From: "R.Hollands" Subject: ANNOUNCE: Superscape and Silicon Graphics Merge Virtual Worlds Date: Fri, 8 Mar 1996 13:30:21 +0000 Message-ID: <3151B8680E@Ramsden.shef.ac.uk> From: "R.Hollands" SUPERSCAPE AND SILICON GRAPHICS MERGE VIRTUAL WORLDS Companies Collaborate On New Virtual Reality Software News Release: 26 February, 1996 Superscape Inc. today announced new virtual reality software for viewing virtual world's on Silicon Graphics UNIX workstations and graphics supercomputers. Called Visualiser for Silicon Graphics, the new viewer software enables users of Silicon Graphics workstations to view virtual reality software applications (virtual worlds) created using Superscape's PC-based authoring tools. The viewer will allow Superscape customers to take advantage of the high-end visualization and rendering capabilities Silicon Graphics machines offer. Visualiser for Silicon Graphics, scheduled to ship in late May, will be available directly from Superscape and authorized resellers. Final pricing will be announced when the product ships. Superscape is the leading provider of software tools for creating interactive three-dimensional worlds on personal computers. Silicon Graphics is widely recognized as the world's leading supplier of high-performance visual computing systems. "Today's announcement is an exciting and significant event in the virtual reality software business. A natural combination of a leading PC-based virtual reality authoring tool vendor and the leader in visual computing technology for the virtual reality market," said Linda Jacobson, virtual reality evangelist for Silicon Graphics. "The new Silicon Graphics Visualiser will empower businesses by offering the cross-platform capabilities to view their Superscape virtual reality applications on advanced Silicon Graphics hardware, such as the Indigo2 IMPACT` workstation family and the Onyx Infinite Reality visualization supercomputer." Powerful PC-Based Virtual Reality Tools For Business "The decision to develop cross-platform software is in response to requests from our hundreds of customers in industries such as communications, electronics, retail, and construction who demand cost-effective, easy to use PC-based virtual reality development tools, but still require the highest quality visualization capabilities from time to time," said Rob Lowe, President and CEO of Superscape Inc. "Moving our PC-based products to support high-end capabilities offered by Silicon Graphics is a natural extension of our company strategy to provide the most powerful and flexible virtual reality software tools on the market." Superscape software is presently distributed in over 26 countries and used for applications that include marketing and sales, product design, training, medicine, video game development and entertainment. The Superscape customer list includes multi-national companies such as IBM, Nortel (Northern Telecom), Motorola, Cisco, Hewlett-Packard, Nabisco, American Express, Land Rover and Rolls Royce. In addition to partnering on Visualiser for Silicon Graphics, Superscape Inc. has been named an authorized Silicon Graphics reseller and will be offering complete turnkey solutions based on joint leading-edge technologies from both companies. Superscape will also actively contribute to Silicon Graphics Inc.'s developer program. "Collaboration between Superscape and Silicon Graphics represents an extremely significant meeting of minds because both companies have helped turn virtual reality into a commercial reality," said David Hughes, european simulation manager at Silicon Graphics. "Having addressed the market from different ends of the technology spectrum, it now makes tremendous sense for us to get together and combine our talents and experience, to the benefit of all our customers." 3-D On the Internet Last month Superscape continued to emphasize its commitment to providing cross-platform virtual reality solutions by announcing its support, in conjunction with Silicon Graphics, Netscape Communications Corp., and 56 other computer companies for VRML 2.0 (Virtual Reality Modeling Language), the emerging standard for providing virtual reality on the Internet. In addition, the company demonstrated a new software product,VisNet, that will be distributed free over the Internet next month. VisNet is the world's fastest 3-D interactive viewer on standard Intel-based personal computers and is designed to work with Superscape's SuperVRML file format. By extending and enhancing the powerful capabilities of viewers which are based on VRML, Superscape was able to develop VisNet to be an average of five to 10 times faster than the first generation 3-D viewers. The VisNet viewer features a control panel for consistent navigation through the universe of virtual worlds on the World Wide Web and for controlling the behavior of intelligent objects such as calculators, clocks and cars. New Virtual Reality Products For Small and Medium-Sized Businesses Additionally, Superscape plans to introduce new, lower priced authoring tools for small businesses and Web developers to easily and rapidly create virtual reality objects and environments. To that end, the company is embarking upon an aggressive marketing and promotion program in the coming months. Last week it announced a joint marketing agreement with IBM to market and sell Superscape's virtual reality authoring tools and services. Virtual reality is a medium where a virtual world (a computer- generated, real time, three-dimensional environment) can be explored and examined continuously and interactively from any perspective. The Superscape product portfolio includes VRT 4.0, the company's third-generation suite of virtual reality authoring tools; Networks, which enables up to 25 users to be in the same virtual world at the same time; Superscape Developers Kit for advance interface building; and Visualiser, a powerful platform for desktop virtual reality viewing. All products run on a 486, Pentium or Pentium Pro computer with 8 MB of RAM. An SVGA monitor, keyboard and a mouse complete the virtual reality system. While not required, Superscape tools can work with a wide variety of head-mounted displays (HMD's) for immersive applications. Founded in 1983 by Ian Andrew, Superscape's US headquarters are located in Palo Alto, CA. The company introduced the first PC-based virtual reality software product and currently employs 100 people. Superscape is a public company and is traded on the London Stock Exchange. For more information or to download at no cost, Visualiser, the company's desktop virtual reality viewer for personal computers, as well as a number of virtual worlds, contact the Superscape World Wide Web home page at: http://www.superscape.com. # # # Silicon Graphics, the Silicon Graphics logo and Onyx are registered trademarks, and Indogo2 IMPACT is a trademark of Silicon Graphics Inc.