Bell Atlantic Selects Virage To Supply Searchable Video and Audio Search Engines For Innovative Media Archiving Service.

SAN MATEO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 19, 1999--

Virage, the recognized market leader of video cataloging and media analysis software, announced today (5/19) that Bell Atlantic Video has licensed Virage's video and audio search products for its state-of-the-art media archiving service bureau.

Bell Atlantic's video archiving service is a turn-key service providing enterprise-wide media asset management and video distribution to corporations and government agencies, virtually eliminating the cost and complexity of building in-house media management systems.

Bell Atlantic Video is incorporating Virage's VideoLogger(tm), AudioLogger(tm) and Video Search Tools(tm) software to provide searchable video and audio for its archiving service. Searchable audio capabilities are part of the complete solution, including real-time speech to text indexing, speaker identification and audio classification.

Bell Atlantic has developed the video archiving service for corporations or institutions with large active video content libraries such as broadcasters, production houses, educators and integrated health care providers.

Bell Atlantic Video specializes in MPEG encoding and has encoded over 200,000 minutes of video content. The service also includes: -- Digital conversion and MPEG encoding of multiple content formats

-- audio, video, and photos. -- A sophisticated catalog and indexing function. -- Low-resolution and high-resolution versions of content. -- A highly scalable storage system. -- Sophisticated retrieval capability.

The Virage searchable video solution is key to the new system because it automatically "watches," "listens," and "reads" a video stream in real time, enabling users to search for and find segments of information they desire. VideoLogger automatically extracts information about video content, providing a rich, frame-accurate index offering immediate, nonlinear access to any segment of the video.

Bell Atlantic's customers will be able to search, browse and manage their video assets remotely using any standard Internet browser.

"Virage has the industry's leading real time engine for incorporating video and audio assets into content management systems," said Dick Beville, president of Bell Atlantic Video. "Our archiving service will encompass digital encoding, electronic search and retrieval functions, and a robust network for locating and delivering needed content almost instantaneously. We chose Virage because their products can withstand the rigors of operating 24-hour media management systems in a wide array of customer environments, including broadcast, corporate, and government."

"Bell Atlantic's comprehensive media management service represents an industry first. Bell Atlantic's market entry is a big win for customers needing to accelerate their media management strategy for video assets," said Paul Lego, chief executive officer of Virage, Inc. "Bell Atlantic's solution allows enterprise, government and broadcast customers to effectively manage their strategic video libraries without the complexity and lead times associated with in-house systems."

About Bell Atlantic Video

Located in Reston, Va., Bell Atlantic Video is a subsidiary of Bell Atlantic. The unit markets and delivers to consumers a satellite-based entertainment alternative to cable television. It also develops and delivers to businesses new media services that strengthen communications and increase productivity. The team provides end-to-end solutions for such business applications as Web sites, kiosks, digital learning systems and archival content management systems, and services such as content acquisition, digital encoding and graphic design.

About Virage, Inc.

Virage is the pioneer and recognized market leader in video and image search products. The Virage VideoLogger and AudioLogger software set the standard for real-time indexing and distribution of video across the Internet or corporate intranets and Virage has been named the market winner by industry analyst group Frost & Sullivan. Virage customers include ABC News, AltaVista, BBC, CBS News, CNN, CNN Interactive, Compaq, Federal Bureau of Investigations, General Motors, Harvard Business School, Lockheed Martin, Lucent Technologies, NASA, NBC News, Reuters and several classified U.S. government agencies. These companies rely on the Virage VideoLogger as the critical foundation technology for effectively deploying video within their operations. Headquartered in San Mateo, Virage was incorporated in 1994 to provide organizations with advanced methods for accessing and leveraging media assets. For more information, see the Virage Web site at http://www.virage.com or call 650/573-3210.

Virage and the Virage logo are registered trademarks and VideoLogger and AudioLogger are trademarks of Virage, Inc. All others are trademarks of their respective companies.