sunflash-Distributed to mailing list sun/NC/north-carolina sunflash-Send requests, problems to owner-sunflash@suntri.east.sun.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Florida SunFlash Sun Announces Recipient of IS Visionary Award SunFLASH Vol 58 #27 October 1993 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 58.27 Sun Announces Recipient of IS Visionary Award Development of an innovative SPARC-based Pay-Per-View/Video-On- Demand (PPV/VOD) system that will "instantly" provide households with top-rated box office movies by simply dialing an 800 number earns executive Sun's Visionary Award. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The following announcement was made today, October 25, 1993, by SMCC. If you have questions regarding this announcement, please contact Cindee Mock of SMCC Public Relations at (415) 336-3563 or Louise Cleary (813) 572-8585 ext. 7420 Home Shopping Network, Inc. HOME SHOPPING NETWORK HONORED WITH VISIONARY AWARD FROM SUN Uses Sun Technology For Pay-Per-View/Video-On-Demand System MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. -- October 25, 1993 -- Home Shopping Network, Inc., (HSN) executive Scott Cooper has overseen the development of an innovative SPARC(R)-based Pay-Per-View/Video-On- Demand (PPV/VOD) system that will "instantly" provide households with top-rated box office movies by simply dialing an 800 number. Cooper plans to grow Home Shopping Network's existing $1.2 billion television retailing business by using its technology infrastructure to expand into new services and increase revenues. In recognition of this vision, Cooper has been awarded the second annual "Information Systems Visionary of the Year" award, bestowed by Sun Microsystems Computer Corporation (SMCC). According to Cooper, senior vice president of technical services at HSN, the new system will use the company's technology infrastructure developed over the last 10 years to reach a new range of customers. A unique billing system will allow HSN to gather intelligent, real-time information on each household for merchandising opportunities and will also be able to generate a separate, transactionally based entertainment bill for each household. Traditionally, it has been difficult to track and bill pay-per-view events and gather intelligent information on household viewers. The PPV transaction processing system consists of powerful SPARC-based computers from SMCC, chosen for their flexibility and industry-standard platform. Sun's leadership in ATM (asynchronous transfer mode) technology will provide a smooth path for Home Shopping Network to the ATM environment. According to Cooper, "Transactional services are the cable industry's future. While we're best known for our retailing services, the 'art' is really in the transaction, which is where the revenue growth opportunity lies." SMCC created its information systems visionary award to honor technology professionals like Cooper, who are leading the industry in the use of technology to gain competitive advantage. The company solicited nominations from its worldwide sales force before selecting Cooper. A $10,000 donation will be made by SMCC in Cooper's name to the Computer Science program at Earlham College (Richmond, Ind.), Cooper's alma mater. "It takes an innovative thinker to spot a new business opportunity that can be so well-leveraged through technology," said Bill Raduchel, chief information officer and vice president of corporate planning and development, Sun Microsystems, Inc. "Scott Cooper personifies what this award is all about." Home Shopping Network is a nationwide video retailer for cable and broadcast television. Headquartered in St. Petersburg, Fla., Home Shopping Network pioneered the concept of video retailing in 1982 and went national in 1985. Scott Cooper has been with HSN since 1987 and was previously an engineering manager at Midwest Communications, a broadcast engineering company. He attended Earlham College in Richmond, Ind. Sun Microsystems Computer Corporation (SMCC), the world's leading supplier of open client-server computing solutions, is an operating company of Sun Microsystems, Inc. Sun is the exclusive computer supplier to World Cup Soccer 1994. SMCC has its headquarters in Mountain View, Calif. ### Sun, the Sun logo, and Sun Microsystems are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. All SPARC trademarks, including the SCD Compliant logo, are trademarks or registered trademarks of SPARC International, Inc. Products bearing SPARC trademarks are based on an architecture developed by Sun Microsystems, Inc. All other product or service names mentioned herein are trademarks of their respective owners. ********************************************************************** For information about SunFlash send mail to info-sunflash@Sun.COM. Subscription requests should be sent to sunflash-request@Sun.COM. Archives are on draco.nova.edu, ftp.uu.net, sunsite.unc.edu, src.doc.ic.ac.uk and ftp.adelaide.edu.au All prices, availability, and other statements relating to Sun or third party products are valid in the U.S. only. Please contact your local Sales Representative for details of pricing and product availability in your region. Descriptions of, or references to products or publications within SunFlash does not imply an endorsement of that product or publication by Sun Microsystems. Send brief articles (e.g. third party announcements) and include contact information (non-800#, fax #, email, etc) to: John McLaughlin, SunFlash editor, flash@Sun.COM. +1 305 351 4909