Key Tronic Forms Alliance With Webtv

A strategic alliance with WebTV Networks Inc. is the latest deal in Key Tronic Corp.’s efforts to broaden its customer base and position itself in growing segments of the computer hardware market.

WebTV is one of the companies vying for the inexpensive Internet access market. Some companies are focusing on producing inexpensive Internet personal computers. WebTV is pursuing the strategy of using existing television sets as Internet access points.

“I think WebTV and these Internet television companies are the wave of the future,” John Barnes, Key Tronic’s manager of marketing communications, said Monday. “The Internet is becoming so mainstream that a lot of companies are trying to take advantage of it. And we think WebTV is one of the leading companies in the field.”

WebTV produces a small converter box that sits atop a television set and serves as a link to the Internet. The box is operated by a computer keyboard, and WebTV has asked Key Tronic to help develop an updated keyboard that will incorporate the television control functions as well as the Internet access functions.

It will use an infrared connection to the system to provide remote capabilities.

“The relationship with WebTV Networks gives Key Tronic an opportunity to broaden its growing presence in mass-market keyboards,” Anja Krammer, Key Tronic’s director of marketing and sales, said in a news release. “We are very proud to have been chosen by this innovative company to work on what is anticipated to become an information gateway to the home over the next few years.”

Spokane-based Key Tronic designs and manufactures keyboards and other advanced input devices for the computer industry.

Its customers include Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Microsoft, Gateway 2000, Toshiba, and Nortel.

, DataTimes