Amino Licenses TrueDoc from Bitstream; Amino Communications Ltd. to Integrate TrueDoc in its Set-Top Box and Network Appliance Products.

Business/Technology Editors

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. & CAMBRIDGE, United Kingdom--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 21, 2001

Bitstream Inc. (NASDAQ:BITS) and Amino Communications Limited announced today that Amino has entered into an agreement to license TrueDoc(R), Bitstream's font rendering engine. Amino will incorporate TrueDoc into its Java applications, specifically in its set-top box and network appliance product reference designs, allowing Amino to render high-quality text using Bitstream's patented portable font technology.

Amino creates product reference designs that allow OEMs to quickly develop low-cost, flexible, network appliances. Each design comprises Amino's Licensable Module Designs, the IntAct distributed architecture, and unique integration software. For service operators wanting to deliver new services or for OEMs targeting new markets, the licensable designs provide a fast route to market.

IntAct offers a PCB (printed circuit board)-to-silicon migration route. This takes licensees all the way from rapid roll-out based on pre-designed modules through an integrated product to minimum cost, single systems-on-chip (SoC) integration when licensees need high volume production.

TrueDoc is an award-winning font technology for rendering portable fonts on set-top boxes, in interactive TV applications, on information appliances, and across the Web. It provides a compact, high-performance font rasterizer that is ideal for applications and devices that have limited memory and processing power. TrueDoc reads and renders the same compact font format for both embedded and downloaded fonts. It can dynamically combine embedded fonts and downloaded font fragments.

TrueDoc stores fonts in a portable font resource (PFR) file. Bitstream developed the PFR format to create portable fonts for the Internet. These key organizations have adopted the Bitstream PFR as their standard font format for digital television:

- DAVIC (Digital Audio Visual Council), which sets multimedia standards for
international broadcasting

- DVB (Digital Video Broadcasting), a Swiss-based industry organization
representing one standard for digital TV, which has been adopted extensively in
Europe

- DTG (Digital TV Group), which coordinates standards for Digital TV
broadcasting in the United Kingdom

Many developers, including ANT, Liberate, NDS, and Microsoft (WebTV), are using Bitstream's font technology to build cable, satellite, and home entertainment systems for digital television.

Amino and its partners have systems-integrated its technology with best-of-breed offerings from a wide range of vendors. From fonts to ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line) and most technologies in between, Amino's licensees can select from a wide range of system solutions.

"Amino Communications has built its reputation on its modular product design, which make it easy for developers to get their products to market quickly," said Anna Chagnon, president of Bitstream. "We are very pleased that Amino chose TrueDoc for its font rendering engine."

"TrueDoc's small footprint and fast rendering speed make it ideal for our set-top box and network appliance product reference designs," commented Martyn Gilbert, CEO at Amino Communications. "The fact that TrueDoc is endorsed by the major digital TV organizations is another major plus."

About Bitstream

Bitstream Inc. (Nasdaq:BITS) is the leading developer of font technology, digital fonts, and custom font designs for a wide variety of markets. Setting the standard for excellence in font technology, Bitstream holds numerous key patents that cover the creation of portable fonts for the Internet. Bitstream licenses its award-winning TrueDoc(R), WebFont(TM), and Font Fusion(TM) technologies to Web and application developers, and to manufacturers of information appliances, wireless devices, set-top boxes, embedded systems, printers, and personal digital assistants.

Founded in 1981, Bitstream is the first digital font foundry. In 1999, Bitstream created MyFonts.com, Inc. (http://www.myfonts.com), the Web site for finding, trying, and buying fonts on line. Bitstream is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Find out more about Bitstream at http://www.bitstream.com.

About Amino Communications

Amino is a leading developer and licensor of technologies for the secure and rapid deployment of networked, multimedia solutions. The company has assembled a world class team to develop technologies exploiting the world-wide market growth in digital, online markets, and provides consultancy services to help clients exploit fully the business opportunities that the technology facilitates.

From a portfolio of pre-engineered modules, Amino can rapidly develop a diverse range of products to meet customers' requirements for communications, video, speed, power and expansion. The modules are connected using a patent-pending distributed architecture called IntAct. IntAct lies at the heart of Amino's approach to electronic product design. Adding modules together to create a product for an evolving market is no longer a major feat of engineering. With the IntAct approach, engineering costs can be reduced by up to 80% and, more important, time to market can be reduced by up to 70%. This enables companies to quickly move into new markets and gives them the opportunity to react to changing market conditions. Further details and recent news on Amino may be found at http://www.aminocom.com.

Bitstream and TrueDoc are registered trademarks, and Font Fusion and WebFont are trademarks of Bitstream Inc. Other technologies and brand names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.