HONG KONG -- Oki Electric Industry Co., Ltd. (TSE: 6703 - News) today announced it will develop a next generation hybrid set top box (STB) equipped with Intel's high performance media processor. This processor will provide processing power and headroom for computationally intensive applications and services. OKI will provide this to cable and IP TV operators in China starting from the fiscal year ending March 2008.

OKI sees the coming trend in the convergence of broadcasting and telecommunication for broadcasting services in China. This is based on the expectation of digitalization of cable TVs in China with the coming 2008 Beijing Olympics and the termination of analog broadcasting service in 2015. The need to converge cable and IP will continue to grow as there have already been advanced cable TV operators who succeeded in launching value-added services using IP in some metropolitan areas.

"Intel welcomes the development of OKI's next generation hybrid STB. Intel's consumer electronics platform provides a flexible, high performance, highly integrated solution that will enable OKI to deliver compelling new usage models," said Tim Parker, Great Asia Region Marketing Director at Intel Corporation. "The flexibility of this platform can create innovative applications to provide consumers with exceptional entertainment choices."

Oki Electric Industry Co. Ltd.