ANT plc, the market leading provider of software and solutions for the IPTV, hybrid TV and consumer electronics industries, announced today the release of ANT Galio 2.0, the latest version of its TV application manager and browser that provides a consistent and extensible platform on which to create, control and deploy digital media products and services. Galio 2.0 features a new Application Framework developed specifically for the TV user interface model, as well as support for new Internet standards.

Galio's new Application Framework supports multiple applications running simultaneously within the same screen space. This new model makes it much easier to develop rich and complex application suites enabling operators to update and improve their services. At the same time, it isolates walled garden privileged applications from those that are delivered from the open Web. The new Applications Framework provides reliability for operators, enabling the updating of one application without concern for the effect on other applications.

"IPTV is bringing about the evolution of TV. Services must fully exploit video and audio in a way that the Internet has struggled to achieve," said Charles Maltby, engineering director, ANT plc. "Galio 2.0's new application framework makes it possible to add new applications on the fly and turn out new services on a whim without updating the set-top boxes or affecting other applications. With Galio 2.0, the sky is the limit for developers."

ANT has also added industry standard support for asynchronous XMLHttpRequest and an XML parser to Galio 2.0. This brings support for AJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML) and Web 2.0 technologies to the embedded space, enabling application and content developers to take advantage of these mechanisms to deliver greater interactivity, responsiveness and usability to the end user.

AJAX support gives content developers enhanced flexibility and power to get updated information into the page by exchanging small amounts of data with the server instead of reloading the entire page as the user makes a change. The result is a service that behaves less like a Web page and more like a consumer electronics product with the experience that end users expect from the TV.

"The rapid introduction of compelling, high value TV services is the key to increasing subscriber revenues," said Sebastian Kramer, CEO of Quative Limited, the next generation IPTV service delivery platform provider. "With its concurrent, multi-application support, Galio Version 2.0 makes it even easier for developers and operators to realise their TV service ambitions."