12.12.2005
ACCESSIT PIONEERS PRESENTATION OF DISNEY AND WALDEN
MEDIA'S "THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: THE LION, THE
WITCH AND THE WARDROBE" IN JPEG2000 DIGITAL FORMAT
- First Commercial Release
of a JPEG 2000 Digital Cinema Feature Compatible with
the DCI Specifications At Company’s Pavilion Digital
Showcase Theatre -
Morristown, NJ, December
12, 2005 – In another digital cinema technology
“first,” Access Integrated
Technologies, Inc. ("AccessIT")
(AMEX:AIX), in cooperation with The Walt Disney
Studios (“Disney”) and media player hardware provider
Doremi Labs, Inc., said today, it has premiered Disney’s
and Walden Media’s “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion,
The Witch and The Wardrobe” at its Pavilion Digital
Showcase Theatre in JPEG2000 compression format as provided
for in DCI specifications. The Pavilion Theatre is the
first, and to date, the only movie theatre equipped
to show digital movies to paying audiences utilizing
this advanced technology standard. By December 31, 2005,
an additional 150 digital cinema systems currently being
installed by Christie/AIX, a subsidiary of AccessIT,
with regional theatre chains under its 4,000-screen
rollout plan will be JPEG2000-capable. Disney’s “Narnia”
was released nationally December 9th in both analog
and digital versions.
“Today, thanks to the efforts of
the talented team at AccessIT,
we have been able to achieve a significant digital cinema
milestone, the presentation of a full-length movie to
audiences in compliance with the compression standards
created by the industry’s Digital Cinema Initiatives.
AccessIT’s technology leadership,
operating digital cinema equipment at its Pavilion Showcase
theatre, was instrumental in making this important development
possible,” said Chuck Viane, president, Buena Vista
Pictures Distribution, Disney’s distribution arm.
“We are pleased to play a supporting
role in the effort to bring the most advanced technology
to exhibitors and audiences nationwide,” said Bud Mayo,
chairman and chief executive officer of AccessIT.
“This presentation of Narnia, the first to use DCI specified
JPEG2000 before a paying audience, is a major technological
advance for everyone that has worked long and hard to
see digital cinema become a reality.”
In July 2005, Digital Cinema Initiatives,
LLC (DCI), a joint venture formed by Disney and the
six other major studios in 2002, issued the Version
1.0 Technical Specification for digital cinema systems.
Included in the Specifications was the designation of
JPEG2000 as the uniform file compression format. While
movies have previously been shown on 2K digital projector
systems, the commercial presentation of full-length
films in DCI-conforming JPEG2000 format had not been
previously achieved.
AccessIT’s
Pavilion Theatre features five state-of-the-art 2K DLP
Cinema® digital projection systems produced by Christie
Digital Systems as well as media player hardware developed
by Doremi Labs, among others. Doremi’s DCP-2000 digital
cinema server, like the unit deployed at the Pavilion,
is the first commercially available server capable of
playing DCI-JPEG2000 digital movies. It is AccessIT’s
intent to include Doremi players in many of the digital
system installations anticipated under its 4,000-screen
rollout plan.
Russell Wintner, President and
COO of AccessIT’s Digital
Media Division, added: “As soon as we decided to partner
with Christie in a major deployment of Digital Cinema
systems, we set our goal on JPEG2000 for installations
to begin this same year. Our ability to support Disney’s
ambitious agenda using JPEG2000 for ‘Narnia’ marks a
critical objective met by our dedicated development
team and further evidence of the value of having a digital
cinema showcase theatre for advancing the joint goals
of our movie industry partners.”
Camille Rizko, President and CTO
of Doremi Labs, Inc. added: “We have been at the forefront
of JPEG2000 technology integration since its introduction.
The DCP-2000 server is the culmination of our effort
to provide the Digital Cinema market with the first
server capable of playing digital movies with JPEG2000
compression. We are proud to participate in this historic
event.
Access Integrated Technologies,
Inc. (AccessIT) is
an industry leader in offering a fully managed storage
and electronic delivery service for owners and distributors
of digital content to movie theaters and other venues.
Supported by its robust platform of fail-safe Internet
data centers, AccessIT is
able to leverage the market-leading role of its Theatrical
Distribution System (TDS) with its innovative digital
delivery capabilities and in-theatre software systems
to provide the highest level of technology available
to enable the emerging Digital Cinema industry to transition
from film without changing workflows. For more information
on AccessIT, visit www.accessitx.com.
About The Walt Disney
Studios
The Walt Disney Studios is a unit of The Walt Disney
Company (NYSE: DIS) and distributes motion pictures
under Walt Disney Pictures - which includes Walt Disney
Feature Animation and DisneyToon Studios - Touchstone
Pictures, Hollywood Pictures, Miramax Films and Dimension
Films. Buena Vista International serves as the studio's
international distribution arm. Buena Vista Home Entertainment
and Buena Vista Home Entertainment International together
distribute Disney and other film titles to the rental
and sell-through home entertainment markets worldwide.
Buena Vista Theatrical Productions is one of the largest
producers of Broadway musicals, and the Buena Vista
Music Group distributes original music and motion picture
soundtracks under its four record labels: Walt Disney
Records, Buena Vista Records, Hollywood Records and
Lyric Street Records.
About Doremi Cinema
Doremi Cinema LLC. is a division of Doremi Labs, Inc.
Doremi Labs is a leading developer and manufacturer
of video disk recorders (VDR) and video servers for
the professional video and audio markets. Doremi's V1
family of VDRs is a market leader with several thousand
installations worldwide. Over the last three years Doremi
has expended its product line outside the video server
market. New products include the ORCA real-time HD MPEG2
video encoder, and the Nugget MPEG2 HD video player.
The Nugget development technology together with the
ORCA encoder and the JPEG2000 based V1-HD video server
set in motion Doremi's entry into the Digital Cinema
market and the establishment of Doremi Cinema LLC. in
2005. Today Doremi Cinema provides complete mastering
and playback solutions for both the DCI-JPEG2000 standard
and MXF Interop.
Safe Harbor Statement
Investors and readers are cautioned that certain statements
contained in this document, as well as some statements
in periodic press releases and some oral statements
of AccessIT officials during presentations
about AccessIT, along with AccessIT
's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission,
including AccessIT 's registration statements,
quarterly reports on Form 10-QSB and annual report on
Form 10-KSB, are "forward-looking'' statements
within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation
Reform Act of 1995 (the "Act''). Forward-looking
statements include statements that are predictive in
nature, which depend upon or refer to future events
or conditions, which include words such as "expects'',
"anticipates'', "intends'', "plans'',
“could”, “might”, "believes'', “seeks”, "estimates''
or similar expressions. In addition, any statements
concerning future financial performance (including future
revenues, earnings or growth rates), ongoing business
strategies or prospects, and possible future actions,
which may be provided by AccessIT’s management,
are also forward-looking statements as defined by the
Act. Forward-looking statements are based on current
expectations and projections about future events and
are subject to various risks, uncertainties and assumptions
about AccessIT, its technology, economic and
market factors and the industries in which AccessIT
does business, among other things. These statements
are not guarantees of future performance and AccessIT
undertakes no specific obligation or intention to update
these statements after the date of this release.
# # #
Suzanne Tregenza Moore
Access Integrated Technologies, Inc.
973.290.0080
smoore@accessitx.com
www.accessitx.com
Heidi Trotta
The Walt Disney Studios
818.560.7280
heidi.trotta@disney.com
Ramzi Shakra
Doremi Labs, Inc.
818 562 1101 ext. 248
ramzi@doremilabs.com
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