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Avstar Systems Teams with Virage to Revolutionize Broadcast News Production

Automatic video indexing gives journalists, editors and producers instant access to video footage in Avstar News system AMSTERDAM-September 10, 1999- At this week's 1999 IBC Conference (IBC'99), Avstar Systems LLC, the worldwide market leader in newsroom computing systems, announced that they have teamed with Virage Inc., the recognized market leader in video search and interactive video products, to add intelligent indexing, search and browse capabilities to the Avstar™ Media Browse System (MBS). Avstar will standardize on the award-winning Virage VideoLogger™ as the cataloging front end for the Media Browse news production system. A demonstration of Virage products integrated into the Avstar News system is showcased at the Grass Valley/Tektronix/Avstar booth at IBC'99 (Booth # 8.132).

Integrated into the Avstar Media Browse System, the Virage VideoLogger provides the automatic indexing of video content as it gets recorded, enabling news journalists, editors, producers and directors to effectively search, browse and pre-edit all of their incoming videos from the desktop. For instance, journalists can use their personal computers to search for late-breaking video footage based on such cues as who was speaking and what they were saying, and immediately identify relevant video clips using thumbnail images. The combination of Virage's intelligent media indexing with Avstar's proven news production tools promises to enhance the quality of programming by providing improved access to source video while dramatically reducing the time and expense associated with news production.

"Our customers are always looking for ways to increase news quality and decrease time to air while trimming production costs," said Matt Danilowicz, president and CEO of Avstar. "With the addition of Virage's intelligent video cataloging and search technologies, Avstar's complete newsroom computing systems are the key to broadcasting competitively in the 21st Century." "As all media moves into digital form, two elements become critical to efficient television production: immediately accessing the right content and rapidly transforming that content from raw footage into high-quality broadcasts," said Paul Lego, CEO of Virage, Inc. "The Virage-enabled Avstar Media Browse System offers tremendous newsroom efficiencies by addressing both these requirements. The system allows instant and simultaneous browse access to material while providing a complete set of edit tools to the newsroom professional." Virage's VideoLogger is a Windows NT application that runs on a standard Pentium II PC. VideoLogger "watches, listens to and reads" video, automatically extracting a wealth of information including keyframes, audio profiles, closed captioned text and time codes that serves as a frame accurate index back to the video. This index can now be saved in real time directly into the Avstar Media Asset Manager database while video is being digitized. Once in Avstar Media Browse, the video content and its associated information can be organized, searched, edited and distributed throughout the newsroom in a secure, reliable manner.

Avstar's Media Browse System is a fully integrated set of media tools that brings video content to the journalist's desktop. Media Browse manages the ingest, processing and management of media assets by creating a two-level system: journalists can browse, shotlist and edit at low resolution and then they conform the resulting selections for further editing or go direct to transmission at high resolution.

Avstar joins a growing list of companies turning to Virage to add sophisticated video indexing and search to their software systems. From news production and media asset management to Internet web site development, the Virage VideoLogger and associated products have become the de facto standard for making rich media assets searchable, accessible and interactive. About Avstar Systems Avstar Systems LLC is dedicated to supporting the world community of radio and television journalists through technological innovation and to ensuring the continued independence of the news media by developing tools that are content-independent. It is a newsroom computer system joint venture, owned and funded 50/50 by the Grass Valley Group and Avid Technology, Inc. Avstar supports both the AvidNews Newsroom Computer System (including Basys and NewsView) and the Tektronix NewStar installed customer base and is committed to a smooth migration path for existing customers to make the transition to Avstar Systems products. Headquartered in Madison, Wisconsin with additional offices world-wide, Avstar's products are installed in the world's broadcast facilities and serve over 70,000 journalists. For more information, see the Avstar Systems web site at http://www.avstarnews.com or call +1-608-274-8686.

About Virage, Inc.

Virage is the leading provider of products and services that maximize the value of video by making it searchable and interactive. Virage's VideoLogger and AudioLogger software set the standard for real-time indexing and distribution of video across the Internet or corporate intranets/extranets. Virage has been named the market winner by industry analyst group Frost & Sullivan. Virage customers include ABC News, AltaVista, BBC, Carlton Communications, CBS, CNET, CNN, CNN Interactive, Compaq, C-SPAN, Energy Film Library, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Fox Sports, General Electric, General Motors, Harvard Business School, Lockheed Martin, Lucent Technologies, NASA, Network Espana, Reuters, Showdown Productions, Swiss Radio-TV, Telecinco and several classified U.S. government agencies. These companies rely on Virage video search products as the critical foundation technology for more effectively deploying and using video within their operations. Headquartered in San Mateo, California, Virage was incorporated in 1994 to provide organizations with advanced methods for accessing and leveraging media assets. For more information, see the Virage web site at http://www.virage.com or call (650) 573-3210.

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