COMDEX/SPRING - CHICAGO - MARCH 6, 2002 - Most virtual reality developers would be satisfied if an advanced design team at one of the Big 3 automakers or a global oil exploration company used their software to solve complex problems. But Jason Leigh, one of three of CAVERNsoft G2 developers, knows that the right technology transfer relationship can help this incredible software do even more. Downloadable at www.openchannelfoundation.org/projects/CAVERNsoft_G2, the software is available to non-commercial users free of charge through tech transfer specialists Open Channel Foundation (OCF), nonprofit arm of Open Channel Software (OCS).

Equally surprising to the technology itself is its new affordability. Collaborative workgroups now only need to spend between $10,000 and $20,000 for standard PC hardware, instead of the millions it used to cost to implement VR on expensive workstations. Which means that this technology is becoming affordable to nearly anyone, including budget-strapped educational and scientific institutions, according to Leigh, who is a research scientist at the Electronic Visualization Laboratory (EVL) at the University of IL/Chicago.

"The Open Channel Foundation has been great to work with," says Leigh. "Their idea of concentrating scientific software onto one website is really important. Being there has attracted new CAVERNsoft users and it made it easier for us to publish our work," he states. "They've also helped us advance the product's commercialization. We would definitely use them again. In fact, we've included them in a recent grant, specifying them as our preferred means of distributing all the new software that we create," Leigh says.

To date nearly 500 copies of CAVERNsoft's earlier versions have been downloaded from the OCF site, according to Douglas Curry, vice president of business development at Chicago-based OCS. "We have been able to create a vibrant community around CAVERNsoft leading to many suggestions for ways to improve the product," says Curry, adding that, "We are also pursuing several opportunities based upon the market segments that already have been identified for the product."

CAVERNsoft G2 is an open source, cross-platform,C++ ready2ware toolkit for building 'Tele-Immersion' (collaborative virtual reality) applications. Its main strength, according to developer Leigh, is in transmitting high-throughput data that converts to visual images in a 'CAVE' environment," he adds. CAVE, which used to require a Silicon Graphics or comparable workstation to operate, was also originally developed at EVL. Today, user applications need not be CAVE-based in order to run CAVERNsoft G2. CAVERNsoft's networking software works across SGI, Linux, Solaris, and Windows 9x, NT, and 2000.

Which also means that CAVERNsoft G2 not only can be used for high-level geo-science and product engineering applications but also that biomedical and aerospace VR developers can enjoy and employ this new technology. For example: imagine a recreational therapy environment for mobility-impaired individuals wherein they play can play team sports such as baseball…all in a virtual environment. Or envision a group of surgeons in several different locations, being able to 'travel' through the human blood stream, as in the movie "Fantastic Voyage," viewing live, real-time, 3-D projections of a real-life patient using a micro-miniature video camera and CAVERNsoft G2. Such applications are possible in the near future, according to Leigh.

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ABOUT OPEN CHANNEL SOFTWARE AND THE OPEN CHANNEL FOUNDATION
The Open Channel Foundation (OCF) is the nonprofit technology transfer arm of Open Channel Software Inc. (OCS), an Internet-based organization that publishes, distributes, and commercializes software created at academic and research institutions. OCF serves as a central clearinghouse for high-quality, technically advanced scientific applications. By hosting these programs, based on open-source code and other popular platforms, OCS monitors market activity and identifies breakthrough opportunities for appropriate hosted applications that have strong commercial potential. The OCS/OCF website these hosts innovative, cutting-edge programs - grouped into categories, or Disciplines - and actively promotes sponsored software by building and maintaining communities of involved users. If software has sufficient commercial potential, OCS provides the resources required to bring it to commercial distribution and proactively markets it, offering customers fee-based support services. See www.openchannelsoftware.org or phone 773-334-8177 to learn more about Open Channel Software, the Open Channel Foundation, its software Disciplines, products and services, or to become a participating author/developer.

NOTE: All products mentioned in this news release are brands or registered trademarks of their respective owners.