NAVIO=92S MISSION
Just as Netscape Communications Corporation has
innovated Internet technologies
to transform the way that people with computers work,
Navio Communications, Inc.
is innovating Internet technology to transform the way
people without computers live.
Navio Communications, Inc., an affiliate of Netscape
Communications Corporation
is focused on providing Internet technology to change
people=92s lives. Consumer and
non-PC products with Navio software create an enriched
personal world for people
through the power of the Internet.=20
"This year, [information appliances] containing chips
are just beginning to
appear commercially. Their implications go far beyond
merely automating
homes=97They could reshape our industrial society."=20
--Art Kleiner, Wired writer and author of The Fifth
Discipline Fieldbook and The
Age of Heretics.=20
THE INTERNET
The Internet today provides unprecedented worldwide
access to information,
people, services and entertainment. The breadth of
information available includes
everything from telephone directories and research to
entertainment, publications and
businesses. The forms of information include print,
audio, video and multimedia.=20
=20
As large as the Internet seems today with 50 million
people connected, it is tiny
compared with what is to come. The size of the Internet
doubles every 10 months.
By conservative estimates, one billion people will be
connected to the Internet by the
year 2000. This growth means that the way we learn,
communicate, shop and relax,
will be transformed irrevocably.=20
=20
"The Internet will reach 1 billion people by the year
2000" -- Nicholas
Negroponte
CONSUMERS & CONSUMER DEVICES
How will the Internet reach one billion people?
Certainly not by depending strictly
upon computer users, but by reaching beyond PCs to
non-computer
users=97consumers. To reach consumers, the Internet=
must
be delivered to consumers
on devices with interfaces with which consumers are
comfortable.=20
Consumer devices, unlike personal computers, are
specialized for a purpose,
inexpensive and easy-to-use. Some have speculated that
the solution to this disparity
is a new kind of hybrid device=97an inexpensive network
computer or information
appliance=97to bridge the gap between computers and
consumer products. While
these devices will most likely be an important addition
to home electronics, the
creation of this new category of product and its
acceptance by consumers will likely
be too slow to meet the needs and the growth of the
Internet. These devices are only
one part of the answer.=20
=20
Clearly, we must put today=92s consumer devices on the
Internet=97televisions,
telephones, stereos and cars=97all of which already
include most of the components
necessary to support the Internet: particularly CPUs
and memory. And the Internet=92s
presentation to consumers must be both appropriate and
compelling. Consumers
must be able easily to access information important to
them in a manner which suits
their lifestyles=97without necessarily being tied down=
to
a computer.=20
"Today=92s new sophisticated car contains up to 500
computer chips"=20
--Motorola=20
WILL CONSUMERS SURF THE INTERNET?
Pundits are already asking "Will consumers =91surf=92=
the
Internet?" The answer is:
probably not=97unless consumers need to. Today=92s=
browsers
were developed to
solve the problems of people in universities and
businesses who need to access
global and organization-wide information on Internets
and Intranets using today=92s
personal computers.=20
THE INTERNET & CONSUMER PRODUCTS=97WHAT YOU WANT, WHEN
YOU WANT IT
How many times have you switched off the TV because
there is "nothing good" on?
How many times have you gotten lost because you didn=92=
t
have a map? How many
times have you "lost" a phone number because someone
has moved?=20
Imagine a world in which the information you want is
available when you want it.
Instead of settling for cursory coverage of a news item
on television, what if you
could press a button on your TV=92s remote control to
view to an in-depth article on
the topic in your favorite newspaper? What if you could
get directions, or the local
traffic and weather conditions from a panel on a
gasoline pump while you are waiting
for your gas tank to fill? What if you could look up
the telephone number of anyone
in the world from a panel on your telephone?=20
These are some of the benefits of connecting the
Internet=97an interactive medium,
populated with independently updated information=97to
some of the most
commonplace devices that we use.=20
42 million people in the U.S. move each year.=20
--U.S. Census Bureau=20
PERSONAL WORLDS
The ultimate promise of putting devices we own on the
Internet is not the expanded
power these devices possess, but the enriched life that
they can bring us. Virtually
every product or service that we use, we personalize in
the process of using it: from
the names in our address books, to the "favorite
channels" on our TVs, to the "fast
dial numbers" on our telephones, to the preset stations
on our stereos, to seat
positions in our cars, to papers that are delivered to
our doorsteps, to the
bookmarks in our Web browsers. In a sense, these
preferences add up to a
reflection of who we are=97a reflection of our personal
views of the world. Ultimately
these preferences are what matter most to us.=20
=20
Today=92s devices work independently, are manually
personalized and have limited
reach. Tomorrow=92s devices that are linked to the
Internet will work in a coordinated
manner, will be automatically personalized and will
have a global reach. By putting
our products on the Internet, each person=92s=
preferences
become coordinated and
accessible to devices and services to define an
individual=92s "personal world". Navio=92s
Internet software platform helps to connect and
coordinate all aspects of information,
services, entertainment, and communication so that each
individual can create and
interact with his own personalized world though
specialized consumer products.=20
=20
This means that a businessman can hear stock quotes on
his car radio, track his
investments on his computer at work, and be alerted to
late breaking economic news
when he turns on his television at home. This means a
family can be alerted via their
television to a new restaurant in their neighborhood,
press a button on their telephone
to make reservations, and use their PDA to get
directions on their way to the
restaurant.=20
Because each individual=92s "personal world" follows=
him
or her from one device to the
next, the way that we use our devices will change and,
ultimately, the quality of life
they bring us will be enriched.=20
"The world=92s mine oyster"=20
--Shakespeare, Hamlet, II, ii=20
HOW IS NAVIO IMPLEMENTING THIS VISION?
Navio is implementing an Internet platform of client
and server software based on
Netscape Navigator=AA technology. Navio has enhanced
existing Navigator technology
to make it appropriate for consumers and consumer
products. These enhancements
include providing consumer-oriented Internet software
that:=20
Runs on consumer and non-PC devices;=20
Is scaleable and runs in low memory=
configurations;=20
Includes TV-centric and communications-centric
browsers;=20
Supports all Netscape and Internet standards; and=
=20
Is extensible via plug-ins=20
Navio is currently licensing this technology on an OEM
basis to consumer and
non-PC device manufacturers and service providers for
their next generation of
products.=20
Runs on consumer devices
Navio has taken Navigator technology and implemented a
portable version of it that
can run on devices that have embedded, real-time
operating systems, or no operating
system at all. The Navio platform is hardware-neutral
and includes a porting interface
to allow licensees to port the technology to their
systems.=20
Is scaleable and runs in low-memory configurations
Navio=92s technology is modular and dynamically=
loadable
allowing systems with low
memory configurations to access the features of
Navigator including: HTTP, HTML,
POP3, JavaScript, etc.=20
Includes TV- and Communications-centric browsers
Navio includes browsers optimized for the abilities
(and limitations) of TV=92s operated
by remote controls and LCD telephones that may have
only five lines of text. These
browsers reformat today=92s Web content, allowing users
to interact using input
devices other than keyboard and mouse.=20
Supports Netscape and Internet standards
Navio=92s technology is a platform based on Netscape
technology and open standards.
These standards ensure that content developed for tens
of millions of computer
screens today can be viewed on hundreds of millions of
non-PC devices tomorrow.=20
Is extensible via plug-ins
To enhance content beyond the standard Navio system,
developers can create
plug-ins to support new MIME types and capabilities.=20
A MATTER OF TIME
Yet as the innovator in consumer and non-PC Internet
solutions, Navio is licensing its
software technology to the world=92s largest
manufacturers of consumer electronics
products, including home electronics systems, game
systems, network appliances and
telephones. Soon these partnerships will produce
consumer and non-PC devices
capable of enlarging the worlds of the people who own
them. In much the same way
that electricity has helped weave the fabric of our
daily lives today, these new
products will deliver the personal worlds destined to
define the lifestyle of the next
century.=20
Copyright 1996, Navio Communications, Inc. All Rights
Reserved.=20
Navio is a trademark of Navio Communications, Inc.
Netscape and Netscape Communications are registered
trademarks, and Navigator is a trademark, of Netscape
Communications Corporation.=20
--** History 101** Hiroshima 45 - Chernobyl 86 - Windows 95 -=3D-=3D-=3D-=3D-=3D-=3D-=3D-=3D-=3D-=3D-=3D-=3D-=3D-=3D-=3D-=3D-=3D-=3D-=3D= -=3D-=3D-=3D-=3D-=3D-=3D-=3D-=3D- "The only problem with Microsoft is they just have no taste, they have absolutely no taste, and what that means is, I don't mean that in a small way I mean that in a big way.=20 ...I have a problem with the fact that they just make=20 really third rate products."
Steve Jobs, Triumph of the Nerds, PBS Documentary -=3D-=3D-=3D-=3D-=3D-=3D-=3D-=3D-=3D-=3D-=3D-=3D-=3D-=3D-=3D-=3D-=3D-=3D-= =3D-=3D-=3D- tbyars@earthlink.net -=3D-=3D-=3D-=3D-=3D-=3D-=3D-=3D- =20