New Release Offers Color Balancing and Advanced Area of Interest (AOI) Encoding

SEATTLE, Wash., — Jan. 31, 2006— LizardTech, a division of Celartem, Inc., and a leading provider of software solutions for managing and distributing digital content, today announced the release of GeoExpress 6.  This new release leads with a set of powerful image manipulation and editing tools.  Adding to the existing suite of image manipulation and editing tools for multi-resolution mosaicking and image reprojection, new features such as color balancing and advanced area of interest (AOI) encoding provide the tools GIS analysts need to quickly and easily edit and distribute their raster imagery. 

“This new version of GeoExpress is the ultimate solution for taking imagery beyond compression. GeoExpress can now be used for lossless encoding, which will allow users to save time, money, disk space and bandwidth when manipulating and distributing an organization’s critically important image assets,” said Jon Skiffington, GeoExpress product manager for LizardTech.

Along with a robust suite of image editing and manipulation tools, GeoExpress 6 continues the long-standing tradition of wavelet image compression and now offers customers a choice of either the industry-standard MrSID® image compression format or the ISO-standard JPEG 2000 image compression format. With powerful yet easy to use image editing and manipulating tools at their fingertips, GIS professionals are able to use new and existing imagery, repurpose it as necessary and quickly distribute it over high and low bandwidth connections. 
The new color-balancing feature and predefined image encoding profiles for JPEG 2000 found in GeoExpress 6 make it easy to deliver geospatial imagery compliant with government requirements and industry standards. Color balancing allows geospatial analysts to correct tonal imbalances using an easy and familiar workflow. Automatic or manual adjustments to brightness, contrast and histograms for each color band within a single image or across multiple images eliminate the need to buy expensive and complex color enhancement applications.

New Features in GeoExpress 6

GeoExpress 6’s new features and enhancements include:

• Powerful Image Editing and Manipulation Tools:  Now users can make the most of both new and existing imagery with tools for color balancing images or mosaic tiles, reprojecting imagery from one coordinate system to another, cropping images and highlighting areas of interest to meet project needs and requirements.
• Organization-wide Access to Image Compression and Editing Tools:  A floating license option allows IT administrators to deploy GeoExpress 6.0 throughout their organization while purchasing licenses for only the number of concurrent users they must accommodate. Geospatial analysts experience increased productivity because they no longer need to rely on a shared workstation to compress or edit imagery, and network administrators can more easily manage their network infrastructure and licensing.
• Compliance with Government Requirements and Industry Standards:  GeoExpress 6 takes the guesswork out of compressing imagery that complies with the ISO standard for JPEG 2000 and government requirements such as NPJE/EPJE and NITF 2.1, as well as the industry-standard MrSID Generation 3.  Pre-defined and user-defined image encoding profiles ensure everyone in the organization delivers the same consistent high quality imagery, every time.
• Massive Geospatial Imagery More Manageable and Network Friendly:  GeoExpress 6 delivers powerful image compression with ratios between 2:1 and 50:1, while retaining the visual fidelity of the image. Users now have a choice of two efficient compressed image formats, MrSID and JPEG 2000, and GeoExpress 6 makes it possible to distribute massive image files over the Internet to both wireless and broadband devices in a lossless format that, pixel for pixel, is identical to the original image.
• Integration with Oracle’s Spatial 10gR2 Database:  Users can load their raster imagery directly into Oracle 10gR2, saving 95 percent of their disk storage space and allowing raster, vector and other business data to be stored and retrieved from a common source.

The GeoExpress 6 product family consists of a Standard Edition that includes the tools suite as well as an allotment for image compression; an Unlimited Edition that includes the tools suite and unlimited image compression functionality; and a Tools Edition for a low cost, powerful edit-only application where image compression is not required. A floating license is also available which permits easy installation and license management.

Pricing and Availability 
GeoExpress 6 is available for download and purchase now.  GeoExpress 6 Unlimited starts at a suggested retail price of $7,900.  GeoExpress 6 Standard Edition starts at a suggested retail price of $2,900. GeoExpress 6 Tools starts at a suggested retail price of $1,500.
For information on where to purchase the GeoExpress family of products visit http://www.lizardtech.com/products/geo/

About GeoExpress
GeoExpress offers the benefits of both MrSID technology and ISO standard JPEG 2000 without any compromise in image quality. In addition to lossless encoding, which preserves images with pixel-for-pixel fidelity in a compressed format easily reusable in downstream applications, GeoExpress provides valuable image manipulation tools such as reprojection, color balancing and area of interest encoding.

About LizardTech
LizardTech, a division of Celartem, Inc., was founded in 1992 to build valuable business solutions from technologies created by the world's leading research organizations including Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) and AT&T Labs. LizardTech is a leader in applying state-of-the-art technologies to the real-world challenges of managing, distributing, and accessing large complex digital content such as aerial photographs, satellite imagery, and color scanned documents. LizardTech's software is installed on millions of desktops and integrated into a wide variety of platforms and applications. LizardTech has offices in Seattle, London and Tokyo. LizardTech is a division of Celartem, Inc., which is wholly owned by Celartem Technology Inc., (Hercules: 4330). For more information about LizardTech, visit www.lizardtech.com.

About Celartem
Celartem Technology Inc., develops and sells innovative technologies for storage, access and distribution of rich media content. Celartem has developed technology in the areas of digital image compression, scalable image viewing and secure content distribution and management. Celartem is listed on the Osaka Securities Exchange, Hercules:4330. Established in 1996, Celartem is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan and has a wholly owned subsidiary, Celartem Inc. with headquarters in Seattle.

#########
© 2006 LizardTech. All rights reserved. LizardTech and the LizardTech logo are registered trademarks in the United States, and all are the property of LizardTech. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.