Briefs

San Diego, Calif.— Taking a page from interactive-television firms such as PowerTV Inc. and Liberate Technologies Inc., Sony Corp. of America said it would encourage third-party developers to create ITV applications for its digital-cable platform.

Sony said its new Content Developer Program is designed for Web developers, content providers, studios, cable networks and other media companies. Those developers will be encouraged to create applications that merge audio and Web content, including personalized information services, games, television commerce and interactive targeted advertising.

In addition to Sony Pictures Digital Entertainment, other interactive-TV application and service firms that have signed on for Sony's Content Developer Program include Commerce.TV Corp., Intertainer Inc., MetaTV Inc., Qpass Inc., PBS, RespondTV Inc. and RuneCraft Ltd.

Sony's digital-cable set-top made its debut at this year's Consumer Electronics Show. Cablevision Systems Corp. is currently beta-testing that box and plans to deploy it to customers later this year, in concert with its commercial rollout of digital services.

Oyster Bay, N.Y.— High-end bundled services will open an extremely lucrative door for the residential gateway sector as the equipment evolves to share more than high-speed data connections, Allied Business Intelligence said in a new study.

ABI said that trend will fuel the gateway-equipment market, which the firm predicts will grow from last year's sales of $267 million to $7.1 billion by 2006.

Residential gateways tap high-speed connections and share bandwidth and applications with several other devices — such as PCs, televisions, Web pads and personal digital assistants — through wired and wireless links.

ABI said North America, which accounted for about 74 percent of all shipments last year, will drive much of the sector's early growth. It expects the continent's share to drop to 44 percent by 2006, however, as Europe and Asia join the mix.

Gateways also are making waves in the commercial sector. For example, Comcast Business Communications (CBC) last week announced an expanded agreement with broadband-gateway supplier Cayman Systems.

CBS said it will offer Cayman's line of 2E gateways, which feature a dual-Ethernet firewall/router with an integrated 8-port hub, as well as its new 2EH-W11 product, which supports the 802.11b wireless-networking protocol.

West Yorkshire, England—Pace Micro Technology plc last week confirmed that it won a contract to deliver 500,000 digital set-tops to U.K. MSO Telewest.

Financial terms were not disclosed. Pace said it agreed to deliver those third-generation "digital gateways" to the MSO over a 15-month period that started in January of this year.

Redwood City, Calif.–Zoom Telephonics Inc. said its PCI Model 5001 internal cable modem has won Conditional Level 2 Approval from data-over-cable provider Excite@Home Corp.

Last year, the device earned certified status from Cable Television Laboratories Inc. for Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification 1.0. Gaining Level 2 approval ensures that Zoom's equipment can interoperate with Excite@Home's high-speed cable affiliates.