FRAUNHOFER CRCG AND USA VIDEO INTERACTIVE ESTABLISH JOINT MARKETING AGREEMENT
Tuesday, 20 July 1999
CRCG INTERNATIONAL EXPERTS IN DISTANCE LEARNING

MYSTIC, CONNECTICUT - The Fraunhofer Center for Research in Computer Graphics, Inc. and USA Video Interactive have agreed to jointly develop and market "distance learning systems" for use in higher education and other applications. CRCG is a division of Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, an international leader of research and development in education, telecommunications technology, electronics and computer technology. The globalization of market and society increases the importance of distance and life-long learning technologies and solutions. This will affect both the cross-media and international development of learning materials as well as the delivery of these educational materials to students and company employees in a highly effective and cost-efficient manner anywhere in the world.

The agreement provides that Fraunhofer’s Modular Training System and USA Video Interactive’s Video-on-Demand™ and Wavelet compression technologies will be integrated for Intranet, Internet and other applications for distance education, career development, life-long learning, and corporate training. With its parent company, Fraunhofer IGD, CRCG already is participating in a European project that supports authoring and learning by anticipating future learning scenarios with distributed, user adapted, on-demand and cooperative training environments. Integrating the USA Video Interactive technology adds Video-on-Demand™ and additional flexibility to these and future deployments. Currently, Fraunhofer has two programs under way, one involving three universities from Germany, Finland and Portugal creating and delivering courseware for the Institutes of Higher Education; and seven courseware providers from Greece, the Netherlands, Germany and Portugal developing materials for 20 companies. An additional deployment is planned in Singapore. CRCG also is affiliated with several universities in the United States.

"USA Video Interactive’s technology and servers provide a quantum-level jump in what we can now offer through our Modular Training System in Europe, North America and Asia," said Lars B. Karle, Vice President of Fraunhofer CRCG in Providence, Rhode Island. "This should be the start of a long and productive relationship where the ones who ultimately benefit are the students and workforce of the next millenium."

"Working with one of the Fraunhofer Institutes helps both of us provide the very best cutting edge technology and services to the education market worldwide," said Edwin Molina, president of USA Video Interactive. "Fraunhofer’s international reputation, the breadth of their research, and their clearly focused vision for education and science today and in the future are extraordinary. This is an exceptional partnering."

Fraunhofer CRCG primarily conducts research and development in the combined fields of computer graphics and telecommunications, with over 30 full-time and part time scientists and research staff. CRCG has close cooperative relationships with institutions such as Brown University, Johnson & Whales, and the University of Rhode Island, and currently has ongoing projects with government and international industrial partners. CRCG has several patents and awards in the application areas of medical visualization and telemedicine, digital security, and 3D interaction.

USA Video Interactive is an international designer and supplier of high-tech Video-on-Demand™ systems, services and solutions. The USA Video Interactive technology allows users to view streaming video or to access digitized video libraries, including movies, sports, other entertainment, educational resources, corporate training seminars and other archives. The USA Video Interactive technology gives users full-motion video; the unique flexibility of standard, VCR-like controls of play, fast forward, reverse and pause; and the convenience of a standard internet-browser format for access. USA Video Interactive can utilize MPEG-1, MPEG-2 or MPEG-4 compression techniques but prefers its Wavelet compression technology, which allows direct streaming and download & play options; provides video images significantly faster and at a higher degree of resolution than with previously available methods; significantly overcomes bandwidth restrictions; and eliminates the blockiness and slowness of current technologies, all at a lower cost. An essential feature of the USA Video Interactive technology is that it allows extremely high compression ratios while retaining broadcast quality.

Video-On-Demand™ and Video Yellow Pages™ are trademarks of USA Video.

CONTACTS

Tony Castagno
Media Relations
(800) 625-2200
(860) 572-1560

Kevin Yorio
Investor Relations
(800) 625-2200
(860) 572-1560

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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 12 December 2006 )