DEC workstations for media creation.............
Digital Takes Media Content Creation Market by Storm With
Ground-Breaking Alpha- And Intel-Based Workstations
New Low-Cost "Creation Studio" Workstations Enhance Creativity
and Productivity for Media Professionals
Industry-leading Application Developers Support Digital's New
Workstation Product Family
MAYNARD, Mass., Dec. 8 /PRNewswire/ -- Digital Equipment Corporation
(NYSE: DEC) today introduced the Creation Studio product family -- a Windows
NT personal workstation line designed for desktop publishers, graphic artists,
animators and video editing professionals that clearly places Digital ahead of
its Macintosh, Windows NT and UNIX competitors. Digital's newest workstations
offer users leading application performance when running top content-creation
software from Corel, Dragon Systems, MetaCreations, NewTek, Quark and other
leading application vendors.
Digital's Creation Studio personal workstations shatter existing
price/performance barriers with a low entry price of $4,995 for a fully loaded
media content-creation system, including a 17" monitor. The workstation family
comes pre-loaded with Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0, CorelDRAW,
MetaCreations Fractal Painter, and Dragon Systems Naturally Speaking.
A choice of optimized graphics is offered including Permedia P2, Matrox
Millennium II, the Digital PowerStorm family, or options from AccelGraphics,
ELSA or Oxygen. A 24X CD-ROM and Iomega Zip Drive also are included as
standard features.
"Digital's Creation Studio personal workstation line knocks Apple, SGI,
Sun and Intergraph out of the water with breakthrough graphics performance and
visual quality at an easy-to-swallow price point," said Harry Copperman,
senior vice president and general manager, Digital Products Division. "Now
users have a no-compromise system: a complete content-creation solution with
industry-leading rendering, Raster Image Processing and Open Prepress
Interface running on the fastest, most affordable personal workstations
available."
"The introduction of the Creation Studio product family is yet another
demonstration of Digital's powerful commitment to Alpha," continued Copperman.
Powered either by Digital's 500 MHz Alpha processor or the Intel 300 MHz
Pentium II, Digital's Creation Studio workstations provide users with superior
investment protection, delivering a complete content-creation solution backed
by the company's award-winning service organization.
When compared to similarly configured systems, including Apple's Power
Macintosh, Compaq's Professional Workstation, SGI's O2, and Intergraph's
ExtremeZ, the Digital Creation Studio provides up to double the performance of
compute-intensive tasks at a comparable or lower price point.(A)
Partners Back Power of Digital's Creation Studio
Digital's Creation Studio workstations are designed as outstanding Windows
NT platforms to meet media professionals' demanding power needs for superior
visual quality, MPEG-2 video, 3D animation, and speech recognition. The low-
cost, high-performance machines are also ideal for Web authoring with support
for leading plug-ins and technology.
Digital has established relationships with leading independent software
vendors to support Creation Studio. In addition to creating native Alpha
versions of the most popular applications along with innovative new visual
computing solutions, the ISVs will engage in joint marketing and sales
activities with Digital. These partners include:
-- Quark, Inc. -- QuarkXPress 4.0 is the leading desktop publishing
application in the industry. An integrated publishing package, QuarkXPress
lets you combine pictures, text, typography, writing, editing, and printing -
all in one application. The program also gives users total command over page
layout;
-- MetaCreations, Inc. -- MetaCreations products include native Alpha NT
3D products such as Bryce 2 and Detailer, and leading 2D products such as
Fractal Painter;
-- NewTek -- NewTek LightWave 3D gives users an easy way to create the
most sophisticated 3D animation imaginable with its intuitive, complete, easy-
to-use layout and modeling system. LightWave 3D is ideal for modeling,
surfacing, lighting and animating;
-- Corel -- CorelDRAW is a powerful and intuitive vector illustration and
page layout program that provides a full range of drawing, editing and text
tools.
Alpha-based Creation Studio systems with these applications running
natively provide industry-leading price/performance. Combined with the
breadth of applications running on Intel, the Digital Creation Studio product
line offers an unchallenged range of solutions for media content creators.
"From what we've initially seen, QuarkXPress will perform blazingly fast
on Alpha NT, which makes it very attractive to our existing customers," said
Susan I. Friedman, Quark vice president of product management. "Digital's new
lower cost Creation Studio personal workstations, along with the company's
expertise in high-performance visual computing, make Digital a logical
strategic partner for Quark."
"Media content creators need the best software running on the fastest
machines to help them reach their creative potential," said Brad Peebler,
director of graphics software development for NewTek. "Take for example the
blockbuster hit 'Men in Black,' in which the complete opening sequence was
produced pairing Digital workstations and NewTek's LightWave 3D software --
widely considered one of the leading desktop tools for creating photorealistic
3D animations and special effects. This combination of price and performance
will empower media content creators beyond even their highest expectations."
Digital Creation Studio Pricing and Availability
The Digital Creation Studio may be ordered immediately from selected
Digital value-added resellers. An Alpha-configured system is available at an
estimated U.S. selling price of $4,995, including a 17" monitor. Customers
may choose software options that best suit their application and performance
needs. These options include: QuarkXPress 4.0, NewTek LightWave 3D,
Softimage 3D, and Kinetix 3D Studio Max R2.
Digital Equipment Corporation, recognized for product and service
excellence, is a leading supplier of high-performance, Web-based computing
solutions which help enterprises compete in the global marketplace. Digital
gives its customers a winning Internet advantage through a comprehensive
portfolio of Internet solutions based on award-winning systems, advanced
networking infrastructure, innovative software, and industry applications --
including those from its business partners. The expertise and experience of
Digital employees help customers plan, design, implement, manage and support
Internet solutions in countries throughout the world. For the latest company
information, visit Digital on the World Wide Web at digital.com.
NOTE(A): All configurations include 64 MB RAM, 4 GB hard disk (uSCSI if
available), 17" monitor, and Matrox Millenium or comparable 24-bit graphics
with 4 MB VRAM. (Note: Intergraph not available without RealiZm II graphics,
Dell shipping Matrox Millenium I). Estimated street pricing as of November
15, 1997. Digital Creation Studio NT workstation pricing effective December
8, 1997.
Digital, the Digital logo and Alpha are trademarks of the Digital
Equipment Corporation. Microsoft, Windows, and Windows NT are registered
trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. UNIX is a registered trademark in the
United States and other countries, licensed exclusively through X/Open
Company, Ltd. All other product and company names are trademarks or
registered trademarks of their respective companies.
SOURCE Digital Equipment Corporation
/CONTACT: Steve Milmore of Digital, 978-493-2969,
steve.milmore@digital.com or Karen Davis for Digital, 617-266-8400,
kdavis@shandwick.com/
/Web site: digital.com
(DEC) |
