well as connectivity and supporting technologies.
Through this and other work, Intel is leading efforts to drive the convergence of personal computer and consumer electronics devices on a seamless, wireless home network.
"As more entertainment and educational content becomes digital, people want to edit, manage and access that content and share it among multiple devices including TVs, stereos, PCs and handhelds," said Intel Vice President and Intel Capital President John Miner. "The Digital Home Fund is designed to complement Intel products and accelerate development of key technologies and content which enhance and simplify the digital home experience."
Prior to the fund's formation, Intel Capital has invested in companies pursuing the digital home vision. Examples include:
- BridgeCo, which designs low-cost chips for digital media
adapters that link home devices.
- Entropic, which designs chips for home networking over coaxial cabling.
- Musicmatch, which sells software for recording, organizing and playing music.
Today's announcement builds upon Intel's existing programs to deliver core technologies for new computing devices, networking products and consumer electronics used to help people enjoy digital content. The company provides a broad range of building blocks for digital home solutions, including chips, reference designs and software for media center PCs, advanced set-top boxes, digital media adapters, portable media players and handheld devices. Intel also provides a comprehensive set of development and test tools, including those for universal plug and play (UPnP) technologies that enable products from different vendors to work together. The goal of these and other efforts is to enable complete digital solutions that are easy to use.
"More people want the ability to have their content available anytime, anywhere and on any device," said Louis Burns, Intel vice president, general manager, Desktop Platforms Group. "They want to wirelessly transfer MP3 files from a PC in the den so they can listen to them on their stereo in the family room, they want to view digital photos on their big screen TV, or to watch video content on handheld wireless devices. Intel will continue pursuing its vision of unifying computing and consumer electronics functions for the benefit of consumers."
Intel Capital, Intel's strategic investment program, focuses on making equity investments and acquisitions to grow the Internet economy in support of Intel's strategic interests. Intel Capital invests in hardware, software and services companies in several market segments, including computing, networking, and wireless communications. For more information, visit www.intel.com/capital.
Intel is 's werelds grootste chipfabrikant en een vooraanstaand producent van personal computer-, netwerk- en communicatieproducten.
Meer informatie over Intel is te vinden op:
http://www.intel.com/pressroom/.
Voor meer informatie:
Intel Benelux, Kristof Sehmke, Communicatie Manager, telefoon +32 (0)3 450 08 11, e-mail: kristof.sehmke@intel.com, of
Monogram Communication Strategies (MCS) BV, Marieke Leenhouts, telefoon
+31 (0)23 562 82 08, e-mail: mariekel@monogram.nl.