Together with ESCOM in the new Multimedia age.
A bit of history:
1985. New York. A new computer is presented to the amazed press by
Commodore. What journalists saw there was the beginning of a big adventure
for millions of people worldwide: The Amiga was born!
Its incredible features in video, sound and animation, thanks to a smart
design of custom processors, bundled to a fully multitasking OS and the
powerfull 68000 processor from Motorola quickly made the Amiga the system
of choice for all computer fans.
The first Amiga had 256 Kilobytes of Memory and an 880 Kilobyte 3.5 inch
disk drive. Ten years later, hundreds of megabytes of memory can be used
and the latest 68060 processor from Motorola is 100 times faster than the
original 68000.
Through this computer, a real community of users has been created, software
and hardware suppliers quickly joined the bandwaggon to create a true
environment for those who new from the beginning that the Amiga was more
than just a tool to type letters and to run spreadsheets.
The Amiga also had its detractors : "Animation and sound? That's just
good for games, no need of that for serious applications." This is what
could be heard and read some years ago, when the competition was still
struggling with monotasking and monochrome systems. These same people are
now saying that they invented Multimedia...
The keyword Multimedia: an important keyword for those who know that Amiga
actually invented Multimedia. ESCOM knew that from the beginning and
recognized in the Amiga a valuable technology, the key to future computing
and entertainment, a key to success.
In April 1995, after a long period of latency it finally happened: ESCOM
took over the complete technological and intellectual property of Commodore
in a spectacular auction in...New york. Amiga users, professionals as
hobbyists were very worried; what was going to happen to their computer of
choice, what would ESCOM's plans be? ESCOM received hundreds of user
letters from all around the world, asking to continue manufacturing and
development of the System.
This is actually a phenomenon that can only be observed very rarely for a
product: commitment and even attachment of a devoted international
community. Support by dozens of dedicated magazines: More than ten
magazines for Germany and the UK alone! And several more in other
countries.
All these factors made Manfred Schmitt, President of the executive board at
ESCOM, decide to buy AMIGA and create a new daughtercompany: AMIGA
Technologies. The commitment to the technology and its future was
brilliantly demonstrated in Frankfurt, at a major international press
conference on May 30, 1995, only one month after the takeover.
OPERATIONS AND COMPANY PHILOSOPHY
AMIGA Technologies is a 100% daughtercompany of ESCOM. We are located in
Bensheim, 40 miles southwards of Frankfurt and a few miles away from
Heppenheim, where ESCOM has its offices.
Our team
To be good in making, selling and promoting the Amiga, one has to like the
Amiga and stand behind it. We at AMIGA Technologies think that our team
has to be made of Amiga specialists who believe in what they are doing and
that's the way we go. Once completed, our staff will be of about 50
people, working in sales, production, marketing/PR, accounting and
finances, human ressources, support and especially development of new
hardware and software. We think internationaly because we are an
international company. People from all parts of the world are joining our
young and dynamic team. In our offices, English is more often spoken than
German.
Production
Production and quality control are high priorities to ensure total customer
satisfaction; We only work with the best part providers and most reputable
assemblers to assure the high degree of reliability we want for our
systems.
Distribution
Distribution and logistics are also important keys to successful operations
for us. Our worldwide distribution is centralized in the Netherlands where
we have the infrastructure needed to provide Amigas to the world. In each
country, we have a distribution unit to assure the relay and proper support
needed locally. This can be as a subsidiary or with a distribution and
sales partner, depending on the needs.
Our Market
The Amiga market has a high potential and first of all is a worldwide
market. The multimedia market is even bigger and it is our market of
choice. With the high potential of our technology in this aspect, we know
that we have the best chances to become an important player very soon. In
the United States, where the number of local Cable Televisions is
increasing rapidly, the Amiga is an appreciated system for broadcasting
applications. Amigas are used in Hollywood to make films and productions
like Babylon V or Seaquest DSV are some examples among others. Companies
use our computers with multimedia authoring systems, which quality and
power is unmatched on other platforms.
Our partners
Third party support on the Amiga is excellent and numerous. We know that
we have creative and productive partners who make the Amiga a better system
every day. We want to work together with these people and build up
fruitful partnerships with them. We allready have signed agreements with
SCALA software to bundle our systems with their outstanding multimedia
authoring system. The Amiga can now be used as a powerfull multimedia
workstation out of the box.
Our technology, development and what we can make out of it.
Power to the user is our goal at short and long term. Going RISC is a
priority for us. Porting our operating system to a new generation hardware
technology in a user-friendly manner is the best way to keep our loyal
customers and gain new ones. For the short term, implemanting the fast
68060 processor from Motorola is an evident move we will do quickly.
Again, here we hire the most excellent technicians and have the best
partners to achieve this ambitious endeavour. The future of home computing
resides in intelligent and integrated high-technology devices like
set-top-boxes which combine user friendliness, powerfull hardware,
communication skills and online services. All we need is coming very soon
: the communication highways, the online service providers, pay TV and home
shopping. All this bundled to our technology will enable us to bring new
and exciting products to the customer at extremely attractive prices.
OUR PRODUCTS
From the entry level AMIGA 1200 to the high-end AMIGA 4000 Tower, our
product range is suited for everyone, from the computer freak to the
professional user.
The AMIGA 1200, thanks to its low price is a perfect home computer and its
expandability will give the user many upgrade possibilities for faster
processors, more memory or new storage medias.
The CD 32 console is based on the AMIGA 1200 Technology and comes standard
with a CD ROM drive. The storage capacity of this media, combined to the
graphics and sound abilities of the Amiga.
The Amiga 4000 Tower is perfectly suited for the professional video and
multimedia market and has sufficient connectors and free room to host any
kind of internal expansion device. For more computing power, the 68040
processor can be replaced with the new 68060 from Motorola.
An exciting device for multimedia and interactive applications are the new
Virtual IO glasses. distributed and promoted in cooperation with Amiga
Technologies. With virtual IO, the Amiga user will have a closer
relationship to his computer!
People
Petro Tyschtschenko
General executive officer
Gilles Bourdin
Company spokesman
Peter Kittel
Development
Gwynne Thomas
Material & Production
Rolf Wiehe
Distribution Germany
Regards,
Gilles Bourdin Marketing / Public Relations
Tel +49 6251 130 92 39 Fax +49 6251 130 92 40
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Amiga Technologies GmbH
Berliner Ring 89
D-64625 Bensheim
Germany
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Champaign-Urbana Computer Users Group / cucug@cucug.org