Global industry momentum grows for Alias/Wavefront's 3December initiative; Event captures the imagination of Intel, SGI & IBM to the world-wide 3D community

Business Wire, Sept 11, 2000

Business/High-Tech Editors

IBC 2000

AMSTERDAM, The Netherlands--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 11, 2000

Alias/Wavefront(TM), an SGI (NYSE:SGI) company, has announced that it has received wide-ranging industry support for its 3December(TM) initiative today at IBC 2000 in Amsterdam.

3December is a global annual event designed to build a community amongst professionals from the fields of industrial design, film and video, computer games, and interactive and visualisation sectors.

Hardware vendors and software partners are endorsing 3December 2000 in the 50 cities around the world. Intel, SGI and IBM will support events through co-branding and demonstrations of their high-end workstations. Intel Corporation's global sponsorship of 3December is a mark of its commitment to an industry event that is set to attract up to 100,000 people during a single 24-hour period. "Intel is pleased to be the global sponsor for 3December 2000," said John Thomas of Intel's Digital Media Solutions Division. "We're excited to be participating at this key annual event that shows Intel's commitment to the development of innovative tools for the 3D professional."

Also joining Alias/Wavefront as a key hardware sponsor is SGI. "We're very excited to participate with Alias/Wavefront in this global 3December initiative," said Mary Reeves of SGI. "This innovative event will give both companies the opportunity to demonstrate the benefits of Maya(R) and StudioTools(TM) outstanding capabilities with SGI's industry-leading graphics workstations."

IBM also shows its commitment to the 3D community through its support of 3December. "IBM is excited to be a premier sponsor of this dynamic world-wide event for 3D professionals," according to Doug Oathout of IBM(R) IntelliStation(R) workstations. "IBM and Alias/Wavefront offer exceptional solutions for computer graphics designers, and this event is an excellent opportunity to reach the 3D world-wide user community within industrial design, film and video, computer games, and interactive and visualisation content creation."

Alias/Wavefront's Conductors partners are also lining up to support the event. 3D software creator Cycore is a premier Conductor sponsor of 3December. "As the leader in interactive 3D for e-business with our breakthrough technology Cult3D, Cycore is thrilled to be a part of this international 3D celebration," said Bengt Starke, CEO of Cycore. "And now, with the recent launch of our new Cult3D Exporter for Maya, Cycore is the first company to bring Maya models to the Web. 3December is a great opportunity for renowned 3D software developers such as ourselves and Alias/Wavefront to recognise the achievements and innovations of the 3D artists world-wide who make 3D come alive."

Also joining the 3December event as a sponsoring Conductor partner is Pulse Entertainment. Pulse Entertainment brings creativity and cutting-edge technology together to bring life to Websites through rich media solutions. Conductors partners are members of Alias/Wavefront's third-party developer program.

This year's 3December attendees will include current customers of Alias/Wavefront's Maya and Studio/Tools software products as well as aspirational and new users. 3December has attracted speaker participation from some of the leading customers of Alias/Wavefront's tools from around the world, including Digital Domain and Sony Pictures Imageworks.

A 3December Webcast will now link up flagship cities around the world starting with Tokyo and moving through Asia to Europe and finishing on the West Coast in the US. To attend a 3December event in any one of the 50 cities or to receive further details about the program, participants can register at www.3december.com.

History of 3December

A pilot 3December event was held in the Dutch Academy of Film & Video in Amsterdam on December 3, 1999, attracting more than 1,200 attendees. The event featured customer presentations and a full program of workshops with more than 500 people taking part in a series of hands-on classes sessions.

About Alias/Wavefront

Alias/Wavefront provides artists with open workflow solutions for creative advantage. As the world's leading innovator of 2D and 3D graphics technology, Alias/Wavefront develops software for the film and video, games, interactive media, industrial design, and visualisation markets.

Alias/Wavefront's film, video and games customers include Blue Sky, Cinesite, CNN, Digital Domain, Electronic Arts, Industrial Light & Magic, Nihilistic, Nintendo, Pacific Data Images (PDI), Pixar, Sony Pictures Imageworks, The Walt Disney Company and Warner Feature Animation. The company's design customers are AT & T, BMW, Boeing, DaimlerChrysler, Fiat, Ford, Honda, Hyundai, General Motors, Italdesign, Kodak, Mattel, Renault, Rollerblade, Teague and Timex.

Alias/Wavefront is a wholly owned, independent software company of SGI(TM) with headquarters in Toronto and technical centres in Seattle and Santa Barbara. Please visit the Alias/Wavefront Web site at www.aliaswavefront.com or call 800/447-2542 in North America. Readers in Europe can call 800 4125 4125 or 800 791 174 in Italy; 353 1 890 2244 in the Middle East and Africa; 8 1 3 3470 8282 in Asia-Pacific; and 525 203 0030 in Latin America for the nearest sales office or authorised reseller in their area.