http://www.sgi.com/Headlines/1995/Mar/inperson2.html (Einblicke ins Internet, 10/1995)Also announced today, InPerson(tm) 2.0, Silicon Graphics' robust desktop videoconferencing technology now includes 3D graphics capability on the whiteboard, support for H.261, an industry standard for video compression and an optional audio board for the Silicon Graphics' Indy desktop system, to optimize conference quality and network bandwidth.
"Interoperable, seamless collaborative communication is critical to the success of globally distributed corporations," said Way Ting, vice president and general manager of the Visual Magic Division at Silicon Graphics. "The Silicon Graphics' collaborative environment offers its customers the ability to capture and share ideas easily, enabling the flexibility, innovation and shortened time-to-market cycles needed for truly fluent communications without boundaries."
The Silicon Graphics' environment is a comprehensive solution set that removes the communication obstacles of global collaboration by offering a variety of visual tools to create, capture, present and communicate information in the most effective way possible. To address the many challenges associated with company-wide collaborative efforts, the Silicon Graphics' collaborative environment incorporates powerful tools for creation, presentation, store and forward and real-time desktop videoconferencing communication. Together with Silicon Graphics' integrated digital media hardware, this environment is a turnkey solution for collaboration.
InPerson 2.0, a key component of the Silicon Graphics' collaborative environment, advances Silicon Graphics' desktop videoconferencing technology to equip customers with more functionality, flexibility, ease of use and higher performance network bandwidth. Two new features include the ability to import, manipulate, cut and paste, and exchange 3D Inventor(tm) models among components of the collaborative environment suite. The included phone book can be used to list other InPerson users and simplify calling using a simple drag and drop method. In addition to the shared whiteboard allowing users to share, view, mark-up and interact with conference information, customers can share X-based applications easily with X/Telescreen from VisualTek Solutions, Inc.
The new InPerson option board for Indy significantly improves overall audio quality of InPerson 2.0 conference sessions with its optimal compression capabilities and advanced echo acoustic cancellation technology. This board with InPerson 2.0, enables strong wide area network (WAN) solutions over ISDN.
Announced in November 1994 and an important part of the Silicon Graphics' collaborative environment, IRIS Annotator(tm) is a store-and-forward solution that enables users of Silicon Graphics' systems to attach digital media annotations -- in forms such as video, audio, images, text, and World Wide Web universal resource locator links -- to 3D models.
Furthering its commitment to support standards, InPerson 2.0 supports H.261 video compression and G.728 audio compression to significantly broaden the performance of InPerson over low and high bandwidth networks. Additionally, the Silicon Graphics' collaborative environment supports most graphics and image file formats, including Inventor, AIFF, Open GL(r), QuickTime (tm), TIF, FIT and GIF.
Silicon Graphics has formed strategic relationships with third parties to provide interoperability solutions and optimize the network capabilities of InPerson. Examples include Silicon Graphics' efforts with the Spring DRUMS network, a private communication network for film and video and AT&T WorldWorx, an effort to provide interoperable H.320 conferencing solutions. In addition, NetManage plans to provide an InPerson Technology solution to the PC community. Through NetManage, a shared whiteboard solution will be in the hands of PC customers by the end of 1995.
InPerson 2.0 and IRIS Annotator will be available in April 1995 . The InPerson option board will also be available at that time.
Contact: Eileen M. Caetano 415-390-2036
Silicon Graphics, Inc. is a leading manufacturer of high-performance visual computing and data server systems. The company delivers interactive three-dimensional graphics, digital media and multiprocessing supercomputing technologies to technical and commercial environments through direct and indirect channels. Its subsidiary, MIPS Technologies, Inc., designs and licenses the industry's leading RISC processor technology for the computer systems and embedded control markets. Silicon Graphics has offices worldwide and headquarters in Mountain View, California.
Silicon Graphics, Silicon Graphics logo and OpenGL are registered trademarks and InPerson, Indy, IRIS Annotator, Inventor and Showcase are trademarks of Silicon Graphics, Inc. MIPS is a registered trademark of MIPS Technologies, Inc. All other products and companies are trademarks of their respective companies.
