Orb Networks Groundbreaking Streaming Media Solution Now Free to All Consumers

Orb Networks Groundbreaking Streaming Media Solution Now Free to All Consumers

Orb Drops Subscription Service Fee Allowing Consumers Free Mobile Access to Digital Home-Media Content Such as Live TV, Music, Videos, & Photos; Announces New Photo Sharing Service

EMERYVILLE, Calif., March 29 /PRNewswire/ -- Orb Networks, Inc., a developer of streaming media software and services, today announced the company's groundbreaking streaming media software, Orb Media, will now be FREE to all users. Orb's software and service gives consumers the ability to spontaneously access their live TV, music, photos, videos, and other digital content located on their home PC from virtually any Internet-enabled device, from anywhere in the world, and now provides that service without adding any new monthly fees for new and current customers. Additionally, Orb has added a new Photo Sharing service to its solution allowing customers to share all of their selected photos with friends and family at any time.

Orb's mission is to provide consumers with the easiest, most innovative way to access their digital home media files wherever they are. The Orb solution is available to the millions of Windows(R) XP operating system and Windows(R) XP Media Center Edition users in the United States and is now made even more convenient for users to access their digital worlds by providing Orb Media absolutely FREE.

Orb is aggressively forming strategic partnerships with content providers and consumer electronic companies. These partnerships will provide Orb with a sustained commerce stream through co-marketing relationships and transactions for music, video, audio and other services.

"By eliminating subscription fees, Orb eliminates the final barrier between consumers and their digital media," said Jim Behrens, CEO, Orb Networks. "The allure of 'anytime, anywhere' access to one's digital world has proven to be exceptionally compelling to Orb subscribers thus far. In our view, a free Orb service will exponentially increase our value proposition for those customers -- and millions of new customers as well."

The strategic partnerships Orb is forming not only will make this shift possible, but will drastically expand Orb's content offerings over time. As such, Orb continues its evolution into one of the most innovative and consumer-friendly digital media companies ever."

Orb's new Photo Sharing service offers customers a complete digital media portal where they can simply choose any of their favorite photos and send them to one or many of their friends and family for free viewing. The sharing feature is especially inviting for users to extend their digital world for others to see.

"Digital environment technology is a competitive field, and one that is ripe for growth," said Tim Bajarin, Principal Analyst, Creative Strategies. "That said, vendors need to focus not only on the viability and innovation of their technology, but on fostering a consumer-friendly business model, as well. Companies that can master both worlds stand the greatest chance for early customer growth and long-term success."

Orb Media is available to download now at www.orb.com. After downloading the application, customers only need to complete a five-minute installation procedure and they are ready to use any Internet-connected device to view live TV, digital photos, videos or listen to MP3 music files stored on their home PC.

Orb Media Overview

Orb Networks' software and service provides a simple way for consumers to spontaneously access their live TV, music, photos, videos and other digital content located on their home PC from virtually any Internet-enabled device, from anywhere in the world. Orb's intuitive solution simply streams a consumer's own content from their home PC to the Web browser and player on a cell phone, PDA, or notebook, creating their own "personal media portal." Consumers also have the capability to remotely record TV programs using Orb's Digital Video Recorder (DVR) function and then view those recorded programs at any time on any of their mobile devices. Orb Networks leverages the best features of today's popular standards while abiding by current digital rights management (DRM) platforms.

Orb Networks' technology is based upon its elegant, robust and scalable Orb Architecture. A user simply opens a Web browser on any device, logs-in and selects what they want to view or hear from their personal library. Orb takes care of the rest. Orb's technology determines the best format, codec, bit rate, display capabilities, and network bandwidth available for a particular cell phone, PDA or laptop to view or hear the content. The media is streamed securely and directly from the user's home PC to the user's device to provide fast mobile media access.

About Orb Networks, Inc.

Orb Networks is the first developer of streaming media software and services giving people free spontaneous access to digital home media -- any kind, at any time, from any location in the world. The groundbreaking Orb Architecture allows users to access music, live television, videos, photos and other digital content from any device that can connect to the Internet, such as a cell phone, PDA, or notebook. Orb Networks develops, licenses and markets its services in partnership with leading content providers/creators, wireless carriers, electronic distributors and consumer electronic companies. As an active participant in the issues affecting digital media, Orb Networks is a member of the Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA). Orb Networks is a privately held company located in Emeryville, Calif. For more information about Orb Networks, please visit http://www.orb.com/ .

NOTE: Orb and the Orb logo are trademarks of Orb Networks, Inc. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.

Source: Orb Networks, Inc.

CONTACT: Jeff Urquhart of Voce Communications, Inc., +1-650-228-5181, or jurquhart@vocecomm.com, for Orb Networks, Inc.

Web site: http://www.orb.com/

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