Advanced Imaging Magazine Announces Imaging Solutions of the Year Award Winners for 2004; Nine Technology Companies Honored for Their Improvements in Imaging Technology.

Business Editors

MELVILLE, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 23, 2004

Advanced Imaging magazine, a leading technology publication focusing on the field of imaging and its influence on the commercial, industrial, scientific, medical, security and military industries, has announced the results of its 2004 Imaging Solutions of the Year Awards. This annual competition asks developers, vendors, integrators, VARs, public relations firms and end-users to nominate companies whose solutions they feel merit special industry attention for their practical handling of digital imaging and image processing challenges. Four winners and four runners-up were chosen from the many entries received, with one nominee awarded the coveted Imager of the Year Award. Winners will be honored in the January 2004 edition of Advanced Imaging.

The four winners were Quarket (Silver Spring, MD), who assisted NASA in removing blur from full-sky images of Big Bang-produced radiation taken by the Wilkinson Microwave Anistropy Probe (WMAP); Adobe Systems (San Jose, CA), for the implementation of their software in helping the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) age-progress images of abducted children to improve recovery efforts; RSI (Boulder, CO), whose IDL software took the Human Brain Project a major step forward in non-invasive brain imaging thanks to the application's ability to synthesize multiple image formats and process large image files; and REALVIZ (Sophia Antipolis, France), whose Stitcher 4.0 software helped the World Heritage Tour breathe new life into ancient history through the use of panoramic images.

Runners-up included a joint award to Honeywell Federal Manufacturing & Technologies and the Los Alamos National Laboratory (Los Alamos, NM) for their success in capturing and reconstructing stereoscopic images in laser-driven projectile shock physics experiments; Indigo Systems of Goleta, CA, whose RTools software allowed Pratt & Whitney to convert scanner-type imaging radiometers to focal plane arrays (FPAs); Canada's Forensic Technology, Inc. (FTI), for facilitating automated ballistics matching via its Integrated Ballistics Identification System (IBIS); and Soliton Automation of Coimbatore, India, who used National Instruments' software to build a fully automated brake drum assembly inspection system for the automotive industry.

"We at Advanced Imaging are extremely pleased to be handing out awards to such deserving solutions providers," said Len Yencharis, AI's Editor-in-Chief. "There were many excellent and elegant solutions this year, from all corners of the imaging industry--visualization, medical, commercial, machine vision and so on--and choosing just nine was no easy task." Yencharis was particularly pleased to announce 2004's Imagers of the Year award, which went to Mark Powell and Bob Deen of Jet Propulsion Labs (JPL) in Pasadena, CA. In a joint effort with Sun and Apple, JPL's Maestro development team used Java3D and Java Advanced Imaging (JAI) to develop a downloadable viewer for the public to witness the landing of the Spirit Rover on Mars.

"This is always an exciting time for us," Managing Editor Rich Handley said. "Some of the most interesting submissions we receive all year are for the Solutions of the Year, and I look forward to seeing what those in the industry have achieved in their search for imaging solutions. It's amazing what human intuition, combined with new and existing technology, can accomplish." Hank Russell, the magazine's Associate Editor, mirrored these sentiments, adding, "The competition was intense--so much important work is being done in this era of technological advancement. There were several, however, who stood out from the rest, and it's our pleasure to be able to recognize such talent and effort."

Advanced Imaging magazine is published by business-to-business media leader Cygnus Business Media and is dedicated to the technology of electronic imaging and its influence on a wide variety of markets, including--but not limited to--industrial, scientific, medical, security, military and commercial. Each month, the publication delivers the latest information on imaging hardware, software and peripherals to qualified professionals working in many areas of imaging. Visit Advanced Imaging online at www.advancedimagingmag.com.

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