FLASH: Announcement: Macromedia Delivers Generator 2

[Brad Bechtel]

Thought you folks would like to see this announcement.


----- Original Message -----

From: Macromedia PR <

prmacromedia [dot] com

>

Subject: <WORLDWIDE> Macromedia Delivers Generator 2



MACROMEDIA DELIVERS GENERATOR 2, THE DYNAMIC GRAPHICS SERVER FOR E-BUSINESS

AND

E-COMMERCE


Seybold San Francisco 99  SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. - August 30, 1999

Macromedia,

Inc. (NASDAQ: MACR) today announced Macromedia Generator 2, the solution for

personalizing, automating, and visualizing graphical content for high-impact

Web sites. Generator 2 delivers targeted, real-time graphics and

interactivity

for Web sites that feature on-demand content in a rich visual experience.

Leading corporations implementing Generator today for their Internet

business

strategies include Prudential, Internet Shopping Network and Ford Motor

Company.


Generator enables companies, who are facing increased competition online, to

create "sticky" sites that combine rich interactive graphics, charts, tables

and animations with up-to-the-minute information. Generator has an open

architecture that integrates seamlessly with existing enterprise

infrastructures. Benefits to corporations include improved communication

through visual impact, reduced development time by separating design from

content, and better customer service through personalized content.


The new version of Generator adds streamlined authoring with Flash 4 to make

creation of dynamic templates faster and easier, as well as the ability to

drag

and drop objects for adding dynamic content. On the server side, performance

has been enhanced to provide 30 percent faster delivery of data and users

now

have the ability to access data driven content through URLs. Delivery

options

have also been improved with 3D interactive charting and advanced publishing

capabilities including Apple QuickTime 4.


"Macromedia's goal with Generator is to automate the production of Web sites

that deliver personalized content with high-impact designs. Generator gives

corporations strong brand expression combined with up-to-the-minute content,

for increased customer satisfaction," said David Mendels, senior vice

president

and general manager of Macromedia's Web Publishing division. "The robust new

feature set delivers a streamlined solution for e-commerce, e-business,

advertising, news and information services, and financial services."


Generator enables companies to establish and maintain unique e-business

brand

identities through rich online experiences that engage customers. For

e-commerce, Generator provides companies with a streamlined, automated

process

to implement updates that are personalized and current. Financial

institutions

use Generator to deliver secure and customized financial information in a

variety of graphical formats that include tickers, stock charts and pie

charts.

For advertising, Generator delivers one-to-one on-line advertisements that

can

use customer buying patterns and preferences to target content.


The Internet Shopping Network turned to Generator and Flash when it had to

implement a new business model within 90 days for its firstjewelry.com site.

"When Internet Shopping Network launched firstjewelry.com, we needed to

establish brand and set tone for our new business. We needed to have a very

interesting site that was fast and reliable," said Keith Foxe, Executive

Director of Creative at Internet Shopping Network. "Generator enabled us to

implement an innovative and critical component of the site. Sun, Netscape

and

Oracle provided the reliable, fast backend architecture."


Macromedia Generator is designed to work with leading products from

Microsoft

Corp., Netscape Communications Corp., Oracle Corp., and Sun Microsystems,

Inc.

to deliver integrated Web solutions for large enterprise customers. "Sun

servers, with the Solaris(TM) Operating Environment and Java(TM)

technologies,

have become a platform of choice for e-businesses looking to develop and

deploy

robust Web sites," said Bill Correll, worldwide market development manager,

digital media and entertainment, Sun Microsystems, Inc. "By choosing

Macromedia's Generator 2, Sun customers can deliver a compelling and rich

media

experience that helps them stand out from the competition."


ABOUT GENERATOR 2

Generator 2 is a server solution that automates the delivery of dynamic

content, personalizes a Web site visitor's experience, and visualizes

graphical

content for clearer messaging and stronger branding. Key features of

Generator

2 include:


. Generator objects palette -- These drag and drop objects add dynamic

content

including charts, tickers, scrolling lists, images, tables, Flash movies and

sound, all of which can be automatically updated and modified in real-time.


. Professional authoring environment -- Development is streamlined with

Flash 4

to provide an easy-to-use, visual authoring environment. The new Generator

Template Inspector tightens the integration with Flash 4 by allowing authors

to

easily change the way an object looks and behaves. This new floating palette

allows the Web designer to fluidly create and modify an object with a single

click.


. Media anywhere -- Data driven content can now be accessed with URLs, in

addition to SQL queries, ODBC/JDBC, Java class APIs or text files, providing

tight data integration to control the site's content and flexibly expanding

your data access needs.


. Advanced Publishing capabilities -- Generator 2 now outputs QuickTime

movies

in addition to GIF, animated GIF, JPG, PNG, and SWF (Flash movie) formats.


. Enhanced charting capabilities -- Generator 2 has a rich charting engine

and

has added 3D pie charts, stock charts and tables. The stock charts

automatically include high, low, open and close information as well as

support

advanced financial functions.


. High performance architecture -- Performance with Generator 2 has

increased

30 percent, providing faster data delivery to Web site visitors.


PRICING AND AVAILABILITY

Generator 2 will be available for Windows NT with Microsoft Internet

Information Server (IIS) 3.0 and 4.0 and Personal Web Server 4.0; and

Solaris

with Apache and the Sun-Netscape Alliance's iPlanet Web Server, Enterprise

Edition 4.0. The Windows NT version is expected to ship in September and

additional versions are slated to ship in the fall. Pricing for Generator 2

starts at $2,999 with upgrades at $1,499. The Generator authoring extensions

for Flash 4 can be downloaded in September for free from

www.macromedia.com/software/generator.


ABOUT MACROMEDIA

Macromedia's mission is to add life to the Web. By providing its

award-winning

Web Publishing solutions to Web designers, consumers, and the enterprise,

Macromedia is delivering a completely new generation of Internet

technologies

designed to transform the Web experience. Headquartered in San Francisco,

Macromedia (NASDAQ: MACR) has more than 550 employees worldwide and is

available on the Internet at http://www.macromedia.com.


###

Macromedia, Generator and Flash are trademarks of Macromedia Inc., as

indicated.  Other company names, brand names and product names may be

trademark(s) of others.





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