Lindon, UT — (press release excerpt) — Lineo, Inc. today announced it has obtained a signed letter of intent to acquire Convergence Integrated Media. Convergence is a leading developer of operating systems and software for digital communications products, such as personal video recorders (PVR) and digital versatile disk (DVD) devices. With this acquisition, Lineo is establishing a position as a leading provider of Linux-based development tools for digital television (DTV) products. Terms of the deal are not being disclosed.

This merger will provide a comprehensive DTV development and deployment resource for embedded designers who provide interactive end products for the home and for digital media content. Lineo and Convergence will provide a vertical solution of tools and applications for the developer that includes operating system ports, drivers, consumer applications, development kits and training.

The digital media operating system components provided by the Lineo/Convergence merger will be open source while allowing proprietary applications to run on the DTV solution without compromising intellectual property. OEMs will use these combined solutions in multimedia enabled digital devices including televisions, set-top and cable boxes and high-speed home internet access devices.

Convergence Integrated Media is an innovator of DTV and digital video broadcast (DVB) technology in the European market. Lineo's worldwide sales channels, strategic partnerships and advanced Linux-based embedded system technologies will extend the reach of DTV and DVB technology around the world while promoting established and innovative digital media standards.

According to Allied Business Intelligence, a worldwide conversion from traditional analog broadcasts to digitally-encoded transmissions is powering the digital set-top box market to become a $21 billion market by 2005. The global installed base of digital set-top boxes will increase from 44 million in 1999 to 339 million boxes by 2005. The key catalyst for growth will be the use of digital set-top boxes by both satellite and
cable operators.

 
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