A*STAR, the Singapore government's Agency for Science, Technology and Research, and HP today announced they will collaborate on technologies to provide secure, seamless transmission of video, audio and multimedia content over future high-speed broadband and wireless networks.

The agreement is the second between HP Labs, HP's central research organization, and A*STAR. In June, HP Labs and A*STAR's Institute of High Performance Computing (IHPC) set up a joint research project in Singapore to work on advanced technologies for next-generation data centers.

The new agreement is between HP Labs and the Institute for Infocomm Research (I²R), which is also part of A*STAR, an agency established by the Singaporean government to promote research and development collaborations and to support the development of industry clusters.

"A*STAR is pleased that HP is extending its presence and collaboration with another A*STAR research institute, I2R," said Boon Swan Foo, managing director, A*STAR. "This is an affirmation of the depth and breadth of capabilities in our research institutes. Both areas of collaboration have significant potential commercial applications for both HP and A*STAR and will act as pathfinders and foundations for the new research investments of the National Research Foundation and other research in these areas."

Researchers from I²R and HP Labs will work on technical requirements that will enable rich multimedia to be sent over networks to large numbers of users simultaneously, without loss of quality. They will also focus on security measures and digital rights management solutions and help establish international standards for the technologies. The outputs of the joint research will address security issues such as access control, encryption and authentication from data stream level to content level for various forms of media, particularly the core media types of audio, images and video. The work will be conducted both in Singapore and Palo Alto, Calif.

"HP Labs has long been a leader in providing technologies that will make it possible to stream media over next-generation networks - securely and efficiently - to any user, anywhere, using any device," said Dick Lampman, HP senior vice president and director, HP Labs. "We have collaborated with the team at I²R in the past and this agreement will help us continue our working relationship."

About HP

HP is a technology solutions provider to consumers, businesses and institutions globally. The company’s offerings span IT infrastructure, global services, business and home computing, and imaging and printing. For the four fiscal quarters ended July 31, 2006, HP revenue totaled $90.0 billion. More information about HP (NYSE, Nasdaq: HPQ) is available at http://www.hp.com

About A*STAR and I²R

The Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) is Singapore's national agency for science and technology, supporting the development of industry clusters. Its mission is to foster world-class scientific research and talent for a vibrant knowledge-based Singapore. The Agency comprises the Biomedical Research Council, the Science and Engineering Research Council, A*STAR Graduate Academy, Policy and Personnel, and Corporate Planning and Administration Divisions, and a commercialization arm, Exploit Technologies Pte Ltd. The two research councils fund and oversee 12 public research institutes engaged in cutting edge research in the physical sciences, engineering and biomedical sciences. The institutes build up intellectual capital and train research talent to deepen Singapore's scientific capabilities.