NUON* to Define Convergence of Video and Interactivity in
Tomorrow’s Home Entertainment Center

Los Altos, CA — VM Labs today unveiled the long-awaited official name
and logo for its interactive digital video entertainment standard, until
now code-named “Project X.” The new moniker, NUON*, represents a
powerful and flexible technology that will transform digital video
products such as DVD players, digital satellite receivers and digital
set-top boxes into versatile interactive multimedia centers allowing
consumers to enjoy games, interactive software and other flexible
applications all on the same platform.

“The name NUON reflects the wide-reaching power of a technology capable
of introducing millions of consumers to interactive entertainment
through their television sets” said Richard Miller, CEO of VM Labs.

Like a proud parent, VM Labs has taken a great deal of time and care to
select the name NUON. As the company labored to come up with an
appropriate name for their cutting edge technology, many word
combinations were tested, including those relating to media processing,
video games, unparalleled speed and graphics, enriched audio and digital
content. Ultimately it was decided that no pre-existing word or
combination of words could do justice to the technology, therefore an
entirely new word was required. VM Labs enlisted the help of Lexicon, a
world renowned branding firm which developed such well known names as
Pentium®, Powerbook® and Deskjet®, to create a name that would become
synonymous with the advanced technology. Focus groups found an
immediate affinity to NUON, suggesting that the name reflected something
entirely new, powerful and futuristic.

The important task of developing a logo to complement such a dynamic
name was assigned to The Beeline Group in Newark, California, renowned
for their work with Hewlett® Packard, NIKE* and top companies in the
videogame industry. The logo was conceived from an early demonstration
of the technology’s power and capabilities. A sample of real-time
raytracing showed a wavy body of water which would reflect the image and
light source from a series of spheres. The logo became a fusion of
these strong graphic elements, which also abstractly represents the name
NUON.

“Consumers will come to recognize and look for the NUON logo on home
electronics hardware and software as an assurance they are getting the
advanced level of interactivity and digital video convergence only NUON
will provide,” explains Greg LaBrec, Vice President of Marketing for VM
Labs. “The logo will appear as an icon on the front of enhanced
hardware, as well as on packaging, software, and traditional advertising
media.”

The NUON technology will add unprecedented programmable processing power
to digital consumer electronics devices, providing an advanced
interactive software platform for the living room. In addition to
unsurpassed interactivity, the architecture provides the raw horsepower
to decode digital video and audio, while delivering advanced trick modes
and an enhanced user interface. This highly parallel and scaleable
processor is capable of executing in excess of 1.5 billion instructions
per second. The first products are expected to be available in 1999.