Avid Introduces New Products, Latest Developments For Industry-leading Digital Solutions at NAB '99.LAS VEGAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 19, 1999-- Next-Generation Avid Unity Storage and Networking; Revolutionary 24P Technology; Media Composer for Windows NT (Windows New Technology) A 32-bit operating system from Microsoft for Intel x86 CPUs. NT is the core technology in Windows 2000 and Windows XP (see Windows). Available in separate client and server versions, it includes built-in networking and preemptive multitasking. ; HD Technology Demos A technology demo is a prototype, rough example or an otherwise incomplete version of a product, put together with the primary purpose of showcasing the idea, performance, method or the features of the product. ; Alliance with Sony Highlight Avid Showing At the 1999 National Association of Broadcasters Conference (NAB), Avid(R) Technology (NASDAQ NASDAQ in full National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations U.S. market for over-the-counter securities. Established in 1971 by the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD), NASDAQ is an automated quotation system that reports on :AVID) is announcing two new products: the Avid Unity(TM) family of next-generation storage and networking solutions and the Avid ShowBiz(TM) Producer DV editing system for users new to video. Avid is also unveiling new versions of current products: Version 2.0 of the Avid Symphony(TM) editorial finishing system with 24P technology, Versions 8.0 and 9.0 of the Media Composer(R) system with a new XL family of Macintosh and Windows NT-based editing systems, an enhanced-performance version of the Avid SOFTIMAGE|(R)DS solution for effects-centric video production, Versions 2.1 and 3.0 of the Avid Xpress(TM) system for industrial post and Version 1.5 of the Avid SOFTIMAGE|Marquee(TM) 3-D title animation software. Attendees are getting a sneak peek at an upcoming release of SOFTIMAGE|DS as well as the Digidesign(R) Pro Tools(R) audio system. In addition to showing its currently-available systems, Avid also recently unveiled its DTV/HDTV strategy and is holding technology demonstrations of two solutions for high definition television - one for post-production and one for broadcast news. An alliance with Sony to develop MPEG (Moving Pictures Experts Group) An ISO/ITU standard for compressing digital video. Pronounced "em-peg," it is the universal standard for digital terrestrial, cable and satellite TV, DVDs and digital video recorders (DVRs). editing solutions for broadcast news rounds out the Avid announcements. NAB '99 also marks the debut of Avid and Softimage under a single roof in a new exhibit booth, #L22941, following Avid's acquisition of Softimage Inc. last summer. Avid's Digidesign solutions can be found in booth #L10683, while products from Avid and Tektronix' new joint venture company, Avstar Systems LLC (Logical Link Control) See "LANs" under data link protocol. LLC - Logical Link Control , will be on display at the Tektronix booth, #L22914. "In 1999 we're seeing the convergence of two eras," said Avid chairman and CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. , Bill Miller. "Post-production professionals and broadcasters are facing 'once in a decade' changes to their businesses, as the industry takes the biggest steps in the shift which has been taking shape over the past decade from serialized processes and `islands' of functionality to a fully-nonlinear reality, based on digital environments. The products we're announcing help our customers to bridge the gap and realize immediate, as well as long-term opportunities with creative, flexible and efficient solutions. We're also seeing new users latching latch n. 1. A fastening, as for a door or gate, typically consisting of a bar that fits into a notch or slot and is lifted from either side by a lever or string. 2. onto digital video much like they did with desktop publishing desktop publishing, system for producing printed materials that consists of a personal computer or computer workstation, a high-resolution printer (usually a laser printer), and a computer program that allows the user to select from a variety of type fonts and sizes, . And we're there right along with them, with affordable solutions and alliances to help us bring those new users powerful tools for their communication arsenal." Announcements for Television and Film -- The Nonlinear A system in which the output is not a uniform relationship to the input. nonlinear - (Scientific computation) A property of a system whose output is not proportional to its input. Production Environment Avid's all-digital environment encompasses editing and finishing; graphics, effects and animation; storage and networking; and audio production. Announcements include: Avid Introduces Avid Unity Storage and Networking Solutions Avid Unity is a new family of shared storage and distributed computing (1) The use of multiple computers networked throughout a wide geographical area, or the world via the Internet, in order to solve a single problem. See grid computing. (2) The use of multiple computers in an enterprise rather than one centralized system. products that will become the foundation of Avid's digital nonlinear production environment. A combination of advanced media networking and shared central computing, the system is designed to connect and enable digital media workstations, regardless of format or platform. Avid Unity will enable true collaborative digital media creation and will improve workflow by providing simultaneous access to media throughout the post-production process, enabling dedicated systems to offload To remove work from one computer and do it on another. See cooperative processing. media management and manipulation. The core of Avid Unity is Avid Unity MediaNet, a set of open networking and central storage technology based on an advanced media file system that enables real-time, simultaneous sharing of high-bandwidth media. Connecting editors, artists, sound designers and effects specialists throughout a digital facility to the same network, Avid Unity MediaNet will significantly improve workflow, raise productivity and enhance creativity by eliminating many of the mundane, mechanical tasks associated with managing today's part linear, part nonlinear post-production processes. Avid Unity MediaNet is planned for shipment in late Q2 1999. Avid Announces 24P Technology; Unveils DTV/HDTV Strategy Earlier this month, Avid unveiled its strategy for addressing digital television (DTV (Digital TeleVision) Transmitting TV using digital signals. The major DTV standards are ATSC (North America), DVB (Europe) and ISDB (Japan). All three use MPEG-2 video compression and Dolby Digital audio compression. DVB and ISDB also include MPEG audio compression. ) and high-definition television high-definition television (HDTV) Any system producing significantly greater picture resolution than that of the ordinary 525-line (625-line in Europe) television screen. Conventional television transmits signals in analog form. (HDTV (High Definition TV) A set of digital television (DTV) standards that offer the highest resolution and sharpest picture. Although some HDTV sets are available in standard (rather square) screen sizes, the overwhelming majority of sets are wide screen, which eliminates ) content creation requirements for post-production. The company's approach is to provide a flexible solution encompassing both current and future products and incorporating key nonlinear 24P technology. Avid's 24P technology enables multi-format delivery from a single 24P source, to meet multi-format, multi-version opportunities and challenges presented by DTV and HDTV. Avid will implement 24P into its editorial product line this summer as a set of Universal Editing and Mastering capabilities. Avid's approach to digital television is to provide an efficient, creative process based on cost-effective solutions to address multiple formats and versions. To deliver that solution, Avid is evolving its current solutions to address DTV requirements, and developing revolutionary technologies specifically for digital television -- nonlinear 24P, graphics and effects production technology and an upcoming HD online solution. Avid Introduces Symphony Version 2.0 and Unveils New Universal Model Avid is introducing the second version of Avid Symphony, its nonlinear editorial finishing system designed to meet the needs of high-end and prime-time television programming. The upcoming release further extends the Symphony system's finishing feature set and introduces a revolutionary new capability - 24P Universal Mastering which will enable content producers to work with 24 frame progressive content in its native format and deliver it in a multitude of formats at the push of a button. Symphony will expand into two models with the 2.0 release, Symphony and Symphony Universal. Avid Symphony Version 2.0 is currently planned for shipment in Q3 1999; Avid Symphony Version 2.1 is planned for shipment in Q4 1999. Avid also announced that the U.S. Patent Office has issued notification that Avid will be granted patents covering nonlinear 24P technology. Avid Revamps Media Composer Line, Introduces XL Family With Uncompressed Images With 8.0 for Macintosh and Windows NT; Unveils Version 9.0 for Windows NT Avid is revamping its award-winning Media Composer line of offline/online editing systems with the release of the Media Composer XL family of products. Version 8.0, available on both the Macintosh and Windows NT platforms, will offer single stream uncompressed images and a range of new performance features for the Media Composer 1000 XL and Media Composer Offline XL. Avid is also unveiling Media Composer Version 9.0 for Windows NT. In addition to supporting dual streams of uncompressed video, Version 9.0 will bring 24P offline editing capabilities and introduce the Film Composer XL and Media Composer 9000 XL models. Media Composer 8.0 for Macintosh and Windows NT, is planned for shipment later in Q2 1999. Media Composer 9.0 is planned to be available for the Media Composer XL family of Windows NT-based models in Q3 1999. Avid Announces Avid SOFTIMAGE|DS System With Increased Performance; Sneak Peek at Upcoming Release Avid is announcing new performance and functionality levels for Avid SOFTIMAGE|DS, the company's versatile, integrated post-production studio for graphics and effects-intensive projects. The recent availability of Intergraph Computer Systems' StudioZ GT Workstation featuring dual 500 MHz (MegaHertZ) One million cycles per second. It is used to measure the transmission speed of electronic devices, including channels, buses and the computer's internal clock. A one-megahertz clock (1 MHz) means some number of bits (16, 32, 64, etc. Intel Pentium III The successor to the Pentium II from Intel. Introduced in the spring of 1999 at 500 MHz, the Pentium III architecture was similar to the Pentium II with the addition of 70 new instructions optimized for multimedia (see SSE). processors and support for Avid's MEDIArray(TM) Fibre Channel storage, provides customers with greater configuration, flexibility and system performance. NAB attendees are also seeing a sneak preview sneak preview n. A single public showing of a movie before its general release. Noun 1. sneak preview - a preview to test audience reactions of features for an upcoming release of SOFTIMAGE|DS. Avid Announces Version 1.5 for Avid SOFTIMAGE|Marquee 3-D Title Animation System Avid SOFTIMAGE|Marquee is a resolution independent, title animation system that combines the flexibility of 3-D animation with the speed of a word processing word processing, use of a computer program or a dedicated hardware and software package to write, edit, format, and print a document. Text is most commonly entered using a keyboard similar to a typewriter's, although handwritten input (see pen-based computer) and application. With the upcoming release, users will have new functionality that offers more flexibility when manipulating titles, including the ability to map text to a path, making Marquee a robust and easy-to-use title-animation tool. In addition to the standalone stand·a·lone adj. Self-contained and usually independently operating: a standalone computer terminal. product for Silicon Graphics and Windows NT workstations, Avid will offer Marquee within a number of other Avid editing solutions. Marquee -- as a standalone product, an AVX AVX Adult Video XXX AVX Avid Visual Extensions AVX anti Virus Expert (TM) plug-in or an option in Avid's editing products -- is currently planned for shipment in Q3 1999. Digidesign Offers Sneak Peek at New Post-Production Features for Pro Tools Digidesign will provide a sneak peek preview of several post-production-specific features and options to its award-winning Pro Tools product line, scheduled for release this fall. The features and options planned for the preview include support of Avid video media, new post-production-specific editing features, and enhanced cross-platform interchange A cross-platform interchange is a type of interchange between different lines in a metro system. The term originates with the London Underground; such layouts exist in other networks but are not commonly so named. In the United States, it is referred to as simply a "transfer". capabilities. Avid video media support is made available through the use of PCI (1) (Payment Card Industry) See PCI DSS. (2) (Peripheral Component Interconnect) The most widely used I/O bus (peripheral bus). video cards that operate on existing Pro Tools24, Pro Tools24 MIX and Pro Tools24 MIXplus systems. The post-specific editing features become available as a result to an update to Pro Tools software. Solutions for Broadcast News Avid and Sony Announce Alliance to Develop MPEG-based Nonlinear Editing See nonlinear video editing. Systems for News Avid and Sony Corporation announced that they have agreed to create an alliance to pursue the development of new post-production and broadcast news products. Under this alliance the two companies intend to execute an agreement to work together to create an Avid nonlinear news editing system that will interoperate See interoperable. with Sony's new line of MPEG-based broadcast equipment. Designed on the Avid NewsCutter(R) digital nonlinear news editing system, the system would provide all the features and capabilities of the NewsCutter product and would support the MPEG format. The two companies also intend to collaborate to enable the current NewsCutter product to interoperate with Sony's DVCAM Sony's version of the DV (Digital Video) tape technology. DVCAM improves quality by increasing the tape speed from 18.8mm/sec to 28.2mm/sec. It also increases track width from 10 to 15 microns for added reliability. equipment, in addition to its current DV capabilities. Finally, Avid and Sony intend to collaborate on 24P post-production workflow solutions for High Definition television as well as High Definition solutions for broadcast news. Solutions for Corporate/Industrial Production The middle market for digital video includes both in-house video or A/V (1) (Audio/Video) Refers to equipment and applications that deal with sound and sight. The A/V world includes microphones, tape recorders, audio mixers, still and video cameras, film projectors, slide projectors, VCRs, CD and DVD players/recorders, amplifiers and services employing people who consider themselves video professionals, and creative professionals just getting into video for the first time. Announcements for these users include: Avid Brings Uncompressed Images to Avid Xpress for Windows NT Version 2.1; Ships New Entry-Level Bundle; Unveils Avid Xpress for Windows NT Version 3.0 Avid announces uncompressed images and a new entry-level configuration for its Avid Xpress for Windows NT digital content creation The development of newsworthy, educational and entertainment material for distribution over the Internet or other electronic media. See DAMS. system. Avid is also showcasing the next release of Avid Xpress for Windows NT, Version 3.0. The new releases for Avid Xpress for Windows NT, Versions 2.1 and 3.0, extend the Avid Xpress family's editing, audio and interoperability The capability of two or more hardware devices or two or more software routines to work harmoniously together. For example, in an Ethernet network, display adapters, hubs, switches and routers from different vendors must conform to the Ethernet standard and interoperate with each other. capabilities through a set of powerful new software enhancements. Providing the ability to create high-quality video and multimedia content for corporate, institutional, government and independent digital media production, Avid Xpress for Windows NT Versions 2.1 and 3.0 combine new software features with unmatched image and audio quality. Avid Xpress for Windows NT 2.1 is immediately available; Avid Xpress for Windows NT Version 3.0 is planned to be available in Q3 1999. Avid Announces Avid ShowBiz Producer, Complete DV-Native Content Creation Solution For Under $10,000; Company Joins Forces with IBM (International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, www.ibm.com) The world's largest computer company. IBM's product lines include the S/390 mainframes (zSeries), AS/400 midrange business systems (iSeries), RS/6000 workstations and servers (pSeries), Intel-based servers (xSeries) to Further Expand Digital Video Into Emerging Market Segments Avid ShowBiz (TM) Producer is a complete DV editing system for the Windows NT platform. Designed for creative professionals who want to communicate with video and multimedia, Avid ShowBiz Producer will offer powerful features and functionality never before delivered in an affordable and easy-to-use DV editing solution. Avid and IBM have signed a letter of intent to offer Avid ShowBiz Producer as part of a turnkey solution that will include Avid editing software, a 1394 DV capture card, IBM's award-winning IntelliStation workstation, IBM monitor and storage. Avid and IBM intend to make the complete solution available through their respective worldwide reseller An organization that sells hardware and software to the general public. Resellers purchase products from software publishers and hardware manufacturers. channels in the fall of 1999 for less than $10,000. The relationship with IBM will greatly extend Avid's reach into the corporate, government and education markets at which this solution is aimed. For complete details on the above announcements, visit www.avid.com or www.softimage.com. Avid Technology "Avid" redirects here. For the "Advancement Via Individual Determination" educational program, see AVID. Avid Technology, Inc NASDAQ: AVID is an American company specializing in video and audio production technology; specifically, digital non-linear media editing (NLE) , Inc., which acquired Softimage in 1998, is an international, industry-leading provider of digital audio and video tools for information and entertainment applications. The company's products are used by a variety of customers worldwide including film, television and interactive content producers, TV news broadcasters, corporate communicators and consumers. For more information, visit Avid's Web site at www.avid.com. (c) 1999 Avid Technology, Inc. All rights reserved. Product specifications are subject to change without notice. Avid, Media Composer, Softimage, Film Composer, Digidesign and Pro Tools are registered trademarks and Avid Unity, Avid ShowBiz, Marquee, Symphony, Avid Xpress, Media Illusion, and AVX are trademarks of Avid Technology, Inc., or its subsidiaries or divisions. All other trademarks contained herein are the property of their respective owners. |
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