HARDWARE, FORMATS, APPLICATIONS MARK NEW PHASE OF KODAK PHOTO CD PROGRAM NEW YORK, Aug. 25_In more than a dozen interrelated announcements made today, Eastman Kodak Company reported the expansion of its Photo CD program across professional and commercial markets. This will mean new business for Kodak and new services and products for Kodak's customers. Today's announcements included one new Kodak business, four new Photo CD formats, three commercial hardware systems, four software packages, and agreements with several companies and organizations. Some companies have formed alliances with Kodak to extend the current Photo CD concept into new commercial applications. Kodak's New Business The Kodak Picture Exchange is a global image transmission network designed to provide access to millions of Photo CD images, bringing them as close to commercial users as the nearest public telephone connected to a desktop computer. The new Photo CD formats include: ù The Kodak Pro Photo CD Master disc, which stores images from 35 mm and larger film formats to meet the needs of professional photographers ù The Kodak Photo CD Portfolio disc, which extends picture capacity from the original Photo CD Master format and allows the creation of exciting on-disc programs that merge pictures with text, graphics, sound, and branching ù The Kodak Photo CD Catalog disc, which allows easy distribution of disc catalogs containing thousands of pictures of images for rent, art works or retail products ù The Kodak Photo CD Medical disc, which can store diagnostic images, from a variety of image modalities, for medical applications The new commercial and professional hardware systems include: ù The Kodak Professional Photo CD Imaging Workstation 4200 (Professional PIW 4200), which features the new Kodak Professional Photo CD film scanner 4045 to transfer images from large-format professional films to Pro Photo CD Master discs ù The Kodak Professional Photo CD Image Library, an automated disc "jukebox" system that stores and accesses thousands of images on all formats of Photo CD discs ù The Kodak Photo CD Imaging Workstation 2400 (PIW 2400), a Photo CD authoring station for photofinishing labs that's over three times as productive as today's units The four software packages include: ù Kodak PhotoEdge image enhancement and correction software, which provides business users with a set of basic image-editing tools ù Kodak Shoebox image search and retrieval database software, designed to help users access images stored as stand-alone databases or on the Kodak Professional Photo CD Image Library system ù Kodak Browser software, a scaled-down version of Shoebox software, to make it easy for computer users to navigate Kodak Photo CD Catalog discs ù Kodak Renaissance design software, an intuitive page layout package that has been upgraded to allow direct importation of Photo CD images Early this month, Kodak began shipping Kodak Photo CD Access software, which gives Macintosh and DOS/Windows operating system users the ability to read Photo CD images and save them in common computer image file formats. More Than a Dozen Companies Already Working with Kodak's New Products In addition, more than a dozen companies, universities, and organizations have joined with Kodak to cooperate on the development of new products and commercial applications for the Photo CD system. Some of the best-known include Apple Computer, Inc., J. Paul Getty Art History Information Program (a leader among art museums in applying electronic imaging technology), J. Walter Thompson, and Young and Rubicam. Other organizations with especially innovative applications include Homes and Land Publishing Corp. (owner of Homes and Land, the series of high-quality real estate magazines), Jostens (the largest publisher of high school yearbooks), AGT (a $150 million graphic arts company), and Dyansen Corporation (the owner of Dyansen art galleries). Separately, Philips Consumer Electronics Company, Pioneer Communications, Sony Corporation of America, and Toshiba Corporation have agreed to market fully Photo CD-compatible CD-ROM drives. The Next Chapter The first phase of Kodak's Photo CD program began some three years ago with the conception at Kodak of the Photo CD idea. Two years ago, Kodak made the first announcements of the technology that will allow high-resolution 35 mm film images to be stored on compact discs and played on TV or a computer. With delivery of the first Photo CD players to consumers taking place as scheduled earlier this month, the company is now moving to extend the Photo CD concept from consumer markets into mainstream commercial businesses. "When we unveiled the Photo CD technology, it signaled the first fundamental change in photography in more than 100 years," said Kay R. Whitmore, Kodak chairman, president and chief executive officer. "Today's announcements represent the next chapter in the Photo CD story, one that begins to demonstrate the vast commercial potential we talked about when we announced the system two years ago." Added Stephen S. Stepnes, general manager and vice president of Kodak's CD Imaging unit, "Today we're spelling out our long-term vision for the Photo CD system. It's a vision that reinforces our commitment to consumers, even as we extend the Photo CD format into new commercial applications. "Every one of the new disc formats we're announcing today is fully compatible with the core Photo CD format," he said. "That means that every Photo CD disc will play on home Photo CD and CD-I players, as well as on Photo CD-compatible CD-ROM XA computer drives. "Our vision for the Photo CD system is to put the power of pictures in the hands of everyone, at every level," Stepnes concluded. "Now we're starting to make this vision a reality." #### [Note: Kodak, Kodak Browser, PhotoEdge, Renaissance, and Shoebox are trademarks.]