At CES while walking the halls with Media Center MVP Richard Miller we came across Fuze Media Systems. FUZE have an interesting approach to whole home Media by using a hybrid system of the own code and Windows Media Center. So they have things like whole home audio while still retaining some of the function of Media Center. At the time the only way to get a FUZE system was with their own hardware via a dealer. Today they announced that they are starting an OEM program so OEMs will be able to offer FUZE products as well as dealers. They also announced that they will be supporting web browser UI and V2 Extenders.

Checkout this video I did with Richard at CES showing off FUZE's platform and I will have Bob Silver from FUZE on The Media Center Show in a couple of weeks.

More details from their press release:

San Jose, Calif., April 23, 2008 – FUZE Media Systems, makers of the industry’s most hardened whole-home media system, today announced that will license its whole-home media software to OEM partners. The only company in the industry that has delivered appliance-like performance for whole-home live & recorded TV, movies, videos, music, and photos, FUZE is negotiating with a number of companies to enable its software to be installed on other companies’ multimedia devices.

To best support its OEMs, FUZE will deliver a host of features that leverage industry cross-platform standards. These include web browsers for audio control, Microsoft v2 Media Center Extenders, standard audio distribution options, TCP/IP control protocols, and UPB audio control. OEMs will also receive access to FuzeTrace software for monitoring system health, simplified field installation tools, and level two support—as well as the option to customize feature sets and product appearance for branding purposes