In the Zone

Zone4Play Ltd., a burgeoning developer and provider of casino and lottery software for various distribution channels, is becoming recognized as a major player in the interactive gaming industry.

Founded in 2001, Z4P is a private company registered in Delaware with a fully owned R&D subsidiary in Tel-Aviv. The company aims to develop and provide gaming products to the multiple-access market.

The company develops easy-access games for interactive TV, the Web, and PDAs and other wireless units. Z4P distributes, mainly, play-for-fun games, but also has the capabilities to support play-for-real platforms with its powerful e-management back-end suite. Z4P’s extensive interactive gaming platform provides "always-on" technology, with a roadmap poised for growth in the emerging multimedia markets.

"Zone4Play's best selling product is our Internet games, however, we expect a tremendous growth of subscribers using our iTV games application as more broadcasters will purchase our games," said Erez Lahav, Z4P's marketing manager.

Z4P claims to be the first company worldwide to introduce a casino game application for Internet, wireless and interactive TV. The games are broadcast on a special TV premium channel available through "Yes," Israel's satellite TV broadcaster.

"The field of interactive games is the fastest growing field within digital television," Lahav said. "We expect the interactive TV medium to be our largest audience by the end of 2002."

The bulk of Z4P's revenues are achieved through a share of the operators' user fees from the multiple distribution channels. According to Zone4Play’s Web site, the key in this arena is partnering with various platform suppliers and carriers.

To extend its gaming platform, Z4P is signing licensing agreements for play-for-fun casino-style games and lottery games with operators in Europe and South America through VAR (Value Added Reseller) agreements.

Z4P is now becoming recognized for its part in the development of software in the industry. Just last month, Z4P won a first-place trophy at the "Neddies," an international competition for interactive TV application developers using the NDS-CORE platform.

"Winning the award opens up vast opportunities for us in this market," Lahav said.