Motorola and WorldGate Announce Distribution of Ojo™ Video Phone
TREVOSE and HORSHAM, Pa. - Motorola (NYSE: MOT) and WorldGate Communications Inc. (NASDAQ:WGAT) announced an exclusive multi-year agreement for the worldwide development and distribution of the Ojo™ personal video phone. The announcement was made at the NCTA 2004 trade show, where the Ojo product is being demonstrated by Motorola and WorldGate.
Under the terms of the agreement, Motorola will market the Ojo personal video phone as part of its "connected home" portfolio of consumer broadband solutions. Motorola will distribute Ojo worldwide through broadband service providers, retailers and distributors of telecommunications products. The Motorola Ojo personal video phone is expected to be available to consumers and businesses in the fall of this year. Additionally, Motorola and WorldGate will jointly develop future broadband video telephony solutions. The agreement includes a prepayment by Motorola against future product purchases. The Ojo™ personal video phone leverages an enhanced version of the H.264 digital compression standard and high fidelity full duplex speakerphone technology. The 30 frames per second video can be efficiently transmitted at data rates as low as 110 Kbps ensuring that existing broadband infrastructures can handle high volumes of video phone traffic with no need for additional network equipment. The technology is based on interoperable standards, including DOCSIS, SIP and PacketCable. These standards enable video calls to be easily transmitted to other video phones as well as other devices that can be used for video communications. Motorola and WorldGate will begin field tests of the technology in Q2 2004.