Zappware wins Flemish e-Government project for Interactive Television
23/03/2004

Zappware has won a prestigious project to supply the first e-Government application on the digital interactive television network in Flanders, Belgium.

One of the reasons for the Flanders' government in promoting and stimulating the development of Interactive Television is the fact that Internet on the PC reaches only a part of the population. Television, and in particular Interactive TV, can bridge the information gap between the 'connected' and the 'not connected'. Obviously, one of the first applications to launch on such IDTV platform will be "e-Government", providing information from local, regional or national governments.

After an extensive selection process Zappware NV was chosen to supply the technology for this first e-Gov application, called "IDTV for local administrations". The application gives access to a broad range of information-pages provided by the local governments. The viewer uses the TV and a remote control to select a theme, zoom in on the details, send an email-request for additional info, or request a brochure on the topic to be mailed. All information-pages can be 'branded' in the look and feel of the city / municipality.

Zappware is requested to provide both the local administrations application as well as a common platform for serving all e-Government applications. Zappware uses its icTV Gateway product for this. icTV Gateway eases the development process of applications and provides a flexible connection mechanism to existing back-ends. In the coming months several other applications (e.g. public transport schedules, tourism info and job search) will be added. .

Koen Swings, CTO of Zappware, comments: "We are proud to be selected for the development of both the client application as well as the data provisioning infrastructure. The e-Gov cell has clearly recognized our extensive experience in the development and deployment of complex MHP applications. And with our icTV Gateway we offer them a future-proof solution that can easily be re-used for many more applications."