Free Service Optimizes Web Graphics.

HUNTSVILLE, Ala.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 3, 1998--Large, bloated graphics are a leading cause of slow-loading Web pages. Now a free online service offers a solution to the problem. Monte Sano Software, LLC, today announced the launch of GIFBot, an image optimization robot that can reduce the size of Web graphics by up to 90% without loss of image quality. GIFBot is part of the popular NetMechanic Web site. GIFBot joins NetMechanic's existing Link Check, HTML Check, and Server Check online services.

"We think GIFBot is going to be a big hit," says Mike Churchill, the lead engineer for the new software, "We've gotten many requests for this kind of tool."

GIFBot is a special purpose Internet robot run from a Web page interface. Users visit GIFBot at the NetMechanic site and enter the URL of their image. The robot then downloads the image onto NetMechanic's server and generates different versions of the graphic at different levels of optimization. When finished the robot creates a Web page on the NetMechanic server to display the reduced images. The entire process is completed within 30 seconds. Users can then access this Web page, pick the image they like best, and save it to their computer. GIFBot can be used in conjunction with NetMechanic's Link Check service to index and optimize all the images in a Web site.

The GIFBot is located at http://www.netmechanic.com.

GIFBot works by reducing the number of colors in the target image. Excess colors are the main cause of bloated Web graphics. "A lot of people don't realize that even if you only use two colors in a GIF, the image's color pallet acts as if you're using 256 colors," Churchill says. "It takes disk space to store that information, even though you never use it! And that extra disk space leads to longer download times."

The service will optimize both GIF and JPEG image formats. It also supports transparent colors and GIF89 animation. "A lot of comparable products don't do that," says Churchill.

GIFBot is similar to other commercial graphics optimization packages, such as SmartSaver and GIFWizard. But unlike those products, GIFBot is free. "And we intend to keep it that way," says Churchill, "We use free services like GIFBot to build traffic to the NetMechanic site. If we get people coming to us for our free services, some percentage of those users will sign up for our subscription service. That's our strategy."

NetMechanic's subscription service, Server Check Pro, offers continuous server monitoring. The service monitors the performance of clients' Web servers 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The service sends alerts via email or pager when it detects server problems.

NetMechanic also offers two other services for webmasters: Link Check, a link testing service, and HMTL Check, which provides HTML validation. Both of these services are free and will check sites of up to 200 pages.

Since it's inception last year NetMechanic has proven to be a very popular Web site. Its robots have tuned over 4,000,000 Web pages, and currently tune over 600,000 pages a month. Yahoo Internet Life called NetMechanic, "Insanely great... Possibly the best value on the Web."

Monte Sano Software, LLC, is an Internet software development firm based in Huntsville, Alabama. For more information contact Tom Dahm at 256/461-9857, email [e-mail], or visit the company's Web site at http://www.montesano.com/press/.

CONTACT: Monte Sano Software LLC, Huntsville

Tom Dahm, 256/461-9857

[e-mail]

http://www.montesano.com/press/