PhotoDisc Announces Development of Custom Search Software for Web Site, Enabling More Creative Searching Ability.SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 30, 1997-- Breakthrough way to search for images on PhotoDisc's web site, enabled by integration of technology from Virage, Fulcrum fulcrum: see lever. and Erli PhotoDisc, Inc., the leading provider of professional-quality images on CD-ROM CD-ROM: see compact disc. CD-ROM in full compact disc read-only memory Type of computer storage medium that is read optically (e.g., by a laser). and online, today announced the introduction of a powerful new search capability on the PhotoDisc web site, www.photodisc.com . The implementation of this revolutionary search and retrieval technology marks the first commercial application of a search engine combining keyword, natural language and visual search capabilities. The combination of these methods allows for intuitive "find something like this" querying which aids in the creative design process. The new search capability was co-developed by PhotoDisc and Virage, www.virage.com, who used Virage's visual asset manager toolkit as a platform to perform a custom integration of search engines by Virage, Fulcrum and Erli. This new customized technology offers an uncomplicated interface, designed to provide PhotoDisc customers with an intuitive and easy-to-use search mechanism. Customers can specify visual elements or specific keywords and phrases that they're looking for Looking for In the context of general equities, this describing a buy interest in which a dealer is asked to offer stock, often involving a capital commitment. Antithesis of in touch with. , and search for images that contain those particular attributes. A customer could, for example, search for images based on the general shape of the objects in the image or based on the colors contained in the image. Or, they could simply describe the concept or subject matter they desire. "This technology allows us to offer our customers the most innovative and efficient means of searching PhotoDisc's image collection," said Bill Heston, vice president of business development. "Designers often think about ideas in visual terms in addition to specific descriptive words. This technology allows them to search for images intuitively and visually rather than requiring a string of precise keywords to describe the desired image." This enhanced search capability is a direct result of a cooperative effort by PhotoDisc and Virage to integrate three existing technologies -- Virage's VIR VIR Virtual VIR Virgin Islands (ISO Country code) VIR Virginia International Raceway VIR Vascular and Interventional Radiology VIR Vehicle Inspection Report VIR Virtual Interface (Alteon) Image Engine, Erli's AlethIR and Fulcrum's SearchServer. The new search engine allows users to run complex searches for specific images using either a precise keyword, full text strings, or visual criteria such as color, texture, structure or composition. When visual criteria are combined with keywords, the search engine first matches the keywords entered, then ranks the results according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. the visual attributes selected. A "lightbox" feature allows users to search for and store images for up to seven days, and to share their selections with peers and colleagues, allowing for much greater collaboration Working together on a project. See collaborative software. than before. The new search capability allows customers to search through the more than 50,000 high-resolution digital images available on PhotoDisc's web site faster and more efficiently than before. When an appropriate image is found, it can be individually purchased and downloaded quickly and securely from the site. "PhotoDisc continues to successfully position itself as the leader of the royalty-free digital stock photography industry," said Paul Lego, chief executive officer of Virage. "They established using the Internet Internet Publicly accessible computer network connecting many smaller networks from around the world. It grew out of a U.S. Defense Department program called ARPANET (Advanced Research Projects Agency Network), established in 1969 with connections between computers at the as a vehicle for purchasing digital images. What Virage has done by integrating our VIR Image Engine with Fulcrum's SearchServer and Erli's AlethIR is to provide a quicker, more intuitive way for PhotoDisc's customers to find the image they desire." AlethIR for Fulcrum, an integrated product developed jointly by Erli and Fulcrum Technologies, provides the highest standard of retrieval performance commercially available. Erli adds the intelligence of linguistic analysis to the power of Fulcrum's text search engine. Combined with Virage's Visual Information Retrieval information retrieval Recovery of information, especially in a database stored in a computer. Two main approaches are matching words in the query against the database index (keyword searching) and traversing the database using hypertext or hypermedia links. technology, the three allow PhotoDisc to offer the most revolutionary search technology available on the Internet. PhotoDisc is the leader in providing digital stock photography on CD-ROM and online, and continues to transform the digital stock-photography and electronic commerce industries with constant innovations on the company's web site. PhotoDisc has established itself as the industry leader by pioneering a number of industry "firsts." PhotoDisc was the first to put stock-photography on CD-ROM, the first to develop and implement the royalty-free licensing model, and the first to make entire image-buying transactions possible on the web -- from searching to purchasing to taking delivery of images all online. A pioneer in its field, PhotoDisc was the first publisher of royalty-free, high-resolution digital images and is regarded as the worldwide leader in both the creative and technical quality of digital images. PhotoDisc CD-ROMs are available nationwide through the company's catalog catalog, descriptive list, on cards or in a book, of the contents of a library. Assurbanipal's library at Nineveh was cataloged on shelves of slate. The first known subject catalog was compiled by Callimachus at the Alexandrian Library in the 3d cent. B.C. and at major software retailers. Both CD-ROMs and individual images are available for purchase online through its award-winning web site at www.photodisc.com . The company's products are available worldwide in over 50 countries including the European Community European Community: see European Union. European Community (EC) Organization formed in 1967 with the merger of the European Economic Community, European Coal and Steel Community, and European Atomic Energy Community. , Asia, Latin America Latin America, the Spanish-speaking, Portuguese-speaking, and French-speaking countries (except Canada) of North America, South America, Central America, and the West Indies. and the Middle East. For additional information and to order any PhotoDisc CD-ROM or a free catalog, call 1-800-528-3472. -0- PhotoDisc is a trademark of PhotoDisc, Inc. All other company and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders and are used here for identification purposes only. Virage, Inc. (www.virage.com) is the leading provider of solutions for managing multimedia data such as images and video. Companies in the database management, information retrieval, Internet, and digital imaging markets license Virage's Visual Information Retrieval (VIR) technology as an enabling agent for building applications to manage visual assets. Virage also provides application solutions directly to end-users in the corporate, broadcasting, publishing, entertainment, pharmaceutical, Web commerce, and medical imaging markets. Founded in 1994 and based in San Mateo San Mateo (săn mətā`ō), city (1990 pop. 85,486), San Mateo co., W Calif., on San Francisco Bay; inc. 1894. It is a commercial and retail center with some high-technology manufacturing. San Mateo, Spanish for St. , CA, Virage pioneered the breakthrough technologies of Visual Information Retrieval and automatic video cataloging. Erli (www.erli.com) is the leader in the field of computational linguistics computational linguistics (CL) Use of digital computers in linguistics research. The simplest examples are the use of computers to scan text and produce such aids as word lists, frequency counts, and concordances. with a team of more than sixty linguists A linguist in the academic sense is a person who studies linguistics. Ambiguously, the word is sometimes also used to refer to a polyglot (one who knows more than 2 languages), or a grammarian, but these two uses of the word are distinct. , documentalists and linguistic computer scientists. Erli is headquartered in Paris, and has offices in North America North America, third largest continent (1990 est. pop. 365,000,000), c.9,400,000 sq mi (24,346,000 sq km), the northern of the two continents of the Western Hemisphere. . AlethIR is a registered trademark of Erli. Fulcrum (www.fulcrum.com) SearchServer(TM) is designed for retrieving and publishing information. SearchServer(TM) is a high-performance, multi-platform indexing and retrieval engine retrieval engine n. A search engine. that delivers tailored, integrated solutions that provide faster and easier access to corporate information. SearchServer(TM) is a registered trademark of Fulcrum, Inc. CONTACT:Sophia McShea, PhotoDisc Inc. 206/441-9355 sophiam@photodisc.com or Julie Quattro, MWW/Savitt 206/689-8505 jquattro@mww.com or David Bayliss David Bayliss (born June 8 1976 in Liverpool, England) is a professional footballer, currently playing with Barrow in the Conference North as a defender. Bayliss joined Rochdale and progressed through the ranks, making his Football League debut in the 1994/95 season. , Virage Inc. 415/573-3234 dbayliss@virage.com or Alicia Swanson, Eastwick Communications 415/306-4197 alicia@eastwick.com |
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