E-Commerce Gets a Boost from Rich Media

IBM Adds Java-Based Interactive Media to E-Commerce Servers and Announces Public Beta of Toolkit

Somers, NY (September 30, 1998) – IBM today announced the adoption of IBM HotMedia, its Java**-based rich media toolkit, by the industry’s leading merchant servers, including IBM Net.Commerce*. In addition, the IBM HotMedia toolkit beta is now available for creative new media professionals to download free-of-charge at http://www.software.ibm.com/net.media.
IBM HotMedia Software for the Java Environment is a set of ultra-lightweight Java applets and a set of simple-to-use tools for content creators. IBM HotMedia makes it possible to enhance commercial Web sites with rich media, without burdening Internet users with lengthy data download times, and without any special server requirements. As a result, e-businesses will be able to easily incorporate rich media experiences into on-line catalogs and other e-business applications, such as on-line advertising and interactive Web presentations.
“The future of e-business depends on making the user experience as natural as possible – – media without excuses will be a necessity,” said Armando Garcia, vice president, Internet media, IBM. “IBM HotMedia provides a more realistic, natural environment for Internet shoppers that will help drive sales through on-line storefronts and facilitate the buy decision. And Web content creators can now use this same technology to their advantage.”
IBM HotMedia gives end-users an intuitive and efficient way to navigate through a variety of rich-media effects, including:
animated GIFs
panning and scrolling images
multi-track animations
3D object movies
zoomable, multi-resolution images
audio and video clips
360 degree panoramas
IBM HotMedia also provides powerful spatial and temporal hot links across all of these content types, as well as to other objects and Web sites. Using IBM HotMedia, content is assembled into one easy-to-use file, which is simple to add to standard Web servers and efficiently delivered through a browser. Also, to effectively deal with today’s low-bandwidth connections to the Internet, IBM HotMedia content is “smart” and it retrieves applets just-in-time to deliver media progressively.
IBM HotMedia and Authoring Tools
The IBM HotMedia tools are simple to use and are designed to complement existing media-authoring tools. To facilitate seamless content creation, IBM HotMedia will be distributed with upcoming releases of Macromedia** Dreamweaver** and Director**. Additionally, IBM has created versions of HotMedia specifically for use as an Xtra** and Object in Dreamweaver.
“We’re pleased to partner with IBM to advance our mission of adding life to the Web,” said David Mendels, general manager of Macromedia’s Web Publishing Division. “By supporting IBM HotMedia in future versions of Dreamweaver and Director, the leading tools for Internet multimedia and Web site development, we’re further enabling rich media authoring for e-commerce and interactive advertising applications.”

Source: IBM

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