Global News Providers Select Virage to Deliver Video Search Engines

Business Wire, Oct 25, 1999

SAN MATEO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 25, 1999--

The Associated Press and washingtonpost.com

Add Interactive Presidential Campaign Coverage

via Virage's Campaign 2000 Video Search Engine

Virage Inc., the recognized market leader in interactive video search products and services, announced that The Associated Press and washingtonpost.com are introducing a video search engine from Virage to enhance presidential election coverage on their news web sites.

The Associated Press and washingtonpost.com are using Virage Interactive(TM) Services to seamlessly integrate video search into their Internet sites, enabling viewers to quickly locate the televised speeches of presidential candidates on any topic or keyword. Using a familiar search-engine-style interface, the Virage video search application returns relevant video clips for viewers to watch from a comprehensive archive of unedited C-SPAN footage that will grow over the course of the 2000 campaign.

The Associated Press and Virage

The Associated Press has integrated the Virage-C-SPAN video search in The WIRE, a multimedia news web site (http://wire.ap.org) that is custom-branded for more than 300 AP member newspapers and broadcasters worldwide. "The video search will be a key component of the AP's multimedia coverage of the unfolding campaign," said Jim Kennedy, director of Multimedia Services for the news agency.

"Virage's video search breaks new interactive ground in what will certainly be a web-driven campaign," said the AP's Kennedy. "Our viewers will be able to use this application to find the exact context for the many words and promises that will be delivered over the next year by the presidential hopefuls. The Virage search will add a whole new dimension to our campaign coverage."

washingtonpost.com and Virage

Washingtonpost.com (www.washingtonpost.com) will mobilize the Campaign 2000 Video Search Engine, created by Virage, Inc and C-SPAN, as a key multimedia offering of the site's comprehensive and authoritative coverage of the 2000 campaigns and elections.

"The Virage video searching technology will give washingtonpost.com users direct access to one of the technologies that is changing the way Americans follow and practice politics," said Mark Stencel, politics editor of washingtonpost.com.

"Virage is excited to have been selected by AP and washingtonpost.com, two of the world's leading news providers, to add this breakthrough feature to their news services," said Paul Lego, CEO of Virage. "Until now, video has been limited in its ability to convey information in an on-demand fashion. With Virage's video search engine, news providers can now give their users the ability to very quickly navigate through thousands of hours of unfiltered video content about presidential candidates and their positions."

The Campaign 2000 Video Search Engine enables the public to easily search for and view video on any candidate, party or campaign topic throughout the campaign cycle. With Virage's video search technology, viewers are no longer forced to plan their schedules around special election events, or to rely solely on the opinions and sound-bites of the media. Voters can now immediately find topics of interest within any speech and quickly learn the information that is important to them. Furthermore, Internet users can compare and contrast statements made by candidates as they speak to voters at different venues, and can track a candidate's position on a topic throughout the campaign process.

About Virage Interactive Services

Virage Interactive Services provides content originators, such as media and entertainment companies, enterprise customers, and premiere event and conference producers with a complete solution for integrating searchable and interactive video into their web sites. Powered by Sun Microsystems' Enterprise servers and Solaris Operating Environment, the service translates video content from television, satellite or tape directly into a hosted and private-labeled video search engine. By providing a hosted index of searchable video, Virage Interactive Services allows site producers to weave video search throughout their site, retaining complete control over the functionality as well as the look and feel of the web pages.

About Virage

Virage is the leading provider of products and services that maximize the value of video by making it searchable and interactive. Virage's VideoLogger(TM) and AudioLogger(TM) 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 has deployed its video search engine in over 140 installations worldwide, including ABC, AltaVista, BBC, CBS, CNET, CNN, Compaq, C-SPAN, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Fox Sports, General Electric, General Motors, Harvard Business School, Lockheed Martin, Lucent Technologies, NASA, NBCi/SNAP.com, the New York Stock Exchange, Reuters, Swiss Radio-TV and Telecinco. Headquartered in San Mateo, Calif., Virage was incorporated in 1994 to provide organizations with advanced methods for accessing and leveraging media assets.