Avid Advances Production Workflow and Makes Web-Encoding Push-Button Easy

Avid Unity ProEncode Streamlines Media Conversion and Automates Encoding for Web Streaming and Other Formats

Las Vegas, Nevada – (April 22, 2001) – At the 2001 National

Association of Broadcasters (NAB) conference, Avid Technology,

Inc. (NASDAQ: AVID) today announced significant

enhancements to its integrated post-production solutions.

A major release of Avid Unity™ MediaNet, the addition of

Pro Tools® support, and a new Avid Unity Media Services

offering – Avid Unity ProEncode™ – dramatically improve the

digital media production process.

Avid Unity MediaNet version 2.0 is the newest version of Avid’s

media network for professional content creation and distribution

and includes expanded integration capabilities with support for

a broader variety of clients such as Windows 2000 and

Pro Tools Macintosh clients, port server capability that allows

Ethernet-networked systems to connect to MediaNet and

increased storage capacity of up to 7.3 terabytes.

„Efficient workflow is not just about doing things faster – it is

also about doing more and doing it better – but without

significant additional investments in time and resources,“ said

Joe Bentivegna, vice president and general manager of Avid

Media Solutions. „These releases demonstrate what we’re

driving for: workflow improvement and enhanced creativity,

without additional burdens to creative or administrative

personnel. Full support for Pro Tools by Avid Unity MediaNet,

the introduction of MediaNet 2.0, and the shipping of ProEncode

means that Avid offers more options for media sharing and

distribution along with true hands-off management and

administration.“

Avid Unity MediaNet 2.0

The support of Pro Tools software (Macintosh) on the Avid

Unity media network, introduced with MediaNet 1.2.2, will be

enhanced substantially by version 2.0. The full integration of

Pro Tools into the MediaNet environment creates

post-production and broadcast workflows that are more

seamless and productive than ever. Also introduced previously

is the ability to use file transfer protocol to remotely mount an

Avid Unity MediaNet workspace. This functionality greatly

expands the accessibility of MediaNet to both Avid and

non-Avid systems.

Version 2.0 expands MediaNet’s reach by adding support for

Ethernet-connected clients through a „Port Server“, which

provides the necessary intermediary to the MediaNet system.

This feature is critical because it allows virtually any

computer-based system to be integrated into the MediaNet

environment. Products that run on non-standard operating

systems, such as SGI-IRIX, can now become part of the Avid

Unity workgroup. „With Avid Unity MediaNet 2.0, Avid continues t

o broaden the collaborative workgroup by incorporating almost

any system our customers want to connect,“ said Tim Claman,

director of product marketing.

Avid Unity ProEncode

„Avid has always believed that sparks of creativity fly throughout

the editing process and that we can best serve editors by

managing the steps that don’t add creative value,“ said

Bentivegna. „ProEncode is a perfect example of this

commitment because it takes a bits and bytes task that can

distract the editor, and moves it entirely into the background.

What remains is a workstation that is free to explore other, more

profitable, ways to move the media.“

ProEncode fully automates the conversion of video and

audio – into Web streaming, broadband and other formats – so

that Avid editors can work on more than one revenue-generating

project simultaneously. More time to work with original media

translates into more opportunities to capitalize on new

distribution channels, such as streaming media over the Web,

interactive TV and beyond. ProEncode automates the

computing-intensive task of encoding media into formats

suitable for distribution via the Web, CD-ROM, or broadband.

Once the editor selects a format from within the Avid editing

application, the encoding is done automatically, including

monitoring of progress, handling any errors and delivering to

the correct location. The time-consuming trans-coding

operation is moved to a lower cost, dedicated CPU. ProEncode

also uses Cleaner 5 – a Media 100 offering which enables

multi-format, multi-data rate streaming encoding from a single

solution.

Pricing and Availability

Avid Unity MediaNet version 2.0 is scheduled to ship in June

2001, and pricing is not yet available. The ProEncode product

is available in conjunction with the Avid Unity shared media

network. Pricing depends on configuration, starting at $11,000

USMSRP.

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