Digital Imaging Group -- DIG -- Releases Open Source Version of the Internet Imaging Protocol for Public Download.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

Spring Internet World 2000

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 6, 2000

The Digital Imaging Group (DIG) announced the release of an open source implementation of the Internet Imaging Protocol (IIP) for public download at: www.digitalimaging.org.

Implemented in Java, the open source client and server provide Web developers with a simple way to get started with IIP. The flexible royalty free license also allows them to integrate IIP into their own product offerings.

The IIP protocol revolutionized the model for Internet imaging by recognizing that today's scanners and digital cameras capture more resolution than can be effectively delivered via traditional Web display. Web masters compensated for this by tediously reducing the resolution of every image in order to reduce download delays. IIP eliminates the need to manually alter every image published since it can essentially downsample "on the fly" while allowing users to zoom in on the images they want to see in more detail.

Extra detail can mean extra sales and reduced costs. E-commerce sites such as Sears Canada, gazelle.com, gloss.com and PhotoLoft.com have deployed IIP as a key component of their online experience. "We were faced with the seemingly impossible task of creating the Sears Canada Web site within five weeks," said Geoff Flood, president of T4G, a technology consulting company. "We used IIP quite extensively in production to repurpose the images for the mark up from the catalog. We would not have been able to successfully complete the job if we weren't able to work with images in this way."

High-resolution Internet imaging is not solely confined to the e-commerce space -- consumers are discovering that the ability to pan and zoom on their favorite images is making photo sharing more entertaining. "IIP has enabled us to significantly enhance the visual experience," said Nick Freeman, strategic consultant of PhotoLoft.com, an Internet imaging infrastructure provider. "We chose the IIP protocol because it scales across our Internet imaging infrastructure platform, providing security for the intellectual assets of our professional content providers, at the same time delivering compelling 'stickiness' for consumer users."

"The release of open source tools for IIP illustrates our commitment to make it easy to adopt DIG standards," said Lisa Walker, president of the DIG. "From specifications, to educational seminars, to source code, the DIG provides nearly everything needed to build on our open standards."

"IIP represents the only open standardized protocol for the access and display of high-resolution images over the Internet," added Stephen Sutherland, chair of the IIP Initiative at DIG and president of OpenGraphics Corp. "IIP has proven that a standardized approach for the deployment of servers that dynamically scale high-resolution images is cost effective for both client and clientless browser access. This in turn is preventing a fractionalization of the market for Internet imaging, which is benefiting Web site developers who can now choose products from a group of competing vendors delivering extremely high-performance, mission-critical IIP products today."

DIG member companies Eastman Kodak, HMR, LuRaTech, OpenGraphics, PhotoWorks and TrueSpectra collaborated to produce this open source software. Developers and end users can download the source code from the DIG Web site at www.digitalimaging.org.

About the Digital Imaging Group

Launched in October 1997, the DIG is an open-industry consortium created to expand the use of digital images across consumer, business and professional imaging markets and applications. Membership gives companies the opportunity to help define the evolving technical platforms in digital imaging, and to create solutions built on those foundations. Membership also gives participating companies the opportunity to collaborate in future marketing and promotional activities. Further information about the DIG and the IIP Initiative is available at http://www.digitalimaging.org or by contacting the DIG at [e-mail] or 650/697-8722.