amcity.com
February 22, 1999
Cyber librarians design a screen with a view
Marco Commisso Staff Writer
Instead of uploading boring photos and other information from brochures, Visual Data Corp. in Pompano Beach wants to provide a touchy-feely experience for hotels and tourist attractions.
The company's growing variety of proprietary Web sites, each a separate subsidiary, provide video previews of hotels, resorts, theme parks and cruise lines plus college campuses and nursing homes.
"It's all about seeing what you buy, before you buy it," said David
Chestler, general manager of Visual Data's HotelView.com, a Web site
that features videos of hundreds of hotels worldwide.
The only extra technology Web surfers need to view Visual Data's sites
is RealPlayer software, which can be downloaded for free at
real.com.
Apparently, Wall Street likes what it sees in Visual Data Corp. (Nasdaq: VDAT) Its 1998 revenues were $1.8 million, up 874 percent since 1997. The company went public at $6 a share in September 1997 and trades near \$16.
"Overall, we believe that Visual Data is quickly becoming recognized as being among the most capable of the various providers of broadcast
services for the Internet," said Randy Selman, president and CEO of the company. One size fits all
To make sure each client is represented equally, the features of each
client's page are displayed in the same style and for the same amount of \time, usually from three to five minutes.
Besides CareView.com, HotelView.com and ResortView.com, Visual Data has teamed with Physicians Online to form MedicalView.com, the world's
largest physician-exclusive Web site, and Intelihealth.com, the nation's largest consumer health Internet site, a joint venture of Aetna US Healthcare and Johns Hopkins University and Health System. The site will feature full-motion video of medical conferences, seminars and lectures that were previously available only to attendees, said Glen Udine, newly appointed president of MedicalView.com.
CareView.com allows families and case workers to tour nursing homes and check availability without having to call or visit. The site was
launched late last year and already has 23 nursing homes and assisted
living facilities from several states on it.
"The nursing home business is not something you look at as being high
tech," said Jeff Hill, CareView.com's general manager. "Traditionally,
it is more people-oriented. We're kind of taking them on a quantum leap in one fell swoop. Plus, case managers only know their own areas, not other areas. This lists every state."
A three-to-five minute spot on a Visual Data Web site costs about
$10,000. Leon Jacobson, the administrator at Fair Havens Center in Miami Springs, said he is pleased with Visual Data's work.
"The film crew was very conscientious about the residents, because, of
course, this is their home," Jacobson said. "We were pleased with them
from beginning to end. It was worth the money. It definitely shows off
our facility well."
A global market view
Visual Data's most successful travel site, HotelView.com, has about 110 videos of hotels. After someone takes an online tour, he or she can double click on a list of links to travel agents' Web sites. Chestler said this kind of advertising will bring travel agents more business.
"We're helping them, free of charge, to get more business," he said.
"The Internet allows these travel agents to operate globally, but still remain locally based."
In addition to building up the client base for its existing Web sites,
Visual Data plans to launch ProductView.com, a site devoted to consumer products; TalentView.com, a site of online voice resumes of actors and actresses, and CruiseView.com, which will provide tours of different cruise lines.
Plans already are in the works to build more digital recording studios
in the company's 25,000- square-foot headquarters in Pompano Beach. A
former NFL films producer, Alan Saperstein, now Visual Data's executive producer and senior vice president, said he's "a true believer in toys" and plans to keep the company state-of-the-art.
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