Avid Launches Avid Productivity Tools Family.

Business/Technology Editors

NAB 2002

LAS VEGAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 7, 2002

Workflow-enhancing products leverage the Avid Unity environment to

enable real-time creative collaboration and increased productivity

Avid Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ: AVID) today announced Avid(R) Productivity Tools, a family of workflow-enhancing products that leverage the Avid Unity(TM) environment to enable real-time creative collaboration and increased productivity. The Productivity Tools comprise significantly enhanced versions of existing tools as well as new offerings. New to the family are Avid Xdeck(TM), a direct-ingest device for the Avid Unity environment, near-line archiving and digital dailies review solutions.

"When content creators are connected in an Avid Unity environment, there is tremendous potential for collaboration," said Tim Claman, director of Avid Workgroups & Storage. "Avid Productivity Tools unlock that potential by integrating powerful network-based services that dramatically streamline the production process."

The newly launched Productivity Tools family includes enhanced versions of the Avid Unity MediaManager, Avid Unity TransferManager, Avid Unity ProEncode(TM), Avid NetReview(TM), Avid Media Station XL products, as well as a new product, the Avid Xdeck ingest device. Each tool in this expanding family intelligently manages specific tasks in the production workflow. Time-intensive tasks such as encoding, ingest and file transfers are off-loaded to dedicated tools on the network and handled automatically as background tasks, dramatically reducing production cycles and increasing productivity.

Avid's new digital dailies solution, which provides immediate access to Avid media and film dailies through a standard Web browser, extends the boundaries of the production environment to collaborators outside the editing suite. This solution enables producers and other key decision-makers to view high-resolution production elements and sequences in real-time over a standard Ethernet LAN, without transcoding or re-digitizing, dramatically improving the efficiency of the review and editorial process. Specialized encryption and access control features ensure tight security and control over the media.

Avid's new near-line archive solution is a perfect companion to Avid Unity shared storage, combining powerful search capabilities with low-cost, highly scalable storage to give easy and fast access to a centralized store of content. While a large selection of assets are only a "click and drag" away, including shared libraries and project data, the network runs more efficiently because only actively used assets are brought online.

Avid's new Xdeck device is designed as a unique ingest device for recording audio and video content directly into Avid Unity storage. With its ability to ingest industry standard DV25, DV50, D10 (MPEG) and JFIF formats, the Xdeck device offers significant workflow efficiencies by offloading the ingest of material from higher-priced video editing and server systems. Content ingested through each Xdeck device can be made available to all editors on the Avid Unity network as soon as 10 seconds after recording begins. From large broadcast news facilities to small postproduction houses, the Xdeck device offers customers a cost-effective tool that automates one of the more time-consuming parts of the production workflow.

System/Solution Details & Pricing

Avid Productivity Tools

-- Avid Unity MediaManager v3.0 - Starting at $20,000 USMSRP. A powerful, production-oriented, browser-based media asset management tool that now includes an option to add digital dailies and near-line archive solutions (see summary and pricing below).

-- Avid Unity TransferManager v2.0 - Starting at $14,175 USMSRP. A tool for moving media between Avid systems and servers that now has transfer rates four times faster than before.

-- Avid Unity ProEncode v1.7 - Starting at $12,000 USMSRP. Avid's tool for performing background media conversion for the Web being shown with the Agility Workgroup system from Anystream, Inc., FlipFactory from Telestream, and Cleaner from Discreet.

-- Avid NetReview v1.0 - Starting at $29,995 USMSRP. A secure, all-digital review tool for LAN or Internet.

-- Avid Media Station XL v2.0 - Starting at $25,000 USMSRP. A dedicated digitizing and output workstation.

-- Avid Xdeck v1.0 - Starting at $18,000 USMSRP. Automatically records video material directly to the Avid Unity for News, Avid Unity MediaNet, Avid Unity LANshare shared media networks, where one or more users for nonlinear production can instantaneously access it.

Digital Dailies Solution - Starting at $50,000 USMSRP

-- One-time digitizing makes media immediately available for review - no encoding required.

-- Stream Avid media to every desktop (PC and Macintosh) without the need for specialized hardware.

-- Encrypt streams and manage security through built-in access controls.

-- Review material immediately from the convenience of a standard desktop workstation, and see changes in real time.

-- View media as a high-quality, full-screen image and use advanced player controls to step through frame-by-frame.

Near-line Archive Solution - Pricing to be determined.

-- Allows near-line archiving of media assets.

-- Up to 12 TB of storage per system, with RAID 0 and 5 support.

-- Combines the powerful searching capability of MediaManager with

low-cost, highly scalable storage.

-- All-in-one server handles file transfers, asset management, and hardware RAID-protected Avid MediaRAID storage.

Availability:

-- Avid Unity MediaManager v3.0, Avid Unity TransferManager v2.0, Avid Unity ProEncode v1.7 and Avid Media Station XL v2.0 are scheduled to ship in April/May 2002.

-- Avid Xdeck and the digital dailies and near-line archive solutions are scheduled to ship in Q3 2002.

-- Avid NetReview v1.0 is available now.

About Avid Technology, Inc.

Avid Technology, Inc. delivers the solutions that Make, Manage and Move Media(TM). As a recognized digital standard for professionals who Make the world's media -- from video, audio and film to animation, special effects and streaming media -- Avid's products are used to make more television and news shows, commercials, music videos and CDs, corporate/industrial productions and major motion pictures combined than any other nonlinear editing manufacturer in the world. Building on its award-winning heritage, which includes several Emmy(R) awards as well as an Oscar(R) statuette representing the 1998 Scientific and Technical Award for the concept, design and engineering of the Avid Film Composer(R) systems for motion picture editing, Avid is extending its reach by redefining how digital media is shared, stored and distributed. To Manage today's increasingly rich collection of dynamic media, Avid provides powerful servers, networks and media tools to help customers search files, share media and collaborate on new productions, both locally and globally. Avid's solutions also empower users to easily Move media, whether on air, over cable or satellite or through the Internet. Like no other media company today, Avid's end-to-end solutions span the continuum of media creation, management and distribution. The company's corporate headquarters are located in Tewksbury, MA. More information about the company is available at www.avid.com.

(c) 2002 Avid Technology, Inc. All rights reserved. Product specifications and availability are subject to change without notice. All prices are USMSRP for the U.S. and Canada only and are subject to change without notice. Contact your local Avid office or reseller for prices outside the U.S. and Canada. Avid, Avid Unity, Digidesign, Xdeck, Pro Tools, Unity, ProEncode, NetReview, Trilligent and Make, Manage and Move Media are registered trademarks or trademarks of Avid Technology, Inc. in the United States and/or other countries. Oscar is a registered trademark and service mark of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences. Emmy is a registered trademark of ATAS/NATAS. All other trademarks contained herein are the property of their respective owners.