News

EMedia Professional, April 1997
Copyright © Online Inc.

Vendors, please send news on products or services to Kirk L. Kroeker, Assistant Editor (EMedia Professional, 649 Massachusetts Ave., Suite 4, Cambridge, MA 02139; 617/492-0268; Fax 617/492-3159).

Click on a feature or news section below. Click the disc icons to return to this list.

CD Recording Gets Packed, Flopped, and Zapped
Macromedia's Director 6: In Pursuit of the Internet
CD-RW's Multiread Moves Forward, Along with More Calls for CD-R/DVD Compatibility
NEC Declines Consumer Markets in OEM/Integrator Gambit
Macromedia Makes the Move into Professional Digital Video Editing with Final Cut
THE DEVELOPER'S TOOLBOX
NEW PRODUCTS
RECORD & REWRITE
MASTERING, REPLICATION, & PACKAGING
FACTS, FIGURES, AND FINDINGS
PEOPLE AND DEALS
TECH AND TOOLS
TOP TEN
CD-R INDEX
THE CD-ROM DRIVE INDEX
CONFERENCE CALENDAR

CD Recording Gets Packed, Flopped, and Zapped
Closely following Adaptec's announcement of its UDF-compliant packet-writing solution, called DirectCD, Cequadrat and Smart Storage announced Windows 95-based packet recording products, both of which are scheduled to ship in the late first to early second quarter of 1997. Cheyenne Software also announced Zap for CD, a non-packet drive-letter access product based on the technology used by Moniker's Spira, which Cheyenne acquired in late 1996.

PacketCD, from Cequadrat, makers of the WinOnCD and WinOnCD ToGo! recording programs, adheres to the OSTA standards for packet writing software and writes information to the CD-R disc in small packets rather then in tracks or sessions. Using PacketCD, users can access a CD-R drive just like a hard drive or a floppy drive, according to the company. PacketCD installs transparently in the Windows 95 environment and gives the user a single drive letter designation for an attached CD recorder, and, like other packet writing solutions, users simply drag and drop files from the Windows Explorer to the drive letter icon. The drive can also be accessed from within Windows applications, making use of a program's "save" and "save as" features. DOS commands like copy, xcopy, deltree, and other file handling programs will all work with PacketCD.

With recorder prices falling rapidly and $200 recorders likely by the end of the year, the need to use traditional CD recording software would have prevented a wider acceptance by the mass market, says John P. Tafoya, vice president of CeQuadrat, Inc. As far as CeQuadrat's existing products, Tafoya said Cequadrat will continue developing the line of formatting and pre-mastering software, including eventually adding DVD support. While the need for these products will continue, the company believes that solutions like PacketCD will broaden the base of potential CD-R users and help CD-R become a ubiquitous storage device like the floppy drive. CeQuadrat's PacketCD is available to all interested CD-R drive manufacturers and OEM customers.
(Cequadrat, 1804 Embarcadero Road, Suite 101, Palo Alto, CA 94303; 408/957-5640; 415/843-3799; http://www.cequadrat.com)

Smart Storage, Inc. of Andover, Massachusetts, has announced FloppyCD, a UDF-compliant variable packet writing program that allows users to write hundreds of "sessions" with minimal overhead, while at the same time producing a CD-ROM that can be read in almost any CD-ROM drive. FloppyCD writes in two modes, Backup and ISO 9660. According to the company, the Backup mode allows users to write files of any size to the CD and gives the option of password protecting the CD when finalizing the disc; in order to read the finalized backup CD, users must first run the FloppyCD unlock driver. (The driver, which works with DOS, Windows 3.1, Windows 95, and Windows NT, can be installed directly from the finalized backup CD.) The Smart Storage packet writing implementation creates completely self-contained, ISO 9660-compatible discs. FloppyCD is available in both 16-bit and 32-bit versions and is available for DOS, Windows, and Windows 95. A Windows NT version is expected soon, as are versions for various types of UNIX.
(Smart Storage, Inc., 100 Burtt Road, Suite 204, Andover, MA 01810; 508/623-3300; Fax 508/623-3310; http://www.smartstorage.com)

Cheyenne Software's Zap for CD is a full 32-bit plug-and-play driver designed for Windows 3.1 or Windows 95 users to read and write to a compatible CD recorder as a drive letter. Using the drag-and-drop features of Windows, Zap for CD eliminates the need for "premastering" software to store files onto a CD-ROM because files can be copied from any local or network storage device. While the initial release is not packet-writing enabled, that function should be included in the software shortly. According to Richard M. Onyon, Cheyenne's director of the desktop product group, this new CD-R product reflects Cheyenne's commitment to bring new storage technologies to the retail desktop and SOHO markets. Cheyenne is also examining coupling its drive letter CD access technology to its well-known Cheyenne Backup for Windows or integrating the technology into the backup product to give users full-featured backup software that allows direct backup to CD media.
(Cheyenne Software, Three Expressway Plaza, Roslyn Heights, NY 11577; 800/243-9462, Fax 516/465-4000; http://www.cheyenne.com) --Robert Starrett

Macromedia's Director 6: In Pursuit of the Internet
Like Asymetrix's ToolBook II, Allen Communication's QuestNet+, and Allegiant's SuperCard 3.0, Macromedia, Inc.'s new Director 6 makes a move to embrace the Internet more effectively than earlier efforts with Shockwave and Director 5. Director 6 offers a host of online-savvy tools that will position Director--if Macromedia's claims bear out in product testing--as one of the most powerful cross-platform, cross-media authoring tools ever, offering capabilities such as streaming Shockwave, Java playback, new drag-and-drop object-behavior models, and full support for CD-ROM/online hybrids through HTML, Java, and Shockwave.

Where before Internet users had to wait until the Shockwave content was downloaded to disk, Director 6 now offers the ability to stream content. David Lasner, senior director of multimedia products at Macromedia, says that "With Director 5, a typical Shockwave movie of 200KB takes about 60 seconds to begin playing, but with Director 6 the user will see the same movie begin playing in about a second." According to Macromedia, the new Shockwave also enables delivery to smaller bandwidths than was previously required.

Developers will also be able to create CD-ROM/online hybrids that deliver up-to-the-minute content from the Internet. Beta developers have created Shockwave movies with Director 6 that play files on the local CD-ROM while keeping the pricing and product descriptions on the Web for current downloading. Although this feature of Director 6 remains to be tested in consumer environments, the product purports to offer a more robust multimedia alternative to mere HTML-based discs that link to Web sites to enable similar up-to-the-minute access.

Director 6 also offers integration with Java, so that users can embed Shockwave movies as applets using the <APPLET> tag in HTML. With Director 6, developers can also play Java applets within Shockwave movies and play Shockwave movies inside Java applets across Windows and Macintosh platforms. And Director's new browser scripting supports JavaScript, LiveConnect, AppleScript, and Active Control for integration between Shockwave movies and the browser, and between multiple Shockwave movies on the same page.

Director 6 offers a new user interface and introduces what Macromedia calls an "accessible" object/behavior model directly on the Director stage--the area in Director where the movie being developed plays. Users unfamiliar with the Lingo scripting language can drag and drop object behaviors using pre-scripted behaviors included with Director. The new tool also includes the ability to manage 120 sprite channels--up from 48 in Director 5--which means that developers can now have 120 elements on the stage for each frame.

Other enhancements to the authoring tool include support for technologies such as ActiveX controls, DirectSound, DirectDraw, QuickTime VR, QuickDraw 3D, and Intel's Pentium processors with MMX. Support for ActiveX controls means that with Director 6 developers can embed a Director movie as an ActiveX control in their applications for hybrid CD-ROMs, multiplayer games, or presentations that launch ActiveX controls themselves--including Microsoft Word or Excel documents--from within a Director movie.

In addition to Director 6, the Director Multimedia Studio 6 includes Extreme 3D 2, a modeling, animation, rendering, and VRML program; Macromedia xRes 3, an image editing, natural texture painting, and compositing tool; and SoundEdit 16 2.02, a tool for creating and editing sound. Windows users receive Sonic Foundry's SoundForge, an audio production application, instead of SoundEdit 16.

In North America, Director Multimedia Studio for Windows 95, Windows NT, Macintosh 68K, and PowerPC is available for an estimated upgrade price of $499 and a street price of $999. Director 6 is not available as a standalone application, except for Director 5 users, who can upgrade for $399.
(Macromedia, 600 Townsend, San Francisco, CA 94103; 415/252-2201; Fax 415/626-0554; http://www.macromedia.com) --Kirk L. Kroeker

CD-RW's Multiread Moves Forward, Along with More Calls for CD-R/DVD Compatibility
The February 3, 1997 meeting of the Optical Storage Technology Association (OSTA) helped answer one of the central questions about the real market potential for CD-Rewritable (CD-RW), a phase-change media-based extension of the compact disc technology that provides the ability to record and erase in a drive that also reads CD-ROM and reads and writes CD-R. The biggest issue with CD-RW is the inability of current CD-ROM and CD-R drives to read CD-RW media because the phase-change material's much lower reflectivity characteristics require the addition of automatic gain control in a drive's optical read head subsystem. The earliest CD-RW drive models are expected to come to market in second quarter 1997, with Ricoh's 6X read/2X write/2X rewrite drive, the internal MP6200, due to reach the channel in April 1997 with initial pricing between $500 and $700. Philips, Hewlett Packard, and Sony are likely to come to market with their CD-RW models soon after.

At the OSTA meeting, Philips Key Modules' Rob Van Eijk reported progress from meetings of the Yokohama Group, which comprises four groups of representatives of Japanese CD-ROM, CD-R, DVD drive, and media manufacturers. Ten CD-ROM drive manufacturers, Van Eijk said, have committed to including Multiread capabilities in their new CD-ROM drive offerings. The commitment of the drive manufacturers could translate to more than 80 percent of new CD-ROM drives on the market brandishing Multiread capability by the end of 1997, which, given DVD-ROM drive sales projections, could mean an installed base of many tens of millions of Multiread CD-ROM and CD-R drives. Without a significant installed base of Multiread-capable CD-ROM drives, many industry analysts argue, CD-RW can not take advantage of the standards-based data media interchange benefits largely credited for CD-ROM's success, and so CD-RW could remain a niche storage device similar to another phase-change disc format, Panasonic's PD, which also reads CD-ROM.

While the level of Multiread support in the CD-ROM drive marketplace is one important factor to CD-RW's success, price may be another. Dave Fowler, CD-R and CD-RW product manager from Hewlett Packard, a company backing the push for CD-RW, told EMedia Professional that HP's CD-RW drives will be priced comparably to 2X write/4X read CD recorders. If this proves true, buyers will be faced with the compelling prospect of choosing CD-RW capability at no extra cost.

The Multiread specification, now in draft version 0.71, will be the subject of a new OSTA CD-W subcommittee. The proposal, whose technical editor is Ron Sutton of Hewlett Packard, details "the requirements of Multiread for CD-ROM, CD-R, CD-R/RW, and DVD-ROM devices." Like all OSTA-generated specifications, the Multiread proposal is an implementation guide to developing compatible devices only, and not a standard; as a draft version, it is subject to revision before final approval. The Multiread specification addresses not only the physical ability to read CD-RW media, but the logical ability to read packet-written media in UDF format--an important consideration for packet-written CD-Recordable as well as CD-RW media. In the current draft version of Multiread, drives bearing the Multiread logo must also be able to read multisession CD-ROM and CD-R.

The biggest issue that remains undecided is whether or not the Multiread specification will require that DVD-ROM drives be able to read CD-R discs--thus giving the assurance that any DVD-ROM drive sporting the Multiread logo can read any disc with the prefix CD. In the absence of a DVD hardware requirement for backwards compatibility, the Multiread logo could forestall the need to ask about read capabilities for a laundry list of disc formats. One DVD drive design strategy for CD-R compatibility is the use of dual lasers that provide the ability to read CD-R.

In an interview with EMedia Professional in January 1997, Larry Zimmer, worldwide general manager for CD/DVD, made Eastman Kodak Company's position on Multiread clear: "We're taking a full position on the dual wavelength approach," he noted, "and around Multiread, our position is that we endorse the Multiread specification that includes CD-R, CD-RW, and DVD. If there's going to be a Multiread industry effort, especially for DVD, let's make sure that happens." --Dana J. Parker

NEC Declines Consumer Markets in OEM/Integrator Gambit
The last quarter of 1996 showed companies like Philips, Toshiba, Pioneer, Acer, Pinnacle, Optics Storage, and Mitsumi all releasing faster-than-8X-speed CD-ROM drives. With so much competition in the peripherals marketplace, it was easy for companies to get buried, but Gallup's "Benchmark Brand-Preference Poll" of the most widely used CD-ROM drives in businesses found large corporate users choosing NEC Technologies, Inc. over Sony Electronics 22 percent to 18 percent. Although midsize and small companies picked Sony as the top CD-ROM drive provider--with midsize businesses choosing Sony 17 percent to NEC's 16 percent, and small companies picking Sony over NEC seven percent to five percent--NEC's position in the CD-ROM consumer peripherals market was formidable. Even so, on September 27, 1996, NEC withdrew from the consumer market, refocusing its efforts on OEMs and integrators.

"We have been tremendously successful in the OEM and integration businesses and the time was right to make this move," said Harry Petty, vice president of NEC Technologies' Advanced Media Division. "The CD-ROM market has grown to the point where it is commodity-driven and extremely price-sensitive. Like the market evolution of other storage products, the traditional branded-product marketing model is no longer applicable to the CD-ROM business."

The Advanced Media Division will continue as the CD-ROM business unit of the new NEC Technologies, also investigating future optical products. NEC Technologies' OEM sales group will continue to bring NEC CD-ROM products to personal computer manufacturers on an OEM basis, and the company will continue its current channel strategy with the MultiSpin family of CD-ROM readers through the end of March 1997. The company's most recently manufactured drive is a 16X CAV/CLV model, which the company says it is selling to systems integrators and manufacturers.
(NEC Technologies, 1250 North Arlington Heights Road, Suite 500, Itasca, IL 60143; 630/775-7883; Fax 630/775-6717) --Kirk L. Kroeker

Macromedia Makes the Move into Professional Digital Video Editing with Final Cut
Coming off a year of disappointing sales for its flagship Authorware, Freehand, Backstage, and Director--now in version 6.0--Macromedia, Inc. is setting its sites on competitors as diverse as desktop video's mainstay, Adobe Premiere, and turnkey video post-production systems. With Final Cut, Macromedia hopes to convince the digital video editing worlds of multimedia development, television and broadcasting, corporate marketing, and training and education that Macromedia's new software will provide equal functionality at a fraction of the cost of traditional digital video systems from the likes of AVID Media Composer and MCXpress, Scitex Spherious, Media 100, Adobe After Effects, and D-Vision. The first public demonstration of Final Cut is planned for the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) show in April 1997. NAB has been viewed by many, since 1993, as the key industry show for digital video tools.

The marketing argument behind Final Cut is clear: with today's open architecture, videographers and multimedia developers can assemble a digital video editing and effects platform for under $10,000. In making this argument, Macromedia looks to both the capabilities of QuickTime on both Windows and Macintosh and the wide variety of digital video hardware such as fast processors, inexpensive RAID, large hard drives, and digital video capture and encoder subsystems now available from many vendors for the Windows 95 and Windows NT platforms. "Final Cut is the first professional editing application that uses QuickTime 2.5 on both Macintosh and Windows platforms," comments Carlos Montalvo, vice president of Apple Computer's Interactive Media Group. "QuickTime has matured into the most flexible media layer for all professional video. At a press briefing in early February, Tim Meyers, director of video products marketing at Macromedia, repeatedly cited as an essential ingredient the Final Cut development team's close working relationships with Apple's QuickTime developers.

Back in 1995, Macromedia courted and won key members of the Abode Premiere team, including Randy Ubillos, the inventor and primary engineer of that software, who now is heading ten engineers and quality assurance specialists in developing Final Cut at Macromedia. Ubillos had also started the Open Systems Round Table, which was an effort to get digital video manufacturers to work toward non-proprietary platforms; he also was involved in developing QuickTime, ActiveMovie, and various other video technologies at Apple, Radius, SuperMac, Truevision, and Media 100. Tim Meyers had headed the Adobe Premiere marketing efforts from the first version through version 4.

Beta releases of Final Cut are expected after NAB, which runs from April 7 to 10 in Las Vegas. The price for the shipping release, which is expected at the earliest sometime late in second quarter 1997, has not been set but is projected between $1000 and $3000, according to Meyers. The Final Cut build demonstrated in February offered an extremely impressive array of features, even though the pre-beta state showed at the same time that many details of features were yet to be determined. One central feature: Final Cut will be available on Power Macintosh, Windows 95, and Windows NT 4.0.

Among the core features of Final Cut are guaranteed audio/video sync and playing cuts without requiring rendering, drag and drop editing and reusable windows for clear interface design, and the ability for users to set a wide range of editing modes. A wide range of output options, including insert edits with device control, generation of EDLs in all major formats, and compressed or uncompressed output are part of the package, along with animation and effects libraries numbering in the hundreds and scripting editing that supports user effect customization. Final Cut provides a wide degree of audio control and effects as well.

In addition, Final Cut is paying a lot of attention to file organization and other media management features, which should help offset one of the continuing shortcomings of lower-cost digital video editing tools in the marketplace today. There will be a Realtime Option for Final Cut, designed for use with dual-stream digital video boards that allow many transitions and compositing of still graphics, such as titles, to be viewed without rendering, as well as supporting realtime 3D DVE effects through Pinnacle Micro's Genie card. The Targa 2000 TRX is one example of a dual-stream board compatible with the Realtime Option.

With the development and marketing team Macromedia has assembled, there is no question that the company is making a major play for the digital video tools market. Bundling Final Cut with video capture cards is not anticipated to be "aggressively" pursued for the software, although Macromedia has agreed to ship Final Cut with Media 100's Extended Vincent board for Windows NT.
(Macromedia, Inc., 600 Townsend Street, Suite 310W, San Francisco, CA 94103; 415/252-2118; Fax 415/626-1502; http://www.macromedia.com) --David R. Guenette

THE DEVELOPER'S TOOLBOX
MPEG Pegged with New Philips Brochure, Imake Analyzer, Cinax Editor MPEG's positioning at the forefront of digital video production technology has gained strength and clarity in recent months, thanks in large measure to a newly released Philips brochure, "MPEG: The Only International Standard for Audio and Video Encoding." Also signifying MPEG's ascent by sheer demand for such a tool is Imake's mpegSTAT, a new tool for analyzing and generating statistics on MPEG-encoded streams. And also new on the MPEG scene is iFilmEdit, a new MPEG video editor.

Signposting the first splash of MPEG-2, with its promised emergence as the video compression standard for DVD, Philips Key Modules has outlined the major points of MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 in a newly released brochure replete with graphics and charts and encoder board shots. In addition to highlighting such "advantages" of MPEG as its international standardization, diversification of investment in that standard, established licensing policy, and its integration of audio and video, the brochure charts application areas and consumer benefits to MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 on both the audio and video sides. It also discusses platform compatibility issues, the differences between MPEG-1 and MPEG-2, and addresses a modicum of specifics about bit rates both constant and variable. The document also lists major contributors to the MPEG standards, such as AT&T, Digital Equipment Corporation, JVS, LSI Logic, Matsushita, Motorola, Texas Instruments, Thomson, Toshiba, and Philips itself.
(Philips Key Modules, 2099 Gateway Place, Suite 100, San Jose, CA 95110; 408/453-7373; Fax 408/453-6444; http://www.philips.com/pkm/bumd/)

If Philips' new release pinpoints MPEG beginners, Imake Software and Services has aimed for the other end of the spectrum--video professionals already working regularly with MPEG technology--with mpegSTAT, a Windows 95 and NT-based application that enables users to collect statistics on an MPEG-encoded stream while simultaneously viewing the stream on a monitor. Working through mpegSTAT's graphical interface, users can generate analysis of Single Program MPEG-2 Transport streams and display stream multiplex information gathered in a hierarchical tree for quick identification of the structure of the stream and associated Packet IDs. In addition to reporting amassed statistics, mpegSTAT also offers customizable syntax checking and threshold definition capabilities. Information users can generate in real-time with mpegSTAT includes, MPEG-2 Transport Header and PES Header statistics, MPEG Elementary Stream statistics, Program-Specific Information Table statistics, and content decoding and playback during analysis. mpegSTAT, which can be downloaded in a 30-day introductory version from Imake's Web site, is available for under $5000.
(Imake Software and Services, 6700 Rockledge Drive, Suite 101A, Bethesda, MD 20817; 301/896-9200; Fax 301/897-2130; http://www.imake.com)

And for those application developers inclined to edit film, Cinax Designs, Inc. has released iFilmEdit, a software-based MPEG video editor designed for use with low-end real-time MPEG-1 encoders. iFilmEdit enables users to manipulate encoded video with two basic edit functions, edge clipping and multi-clip concatenation. Edge clipping consists of utilities for cropping a video field and eliminating undesired artifacts from the closing stages of movie capture. iFilmEdit's multiclip concatenation capabilities enable users to edit multiple clips independently and merge the resulting clip together. The resulting clip can then be used as a master clip upon which additional clips can be subsequently merged via the same process of two-clip concatenation ad infinitum. iFilmEdit runs under Windows 95 and lists for $49.95 as a standalone product, although it will be primarily distributed through OEM arrangements with PC manufacturers and encoder board vendors such as Darim and L.A. Vision.
(Cinax Designs, Inc., 150-1152 Mainland Street, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, V6B 4X2; 604/685-2364; Fax 604/685-7998; http://www.cinax.com)

New Intranet Development and Distribution Tools Debuting EveryWare╔and from Coris

Coris Inc., has released a new version of its high-end enterprise-wide document and object creation, integration, editing, storage, management, and distribution solution. Coris Publisher 3.0 uses the company's Oracle InterOffice document management technology to ensure safe and reliable Web distribution of enterprise-generated document and multimedia object databases. To the Oracle foundation Coris adds scalable content management, integration with QuarkXpress and Adobe Acrobat, routing capabilities, automated output planning and delivery services, and Internet/Intranet accessibility using a Java-based gateway. Coris markets Publisher 3.0 to developers of print catalogs and database-oriented distributed CD-ROM and Web pages. Comprising a suite of high-end, customizable publishing software that integrates content creation, integration into a single repository, and automated distribution, Coris Publisher 3.0 has scalable pricing that begins at $100,000.
(Coris, Inc., 7501 South Quincy, Willowbrook, IL 60521; 800/351-3311, 630/655-7700; Fax 630/655-7799; http://www.coris.com)

EveryWare Development Corporation has announced a new Macintosh version of Tango Enterprise, an "Intranet Rapid Application Development" tool designed to enable the quick and easy creation of Web-based applications with data connectivity. While using roughly the same drag-and-drop GUI employed in previous editions of the software, Tango 2.1 for Macintosh adds support for direct Oracle and FileMaker Pro database access to its long-time Sybase, Informix, SQL Server, Access, FoxPro, and Butler SQL support. The company says performance speed is up 60 percent with the new version, thanks to a new caching mechanism, several code enhancements, and a new WebStar Server API plug-in for the Tango Application Server that provides an alternative to previous iterations' reliance on the slower Common Gateway Interface. "Meta Tags" new with Tango 2.1 extend data manipulation capabilities and improve existing "if/then" statements. Single-user versions of Tango Enterprise 2.1 start at $995 and are available directly from EveryWare.
(EveryWare Development Corporation, 7145 West Credit Avenue, Building 1, Unit 2, Mississaugam, Ontario, L5N 6J7, Canada; 905/819-1173; Fax 905/818-1172; http://www.everyware.com)

New Digital Video Editor Editions from D-Vision, Media 100

D-Vision Systems, Inc. has announced version 2.0 of its OnLINE non-linear digital video editing tool for Windows NT. The software-based tool ships with full component, S-Video, and composite video activity, and is designed to work with Truevision's Targa 2000 DTX and RTX PCI video capture boards. According to D-Vision, OnLINE 2.0 also provides 360KB/frame CCIR-601 resolution, real-time audio mixer and fader control during playback, support of CD-quality and 44.1KHz and 48KHz audio rate real-time motion effects, 5X real-time hardware-accelerated digital video effects, enhanced clip-splitting capabilities, resizable viewer and removable toolbars, and improved job backup and restore capabilities over previous iterations. The first version of the software that runs under NT, OnLINE 2.0 is fully network-capable and sells as a standalone PCI-based software tool for a list price of $5995.
(D-Vision Systems, Inc, 8755 West Higgins Road, 2nd Floor, Chicago, IL 60631; 800/838-4746, 773/714-1400; Fax 773/714-1405; http://www.dvision.com)

Media 100, Inc. has also made editing headlines recently with the announcement of a newly defined and priced line of digital video editing systems. Based on Media 100's Vincent 601 digital video engine, the new product line comprises six systems: Media 100 qx for broadcast-quality QuickTime, which ships for $4000; Media 100 qx with component for QuickTime users with component VTRs, which lists for $5795; Media 100 le for real-time productivity, which lists for $5795; Media 100 lx for component image quality and real-time productivity, which lists for $9995; Media 100 xe, for real-time graphics performance, which lists for $14,995; and Media 100 xs for real-time effects productivity and high image quality, which lists for $24,995. A seventh product, Gaudi, is a digital video effects generator that integrates with Media 100 as its 3D-effects and warping engine, and retails for $6995.
(Media 100, Inc., 100 Locke Drive, Marlboro, MA 01752-1192; 508/460-1600; Fax 508/624-6782; http://www.media100.com)

New Templates QuickStart Innovus Developers

http://www.innovusmm.com

Allegiant Gives Director XTRA Streaming with New Marionet

http://www.allegiant.com

RenderRAX and Lightscape Broaden High-End Graphics Landscape

Intergraph Computer Systems has released StudioZ RenderRAX, a processor module-based new rendering engine for 200MHz Pentium Pro systems running Windows NT. Designed for content creators rendering complex and processor-intensive models, computer-generated images, and animations at high rendering speeds, StudioZ RenderRAX is intended for Windows-based game developers and the like and optimized for use with such multithreaded rendering software packages as Softimage's Mental Ray, NewTek Light Wave 3D with ScreamerNet, and Kinetix 3D Studio MAX. Each StudioZ RenderRAX module includes four 200MHz Pentium Pro processors with 512KB memory cache, 256MB of four-way interleaved Error-Correcting Code, a 2GB of hard drive space and UltraSCSI controller, 10/100Base-TX on-motherboard Ethernet controller, and Intergraph's G95 graphics accelerator to provide 1,280x1,024 true-color graphics for rendering viewing and previews. Pricing begins at $20,000.
(Intergraph Computer Systems, CR1105, Huntsville, AL 35894-0001; 205/730-1162; Fax 205/730-6445; http://www.intergraph.com)

Lightscape Technologies, Inc. has released Lightscape Visualization System (LVS) 3.0, the newest version of its advanced visualization and lighting tool for 3D graphics enhancement. Designed for use with Windows 95 and NT, LVS combines radiosity technology with an integrated ray tracer and physically based lighting to provide such effects as direct and indirect diffuse lighting, soft shadows, and color bleeding between surfaces. Features new with LVS 3.0 NT/95 besides general performance enhancements include the ability to preview models before committing them to radiosity processing, an expanded material template library, drag-and-drop object and light positioning, and an undo feature for all delete operations. LVS 3.0 NT/95 also offers an expert wizard which prompts the user through the setup process for final parameters for radiosity processing. Users can still control local and global process parameters manually if they choose. Designed for developers of interactive graphics environments like VRML sites and games, "Mesh-to-Texture" is a new Lightscape tool that converts the radiosity solution into texture maps, which results in a model with a reduced polygon count and photorealistic look. A new SoftImage importer has also been added, along with improved support for 3D Studio R4 files. 3D Studio MAX plug-ins for importing and exporting files between LVS and 3DS MAX were promised for late first quarter 1997 release. LVS 3.0 NT/95 lists for $495.
(Lightscape Technologies, Inc., 1054 Saratoga-Sunnyvale Road, Suite 200, San Jose, CA 95129; 408/342-1900; Fax 408/342-1910; http://www.lightscape.com)

NEW PRODUCTS: Drives, Networks, Utilities, & More

DVD Players Hit Shelves in U.S.

Philips Consumer Electronics Company (PCEC) introduced the Philips Magnavox DVD400AT Video Player, first in a line of Philips Magnavox DVD players planned for the home entertainment market. "DVD is a very important media innovation which will propel home entertainment into the new digital era," said Robert Minkhorst, president and CEO of PCEC. The new DVD Video Player features MPEG-2 video and picture resolution with 720 pixels per horizontal display line, nearly three times that of standard VHS. The new player also features Dolby Digital and Dolby ProLogic audio compatibility, and can be connected to a Dolby Digital Decoder to take advantage of five discrete full-frequency audio bandwidth channels to deliver stereo in both the front and rear, plus front center channel, as well as a separate low frequency channel for subwoofers. The Philips Magnavox DVD Video Player is compatible with existing audio CD formats, according to the company. Philips' affiliated software company, PolyGram, has announced that it will release a number of DVD titles in the U.S. mid-year 1997. Initially, the selection will be six titles and will increase to more than a dozen titles by the end of the year.
(Philips Consumer Electronics Company, One Philips Drive, P.O. Box 14810, Knoxville, TN 37914-1810; 423/521-4316; Fax 408/453-6444)

Panasonic began shipping its first DVD players--the DVD-A100 and the DVD-A300--to retailers on March 1, 1997, in anticipation of DVD videos being available in the middle of the month. With the DVD-A100 and the DVD-A300 (depending on the content of the disc), users can select from up to eight different language soundtracks, or from 32 sets of subtitles, as with most DVD players. With Panasonic's players, users can choose either the 4:3 aspect ratio (or height and width of the video) that fills the TV screen or, if available in the display set, a 16:9 widescreen presentation. Parents can prevent their kids from watching objectionable material with both of the players' parental lockout feature. Other features shared by both models include a trilingual onscreen display, a headphone jack, and multi-ending capability which, software permitting, allows consumers to choose from a selection of different story lines and endings. Besides playing music CDs, both models can play current Video CDs. The DVD-A300 adds several features to the DVD-A100, including a Dolby Digital decoder, a karaoke feature, and a universal remote control. Suggested retail price is $599 for the DVD-A100 and $749 for the DVD-A300.
(Panasonic, One Panasonic Way 3C-7, Secaucus, NJ 07094; 201/392-6067; Fax 201/348-7579)

Imaging/Management Packages Proliferate

Information Retrieval Corporation is now offering a Windows-based document storage and retrieval system that lets users store and access information from PC, LAN, or mainframe. The INFOtrieve Electronic Filing System is a document storage and retrieval system that uses CD-ROM and provides 512 security levels to safeguard data. The INFOtrieve Electronic Filing System lets users define up to 22 indexes for search flexibility and accommodates up to engineering-size documents. Multiple documents can be viewed simultaneously and, according to the company, systems can be configured to handle hundreds of CDs in a jukebox environment. The INFOtrieve Electronic Filing System is priced from $6950, depending upon hardware and user requirements.
(Information Retrieval Corporation, 490 Boston Post Road, Sudbury, MA 01776; 508/440-8888; Fax 508/443-4684)

Network Imaging Corporation announced the release of Voyager II, a Windows-based imaging and document file management system capable of delivering documents directly to workstations. Based on Network Imaging Corporation's IView:Object Manager multimedia management technology that has been embraced by Microsoft's ActiveX initiative, Voyager II's Object Scalable Architecture allows for both hardware independence and the use of industry-standard technologies such as SQL Relational Database Management Systems (RDBMS) and Microsoft's Windows NT operating system. The use of these technologies permits data portability among disparate hardware platforms, centralized administration capabilities, and enterprise-wide scalability.
(Network Imaging Corporation, 500 Huntmar Park Drive, Herndon, VA 22070-5100; 800/254-0994; 703/478-2260; Fax 703/481-6920; http://www.netimage.com)

Imaging Institute Incorporated announced the EzView Vault, an imaging and management system designed for banks and their customers. Customers visit the bank to scan personal and business documents--like mortgage papers, wills, birth certificates, loan documents, and financial statements--and publish the scanned images onto CD-ROM. The customer then has a secure copy of crucial documents that can be viewed, printed, and faxed from any Windows-based home office or business center PC.
(Imaging Institute Incorporated, 2600 Eagan Woods Drive, Suite 100, Eagan, MN 55121; 612/454-6411; Fax 612/454-6599)

Optika Imaging Systems Inc. released a new component to its FilePower imaging software suite. The new component, called FPweb, provides access to document images, COLD reports, and traditional electronic business documents created in Windows-based products such as MS Word and Excel. According to the company, FPweb is designed to enhance the effectiveness of applications that require document retrieval from remote clients that are not connected to the same LAN or WAN as the central Optika document management system. FPweb's built-in security allows access only to validated users. Documents can be delivered either as standard HTML, with embedded GIF images, or as a collection of documents in an Optika FPwebBook.
(Optika Imaging Systems, Inc., 5755 Mark Dabling Boulevard, Suite 100, Colorado Springs, CO 80919; 719/548-9800; Fax 719/531-7915; http://www.optika.com)

Cirrus Logic and Zoran Revolutionizing Chipset Architecture

Cirrus Logic, Inc. announced what it has called the industry's first 24X ATAPI CD-ROM decoder, the CL-CR3420, which is 20 percent faster than current competing decoders, according to the company. The single-chip solution combines a buffer manager with an advanced programmable error correction code technology to produce a 24X data transfer rate. "With the emergence of the CD-ROM drive as a standard component in today's PC, drive manufacturers need single-chip controllers that deliver leading-edge technology and are easily implemented," said Nicos Syrimis, general manager of Cirrus Logic's Optical Storage Division. "The CD-3420's integrated error correction code technology and hardware automation of the data path provide these benefits while reducing microcontroller intervention to enhance the drive's overall performance." The new chip supports all CD-ROM formats, fast ATA transfer modes, all ATAPI reset commands, automated command functions, and advanced error correction code technology.
(Cirrus Logic, Inc., 3100 West Warren Avenue, Fremont, CA 94539-6423; 510/623-8300; http://www.cirrus.com)

With the anticipated emergence of multichannel audio program sources, such as digital satellite television, DVD, and High Definition TV, the number of 3D-audio-enabled entertainment centers are expected to increase in the future. Zoran Corporation, a supplier of AC-3 decoders, announced what it has called the industry's first integration of a Dolby AC-3/Pro-Logic solution with 3D audio on a single chip. The ZR38600 is, according to the company, the only chip that offers ten extra MIPS (million instructions per second) of processing power and the built-in capacity to run Dolby AC-3 and 3D audio algorithms simultaneously. Five leading manufacturers of 3D audio algorithms--Dolby Laboratories, Harman, Spatializer, SRS Laboratories, and QSound Laboratories--have ported their algorithms to the ZR38600, giving equipment providers and implementers the opportunity to choose from a wide range of algorithms that best fit their systems and intended audience.
(Zoran Corporation, 3235 Kifer Road #310, Santa Clara, CA 95051; 408/736-2260; Fax 408/736-2826)

Mitsumi Announces 16X CD-ROM Drive

http://www.mitsumi.com

Pinnacle Micro Offers New 100-Platter Jukebox

CD-ROM Servers Still Speeding Up

Meridian Data, Inc. announced the move to 12X CD-ROM drives for its CD Net CD-ROM server and CD NetROM disc array product lines. The company's CD-ROM network servers and storage modules now incorporate 10/100Mbps Ethernet adapter cards. "Unlike some of our competitors, Meridian develops the underlying CD networking technology, and this advantage allows us to set a new price and performance benchmark for the market," said Robert Wise, senior product manager at Meridian Data. The 12X CD-ROM drives are implemented in Meridian's CD Net 900 series and CD NetROM subsystem product lines. The CD Net 900 series are standalone and rackmount products that support up to 56 drives per server. The CD NetROM subsystems are network-ready storage modules supporting up to 28 drives. Both are connected to network file servers. CD Net is available for Novell NetWare, Microsoft Windows NT, Banyan VINES, and Intranet network environments. Meridian's 12X CD NetROM storage subsystem with 10/100Mbps Ethernet functionality has an average starting price of $1000 for single-drive models. The Pentium-based CD Net 900 series network servers start at $5500 for seven-drive models.
(Meridian Data, Inc., 5615 Scotts Valley Drive, Scotts Valley, CA 95066; 408/438-3100; Fax 408/438-6816)

Micro Design International Inc. (MDI) announced its new CD-Express Library, a 150 CD capacity storage unit that houses four 8X CD-ROM drives and works on NetWare and Windows NT environments. MDI's CD-Express Library houses four individual 8X CD-ROM drives, each of which offer 1,200KB/sec data transfer rates, 95ms average seek times, and 256KB buffers. The library offers two loading options for the CDs, mail slot and magazines, and has an MTBF of 80,000 hours and MSBF of 2.5 million swaps. The system administrator has the option of managing CDs from the GUI provided in SCSI Express--the proprietary MDI management software that can be purchased for $3995--or through the operating system's native utility. SCSI Express offers CD-ROM grouping, subscription handling, hard disk caching, application launching, and flexible media managing. The new CD-Express Library is priced at $19,999.
(Micro Design International, Inc., 6985 University Boulevard, Winter Park, FL 32792; 800/228-0891; 407/677-8333; Fax 407/677-8365; http://www.mdi.com)

CMS Enhancements Inc. announced the Eclipse 14-Bay CD-ROM Server Tower, a network storage solution that supports workgroups and enterprise LANs. WWW/Intranet support is now standard on all Eclipse plug-and-play network storage products which include seven-bay and six-speed versions for Ethernet and Token-Ring. Embedded multiple-protocol firmware in the system eliminates the need for specialized preconfigurations, NLMs, TSRs, or software installation. Eclipse CD-ROM servers support Novell NetWare 3.11, 3.12, and 4.10, Microsoft Windows for Workgroups, Windows 95, and Windows NT, Microsoft LAN Manager 1.3 and above, IBM Lan Server 1.3 and above, UNIX, and WWW/Intranet environments. Both Ethernet and Token-Ring direct attachments are also available. Available now, the Eclipse 14-Bay CD Server Tower is offered at $9985, with a seven-bay version priced at $5045. Eclipse servers come complete with either seven or 14 eight-speed CD-ROM drives, a RISC-based processor, and an Ethernet direct attach connector.
(CMS Enhancements Inc., 1051 South East Street, Anaheim, CA 92805; 714/517-0915; Fax 714/958-8156)

TenX Technology, Inc. announced the new 24-CD capacity TenXpert-1 System/24/p, which uses a 1GB hard disk cache and serves both UNIX and PC workstations. The 24-CD-ROM capacity TenXpert-1 System/24/p is listed at $4995 and, according to the company, offers CD data accesses at 20 times the baseline CD-ROM speed, with a minimum access speed of 8X. Other TenXpert servers list from $2995
. (TenX Technology, 13091 Pond Springs Road, Suite B-200, Austin, TX 78729; 800/922-9050; Fax 512/918-9495; http://www.tenx.com)

Todd Enterprises has introduced the OPTI-NET Direct HL-7, a complete CD-ROM and Web server that will sell on the street for $1295. The 4.76GB tower/server system is installed in a seven-drive tower and attaches directly to an Ethernet network without any additional software or file server. OPTI-NET Direct is a hardware-based solution providing shared CD-ROM access over the user's Ethernet network. OPTI-NET Direct serves up CD-ROMs as mountable volumes to NetWare and NFS clients, and as Web pages to Internet/Intranet clients. A built-in WWW server enables users to access the CDs using any Web browser. OPTI-NET Direct doesn't need to load any additional NLMs on existing file servers, nor any TSRs on workstations. OPTI-NET Direct can be used with NetWare, UNIX, Windows, and OS/2. As with Novell and UNIX servers, a combination of users can access the same or different volumes at once. Protocol-independent OPTI-NET Direct is designed to handle concurrent file systems and protocols including IPX/SPX, SMB over IP, and NFS over IP, and is also available as a separate internal unit for use in any Todd CD-ROM tower or as an external unit for use with existing CD-ROM towers.
(Todd Enterprises, 65 East Bethpage Road, Plainview, NY 11803; 516/777-8633; Fax 516/777-2750; http://www.toddent.com)

RECORD AND REWRITE

Mitsumi, Optima, and Olympus Join 2x6 Recorder Market

Mitsumi Electronics Corporation has announced the Mitsumi CR-2600TE, a 2X write/6X read unit that marks the high-speed CD-ROM drive manufacturer's first foray into CD recording. The external unit attaches to a PC via an ATAPI interface--although anticipated, still a rarity in CD recording--and comes bundled with an appropriate hardware kit. The package also features Adaptec CD Creator CD-R software, Disk Inspector software, and three blank Kodak media. The CR-2600TE carries a suggested retail price of $499.
(Mitsumi Electronics Corporation, 6210 North Beltline Road, Suite 170, Irving, TX 75063; 214/550-7300; Fax 214/550-7424; http://www.mitsumi.com)

Optima Technology Corporation, a long-time bundler of Sony CD recorders, has announced a new model, the DisKovery 1300CDR, which packages the new external Sony 2X write/6X read unit with Optima's CD-R Access Pro CD-R software. The updated version of the software--earlier iterations of which shipped with the company's Diskovery bundles of the Sony 920 and 924 recorders--boasts a "data boosting" CD storage technology that mounts the 1300CDR on a PC user's desktop for easy file transfer, transparently converts transferred data into 512KB fixed-packet blocks, compresses the data at a 2:1 rate and records to CD. The technology is designed both to speed recording through the transparent file-to-block conversion and double CD-R capacity to 1.3GB. The DisKovery 1300CDR, which shipped in February 1997, sells for a street price around $749.
(Optima Technology Corporation, 17062 Murphy Avenue, Irvine, CA 92614; 714/476-0515; Fax 714/476-0613; http://www.optimatech.com)

Olympus America, Inc.'s CD-R2x6 is based on Olympus' own CDS630E mechanism. The multisession-capable recorder is available in both external and internal models--the CD-R2x6/WIN and CD-R2x6/INT-WIN, respectively--and bundled with Adaptec Easy-CD Pro CD-R software. The internal version retails for $499, the external for $649. Also available is a Macintosh version, the CD-R2x6/Mac, which is packaged with Astarte's Toast CD-ROM Pro and sells for $649. All configurations ship with five pieces of media.
(Olympus America, Inc., Digital & Imaging Systems Group, Two Corporate Center Drive, Melville, NY 11747-3157; 518/844-5000, 800/347-4027; Fax 516/844-5252; http://www.olympus.com)

CD-R-Based Production Proliferates with Cygnet, Microboards, and Elms Systems

Cygnet Storage Solutions, Inc. has introduced Crossfire, a CD-mastering system, and Replicator, an automated CD duplicator. Both systems integrate hardware and software components and enable production of multiplatform hybrid CDs through the use of Creative Digital Research's HyCD technology in its CDR Publisher CD-R software. Each system also includes a 4X Yamaha CD recorder, a 1GB hard drive, and system controller software to manage all recording functions independent of the host PC. The basic system, Crossfire, carries a list price of $5995 for PC-based systems and $6995 for UNIX workstation hosts like Silicon Graphics and Sun. Replicator, designed for corporate software distribution applications, adds a 50-disc CD autoloader to the setup, and sells for $7995.

Microboards Technology has also added a new duplicator, the CD Blaster II, successor to the company's CD Blaster I. Blaster II is a multiformat standalone duplicator that can drive up to four Yamaha 4X CD recorders simultaneously. The four-drive version with SCSI controller lists for $7995, with an optional 1GB SCSI hard drive available at additional cost.
(Microboards Technology, 1480 Park Road, Suite B, P.O. Box 856, Chanhassen, MN 55317; 612/470-1848, 800/646-8881; Fax 612/470-1805; http://www.microboards.com)

Elms Systems Corporation has extended its digital library solutions line by adding CD-R capability to its existing 100-disc libraries for unattended duplication of up to 100 discs. Designed for businesses and corporations with small run data distribution needs, Elms' Digital Versatile Library (DVL) jukebox and Panorama disc management and recording software are now sold in conjunction with an internal Yamaha 4X CD-ROM drive to add CD-R functionality to the system. DVLs with CD-R support start at $6995 for the single-recorder configuration, with Panorama software, five CD magazines, and a SCSI interface kit included. The company's higher-end DVL product adds three 4X CD-ROM drives, a 4GB hard drive, and a SCSI-2 interface kit, and sells for $10,295. Current users of non-recorder-equipped DVLs can add recorder and software to their systems for $1995.
(Elms Systems Corporation, 2 Holland, Irvine, CA 92618; 714/461-3200; Fax 714/461-0671; http://www.elms.com)

Pioneer New Media Offers Free Media with Jukeboxes

http://www.pioneerusa.com

Dynatek, Creative Digital Research Bundle New Alliance

http://www.hycd.com

http://www.dynatek.ca

Elektroson Partners for CD-R's Web-grabbing Forefront

http://www.elektroson.com

http://www.ffg.com

MASTERING, REPLICATION, & PACKAGING

Maxell, Nimbus, and Cinram Begin DVD Disc Manufacturing

The Maxell Corporation of America is currently offering a full range of DVD services, including authoring, premastering, mastering, replicating, packaging, and distributing from the Hitachi Maxell, Ltd. facility in Tsukuba, Japan. Maxell will offer its North American customers DVD discs when it begins U.S. production in mid-1997 from its multimedia services facility in Santa Clara, California. Maxell's Dublin, Ireland CD-ROM plant will follow suit in an attempt to solidify the company's global DVD strategy. Also part of Maxell's technological umbrella will be the late-1997 addition of DVD-R and DVD-RAM. According to the company, Maxell's DVD-R will have a single-side capacity of 3.9GB, and Maxell's DVD-RAM will have a capacity of 2.6GB on a single-sided and 5.2GB on a double-sided disc.
(Maxell Corporation of America, 12880 Moore Street, Cerritos, CA, 90703; 800/325-7717; Fax 310/404-3083)

Following a promotional demonstration of its DVD replication capabilities at the recent Consumer Electronics Show, Nimbus CD International, Inc. announced that the company is producing commercial DVD product in its Charlottesville, Virginia facility. According to Lyndon Faulkner, chairman and CEO, Nimbus is currently working with a number of software, movie, and video companies to prepare content for the much-anticipated spring rollout of DVD. "The decision to install dedicated DVD lines in our Charlottesville plant last fall is already bearing out," Faulkner said. "Being DVD-ready has placed us in an excellent position to serve the market's earliest adopters." Nimbus provides authoring and compression, mastering, replication, packaging, and fulfillment services.

Nimbus has also announced plans to build a new, full-service compact disc replication plant in Luxembourg, which will be operated by EuroNimbus, S.A., a company owned 70 percent by Nimbus and 30 percent by Saarbrƒcker Zeitung Verlag und Druckerei, Gmbh, a newspaper and printing company headquartered in Saarbrƒcken, Germany. EuroNimbus will invest approximately $17 million in a new plant as well as in mastering, replication, printing, and packaging equipment. Scheduled to be operational by November 1997, the 40,000-square-foot facility will produce audio CDs, CD-ROM, and DVD, having an initial capacity of 20 million discs per year, bringing Nimbus' total worldwide capacity to more than 260 million discs per year.
(Nimbus Manufacturing, P.O. Box 7427, Charlottesville, VA 22906; 804/985-1100)

Canada-based Cinram Ltd. has announced that it has established a joint venture with Santa Monica-based Pacific Ocean Post (POP) with the creation of the Cinram-POP-DVD Center. According to the companies, the venture will provide the full range of services for DVD authoring and multiplexing for motion picture clients and will also leverage POP's video and audio encoding services along with Cinram's manufacturing and distribution capabilities. The facility will be adjacent to POP's film, video, and sound complexes. Retrofitting started in the beginning of 1997 and was scheduled to be finished at the official opening in March 1997. The Cinram-POP-DVD Center will be an independent facility designed to produce entertainment titles for DVD players. The center will also offer mastering and manufacturing, using Cinram's newly acquired Anaheim facility.
(Cinram Ltd., 2255 Markham Road, Scarborough, ON, Canada; 613/726-1660; Fax 613/726-1609)

Americ Disc Acquires AstralTech Americas

International Helix, Inc. to Produce CD-R Media at Pennsylvania Plant

TECH & TOOLS

Audio

http://www.headspace.com/beatnik

Data & Text Retrieval

Executive Technologies, Inc. is shipping SearchExpress/OLE, an OLE server version of its full-text retrieval engine, which will index and retrieve documents or objects in HTML, Acrobat, word processing, CAD, image, audio, and video file formats. (205/933-5494)

Graphics Accelerators & Chips

Radius Inc. is shipping the Thunder 3D graphics card accelerator for PCI-based MacOS computers. The card offers on-board QuickDraw and QuickDraw 3D acceleration, texture mapping capabilities, Super Resolution 1,920x1,080, and 30-bit full color graphics. (408/541-6100)

Graphics and Animation Tools

JASC, Incorporated introduced ImageCommander, an image viewer with support for more than 30 image types and 20 levels of zoom. (800/622-2793)

Live Picture Inc. is shipping the Macintosh version of LivePix, its FlashPix-enabled personal digital photography software which includes special effects features, including red-eye removal and photo distortion. (408/908-1050)

Networking

Compaq Computer Corporation is shipping the Compaq ProLiant 800, a workgroup and remote site server that can support up to two 200MHz or 180MHz Pentium Pro processors and utilizes Wide-Ultra SCSI Controller technology, which the company says offers data transfer rates up to 40MB/sec. Compaq also unveiled its new 100Base-T stackable repeaters, the Netelligent 2524 and 2624 Fast Ethernet 24-Port Repeaters. (281/514-0484)

Network Technologies Incorporated announced six new switches which enable one user to access two computers operating on PC, Sun, and Macintosh platforms. The switches can be used in LAN environments to maintain and update a CD-ROM server and a PC file server with the same keyboard, mouse, and multiscan monitor. (800/742-8324)

Online/Web Publishing Tools

Microsoft Corporation introduced the Microsoft FrontPage Web authoring and management tool version 1.0 for Macintosh, which includes wizards and templates designed to aid users in Web site creation and WYSIWYG editing. The tool is available at http://www.microsoft.com/frontpage/. (800/426-9400)

The Productivity Works announced pwWebSpeak, it's non-visual browser with integrated access to Progressive Networks' RealAudio 3.0, allowing users to hear sound over the Internet. The browser for the visually impaired offers a non-visual interface to the Web using a speech synthesizer to read Web pages to the user. (609/984-8044)

Storage

MicroNet Technology, Inc. unveiled its 10,000 RPM Ultra SCSI hard drive, available in 4.5GB and 9.1GB single-drive capacities, or as disk arrays with up to 63GB of storage space. Also announced was the MicroNet D24000 DAT drive, a digital audio tape drive that provides up to 24GB of backup and data transfer rates of up to 2MB/sec. MicroNet also introduced the AIT25000, an 8mm high-density media backup system that provides capacities up to 25GB uncompressed, and a sustained data transfer rate of up to 3MB/sec. (714/453-6100)

Sun Microsystems, Inc. announced the Sun RSM Array 2000, which offers dual hot swappable RAID controllers supporting RAID levels 0/0+1/1/3/5. Also unveiled was the Sun Enterprise Tape Library 4/1000, a multi-TB tape library and the Sun Enterprise Storage Manager, a Java-based storage management framework system. (415/786-3205)

SyQuest Technology introduced the 1.5GB SyJet drive, a 3.5-inch removable cartridge hard disk drive with a sustained read/write data transfer rate of up to 7MB/sec, and a seek time the company says is less than 12ms. (800/245-2278)

Utilities

Digimarc Corporation announced ReadMarc, a standalone digital watermark reader which can notify the user if a Digimarc watermark is present on a computer image. The reader is available for download from http://www.digimarc.com. (800/344-4627)

Symantec Corporation unveiled Norton Utilities for Windows NT, an NT 4.0 version of the application which includes utilities to defragment hard drives, repair and recover damaged files, as well as the Norton System Doctor diagnostic tool. (800/441-7234)

Video/MPEG

http://quicktime.apple.com

Sony Electronics announced RTS-3000 version 2.0 software for the RTE-3000 family of MPEG-1 encoders. The new version offers playback bit rates ranging from 64Kbps to 7Mbps. (408/955-5240)

Videoconferencing

CIDCO Incorporated introduced iPhone, a telephone with graphical access to the Internet and telephony features retailing for under $500. (408/779-1162)

Web Server Tools

Galacticomm, Inc. is shipping Worldgroup 3.0, a native 32-bit software server which includes Active HTML, a platform-level integration of thin-client technology for the generation of HTML pages. (954/583-5990)

Radnet, Inc. announced WebShare 2.0, a groupware development system designed for the Web and corporate Intranets that enables developers to create open, secure collaborative Web applications. (617/577-9422)

PEOPLE & DEALS

Alliances & Licenses

Apple Computer, Inc. announced that Be Here Corporation, eVox Productions, and OliVR Corp. will collaborate with Apple's QuickTime VR team to bring virtual reality photography and content creation, as well as Internet functionality, to the program. (408/996-1010)

Asymetrix Corp. and Object Design, Inc. announced that Asymetrix has licensed the Object Design ObjectStore PSE for Java and will bundle it with its new Rapid Application Development environment for Java, SuperCede. Asymetrix also announced a deal with NEC to bring SuperCede to the Japanese market. (206/637-5859)

Axis Communications Inc. announced a strategic relationship with MediaPath Technologies Inc. to bundle Axis' StarPoint CD network CD-ROM servers with MediaPath's CD-ROM access and management software, MediaAgent for CDs. (800/444-2947)

C-Cube Microsystems Inc. announced that its CL9100 MPEG-2 digital video set-top decoder and CL9110 transport demultiplexer have been selected by NEC Corporation for its new digital set-top box. C-Cube also announced that Chinese game manufacturerSubor Video and Audio Equipment Co., Ltd. will use C-Cube's decoder technology in its new line of Video CD players. (408/944-6300)

Compact Devices announced that it has licensed its MicroServer Technology to Cisco Systems. (408/255-4200)

CompCore Multimedia, a supplier of MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 decoders, announced an agreement with Microsoft Corp. to support DVD applications using the ActiveMovie API. (408/986-1314)

Creative Digital Research announced its HyCD software will be bundled with DynaTek Automation Systems Inc.'s CD-Recordable drives. (909/793-6655)

Eastman Kodak Company and First Image Management Company announced they will work together to develop new integrated document management services and technologies. (800/243-8811)

GT Interactive Software Corp. has signed an agreement with Nintendo of America Inc. to publish several titles for the Nintendo 64. (212/726-6500)

Metrowerks Inc. announced a development agreement with Apple Computer, Inc. to accelerate support for Apple's next generation operating system in Metrowerk's CodeWarrior. Philips Semiconductors' TriMedia development tools will also be integrated into the integrated programming environment. Metrowerks will also become a licensee for Microsoft Corporation's Visual SourceSafe 5.0 on the Macintosh. (800/377-5416)

Milkyway Networks, a provider of network security solutions, has signed a strategic technology sharing and co-development agreement with Intranet/Internet networking company Frontier Technologies. (408/566-0800)

PSINet Inc. announced an agreement to provide Internet service to WebTV Networks, Inc. (703/904-4100)

Softimage Inc., a subsidiary of Microsoft Corp., has extended its agreement with Mental Images GmbH & Co. KG to enhance Mental Images' 3D rendering environment, Mental Ray. (800/576-3846)

Spyglass Inc. and Microsoft Corp. announced they will collaborate on open standards for the embedded systems marketplace. (630/245-6500)

Distribution Deals

ATI Technologies Inc. announced that its second-generation 3D Rage graphic accelerator chip has been incorporated in multiple Gateway Computer Inc. desktop products. (416/756-0718)

Eidos Interactive and developers ION Storm announced a long-term multititle publishing and distribution agreement. (415/217-4138)

MicroPatent announced that it has opened its new Online Gazette U.S. patent database, which was priced at a subscription rate of $600 per year, to users free of charge. The decision falls on the heels of IBM's announcement that it will make 26 years of patent information available via the Internet. (800/648-6787)

Sea Change Corporation and Texcan Cables announced a distribution agreement for Lucent Technologies' WaveLAN wireless networking products. (905/542-9484)

T-HQ Inc. has signed an agreement with Sega of America Inc. and Softbank Corp. to distribute seven games developed by Psygnosis for the Sega Saturn game platform. (818/223-3116)

Trius, Inc. announced it has signed an agreement to distribute Middle Earth Software Systems' Music Works 2, a MIDI scoring, recording, and editing program, in North America. (508/794-9377)

Vicom Multimedia Inc. announced it has acquired distribution rights to the Nereus Multimedia Publishing System fromInternet Hollyworlds Inc. (403/452-4082)

Mergers & Acquisitions

Metrowerks Inc. has signed a letter of intention to acquire the principle assets of The Latitude Group, Inc. (800/377-5416)

Microleague Multimedia Inc. acquired Micro Sports, Incorporated, a developer of sports simulations software games. (717/872-6567)

Sega Enterprises announced it will buy Bandai Company Ltd. in a stock-swapped value of an estimated $1 billion, to create toy and video-game company Sega Bandai. (415/508-2800)

Transparent Language Inc. acquired BayWare, Inc., a publisher of interactive Asian language education software products. (603/465-2230)

Wanderlust Interactive announced plans to acquire console maker Western Technologies and subsidiary Adrenalin Entertainment. (212/966-8887)

Money

New Companies, Reorganizations, and Relocations

Diamond Multimedia Systems Inc. has formed the Multimedia I/O Division to develop, market, and support a line of multimedia I/O products for the desktop PC. (408/325-7000)

Information Mapping has relocated to 411 Waverley Oaks Road, Waltham, MA 02154. (617/906-6400)

Mediamatics, Inc. has moved to larger facilities at 48430 Lakeview Boulevard, Fremont, CA 94538. (510/668-4850)

Micronics Computers, Inc. and Orchid Technology have relocated to 45365 Northport Loop West, Fremont, CA 94538-6417. (510/651-2300)

Oakes Interactive relocated it national headquarters to One Multimedia Plaza, 255 Highland Avenue, Needham, MA 02194-3019. (617/747-7000)

Trilobyte, Inc. announced plans to restructure itself as a game-based developer. (503/857-0614)

Personnel

Eastman Kodak Company named Richard P. Aschman as president of the Professional Motion Imaging business unit. (800/243-8811)

Hasbro Interactive Worldwide named Gary Carlin as vice president of marketing. (508/921-3700)

Knowledge Networks appointed James E. Haleblian as vice president of operations and engineering. (770/578-6002)

Metrowerks Inc. appointed James Walker as vice president of operations. (800/377-5416)

Radius Inc. named Mark Housley as president and chief operating officer. (408/541-6100)

SilverPlatter Information, Inc. appointed Brian Earle as president and CEO. (617/769-2599)

Softbank Services Group named Mark R. Briggs as president and chief executive officer. (716/871-6400)

TOP TEN CD-ROM TITLES

Information provided from a December SofTrends report, a subscription-based service from SPA and The NPD Group, tracking software sales from over 8,000 stores, including major computer superstores, software specialty stores, mass merchandisers, and consumer electronics stores. For pricing and detailed subscription information, contact The NPD Group, 516/625-2294.

FACTS, FIGURES, & FINDINGS

DVD Expected to Generate $74 Million in First Year

CD-R Writer and Media Sales Top $861 Million in 1996

2,500 Online/CD Hybrid Titles Expected on Shelves in 1997

Interactive Entertainment Industry Forecasted to Grow in 1997

China Expected to Surpass U.S. as Largest Multimedia Market

Conference Calendar Slim, but Attendance Expected to Rise

PC Industry Shipments Reached 70.9 Million Units in 1996

PC Sales Rise 16% in 1996

Network Computers Replace Dumb Terminals on the Corporate Desktop

Internet Effect on Telephone Network Overstated

THE CD-ROM DRIVE INDEX

Addonics

Micro Solutions

Panasonic

Plasmon

Toray

THE CD-R INDEX

Vendors, please submit additions, updates, or corrections to Hugh Bennett, EMedia Professional contributing editor at 519/474-3466; Fax 519/474-3467; CompuServe--73144,1631.

CONFERENCE CALENDAR

April 1997

• 31-4 3rd DoD Digital Imaging Symposium (San Antonio, TX; Air Force Visual Information Technology Advisory Board, 703/697-2520)
• 2-4 JavaOne (San Francisco, CA;) Softbank Expos; 415/578-5900)
• 7-10 NAB 97 & NAB Multimedia World (Las Vegas, NV; NAB 97 Registration; 800/342-2460)
• 7-11 ACM Hypertext 97 (Southampton, United Kingdom; ACM; 800/342-6626)
• 8-10 CD-R and CD-ROM Quality Seminar (Los Angeles, CA; Media Sciences, Inc.; 508/695-2934)
• 8-10 The DCI Data Warehouse Conference (San Jose, CA; DCI; 800/DCI-EXPO)
• 8-10 WinHEC 97 (San Francisco, CA; Microsoft Corporation; 800/254-5509)
• 8-11 Multimedia 97 (Poznan, Poland; Poznan International Fair Ltd.; +48 61 69 25 92)
• 8-11 Internet Commerce Expo (Atlanta, GA; IDG; 800/667-4ICE)
• 10-12 Third Annual National Electronic Publishing Seminar (Washington, DC; University of Virginia & the Library of Congress; 800/346-3882)
• 14-16 ICCC/IFIP Conference on Electronic Publishing--New Models and Opportunities (Canterbury, Great Britain; ICCC/IFIP; +44 1509-223039)
• 14-16 Creating & Compressing Digital Video (Boston, MA; Influent Technical Seminars; 888/333-9088)
• 14-17 AIIM 97 (New York, NY; Association for Information and Image Management; 800/477-2466)
• 14-18 SGML Foundations, Tactics and Techniques (Arlington, VA; Graphic Communications Association; 703/519-8160)
• 21-25 Seybold Seminars╩(New York, NY; Softbank Expos; 415/578-5900)
• 24-27 Multimedia China 97 (Beijing, China; Seventh Wave; 818/353-8652)
• Computer Game Developers Conference (Santa Clara, CA; Miller Freeman, Inc.; 415/905-2784)
• 28-30 EC/EDI 97 (Baltimore, MD; Data Interchange Standards Association, Inc.; 800/217-6113)

May 1997

• 5-7 Creating & Compressing Digital Video (Dallas, TX; Influent Technical Seminars; 888/333-9088)
• 5-9 Object Oriented Rapid Applications Development Workshop (Chicago, IL; DCI; 508/470-3880)
• 6-8 Electro (Boston, MA; IEEE; 908/562-6845)
• 6-8 Networld + Interop (Las Vegas, NV; Softbank Expos; 415/878-5900)
• 6-9 Multimedia 1997 (Toronto, Canada; Multimedia Trade Shows Inc.; 905/660-2491)
• 8-9 The Complete Intranet Seminar (Washington, DC; Delphi Consulting Group; 617/647-1025)
• 11-16 SGML Europe 97 (Barcelona, Spain; Graphic Communications Association; 703/519-8174)
• 12-16 DB/EXPO 97 and Internet/Intranet Expo and Conference (San Francisco, CA; Blenheim Group; 800/232-3976)
• 12-16 IBM Technical Interchange 1997 (St. Louis, MO; IBM Corporation; 404/296-5282)
• 13-15 18th Annual National Online Meeting (New York, NY; Information Today, Inc.; 800/300-9868)
• C2--The Computer & Communications Electronics Design Exposition (Dallas, TX; Reed Exhibition Companies; 800/840-5614)
• 18-22 SIGCAT 97 (Reston, VA; SIGCAT; 703/281-9653)
• 28-30 Next Generation Telephony--West (San Francisco, CA; Telecommunications Reports International, Inc.; 800/822-6338)

Home Page

Copyright © 1997, Online Inc. All rights reserved.
info@onlineinc.com
[This site created for best results under Netscape.]