MGI Software's equity partners include Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC), the world's largest chipmaker, Perseus Capital, a leading U.S. investor in e-companies; Trans Cosmos (Nikkei:9715 JP), a leading Japanese IT firm with investments in NetPerception, Nielsen NetRatings, AutoByTel, WitCapital, RealNetworks and DoubleClick; and, Zoran (NASDAQ:ZRAN), a leader in integrated circuits and intellectual property cores for digital audio and video applications enabled by compression.
MGI Software Partners with Virtual360 to Target Real Estate and Tourism Markets for Virtual Tours
Updated 6:00 AM ET January 21, 2000
TORONTO, Jan. 21 /CNW-PRN/ - MGI Software Corp. (TSE:MGI), a leading provider of E-commerce imaging solutions, announced today that it has partnered with Virtual360 Systems Limited, Vancouver, BC, to jointly target the lucrative market for real estate and tourism visualization on Web sites. Virtual360 will utilize MGI's patented Zoom technology and immersive Web imaging tools to create unique, next generation, virtual tours assembled using navigable high resolution images, 360-degree panoramas, and 3D photo objects. Users can Zoom into high-resolution photos and instantly examine detail using low bandwidth connections to PCs, TVs, and Internet appliances. Virtual360 is a leading digital solutions provider and innovator of virtual tours and 3D object imaging. Both companies intend to market their combined capabilities, like an agency, to the real estate and tourism/travel industries and are expected to announce contract wins shortly.
``Whether it's buying or renting a house or choosing a vacation destination, the experience is unquestionably stressful and very inefficient,' said Marsha Scharf, director e-services, MGI Software. ``Our virtual tour experience on the Internet eliminates all of this. Our visuals deliver details like no one else can.'
``Unlike other virtual tour operators, our tours will allow customers to not only inspect a home, room by room, but also be able to examine the condition of the appliances or even the bathroom plumbing,' said Dan Funaro, president, Virtual360 Systems. ``With travel sites, users can tour a city, view attractions, check out the scenery and even select and book a hotel, all with just a few clicks.'
More than 500 e-businesses worldwide are using MGI Software's revolutionary E-commerce imaging technology to sell everything from automobiles to art. Four Seasons Hotels, Nine West, Johnston & Murphy, Bloomingdales, and 800.com are using MGI Software Zoom technology to engage Web customers, while increasing sales, improving service, and building customer loyalty.
MGI's Zoom technology is quickly becoming the standard for highly interactive image-rich Web sites. Zoom was recently used to create artmuseum.net, an Internet-based museum experience produced by Rare Medium Group, an Internet solutions firm based in New York, and presented by Intel Corporation. The Web site, which features Zoomable images of Van Gogh's works, received the Web Marketing Association's prestigious 1999 ``Best of Show' WebAward.
About Virtual360
Virtual360 Systems Ltd. (www.virtual360.com) is a full service, digital solutions provider for the Internet with its focus on Real Estate, Travel and E-commerce digital solutions. An innovator of virtual tours and 3-dimensional object imaging Virtual360 is a recognized leader in their field. A privately held corporation founded in 1996, the company currently has offices in the U.S.A., Canada, Hong Kong, People's Republic of China, and Singapore. This coming year will see Virtual360 aggressively expand its operations on a global basis with its focus on North America and the Pacific Rim.
About MGI Software
MGI Software (www.mgisoft.com) is a pioneer and established market leader in E-commerce imaging and digital video. Its early focus on delivering imaging and video technology to the mass market has led to an ever-growing network of partnerships with major consumer electronics manufacturers, computer hardware and software vendors, photo retailers, media companies, and e-businesses. The Company's intellectual property spans many aspects of imaging and video, including content creation and editing, content encoding and decoding, Internet distribution systems, Web printing, and online navigation or Zoom. As digital imaging and video become commonplace, it will be MGI Software's technologies that are behind the scenes making it work. MGI Software employs over 230 people with offices in North America, Europe, Pacific Rim, and Japan. MGI Software is publicly traded on The Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol ``MGI'.
MGI Software's equity partners include Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC), the world's largest chipmaker, Perseus Capital, a leading U.S. investor in e-companies; Trans Cosmos (Nikkei:9715 JP), a leading Japanese IT firm with investments in NetPerception, Nielsen NetRatings, AutoByTel, WitCapital, RealNetworks and DoubleClick; and, Zoran (NASDAQ:ZRAN), a leader in integrated circuits and intellectual property cores for digital audio and video applications enabled by compression.
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