
Army Research Lab Places Order for New Perspecta Spatial
3D Platform from Actuality Systems
Maryland Research Facility will Explore Possible Military Role for
the Unique 360-Degree Domed Display
SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. -- June 25, 2002 -- Actuality Systems,
Inc., a leader in spatial 3D visualization technology, announced
today that the U.S. Army Research Laboratory (ARL) in Adelphi,
Md., has placed an order for Actuality's Perspecta platform and
will be among the first to receive Perspecta v1.5, the spatial
visualization platform just released last week.
Today's announcement was made during the company's West Coast
Perspecta demonstration tour, which moves to Seattle later this
week. The Army Research Laboratory provides a wide range of research
and development support for the Army, Department of Defense, NASA,
and a number of other government agencies.
The Perspecta platform has two components: a unique 360-degree
spatial display and Perspecta system software. The platform enables
users to render high-resolution spatial images that can be viewed
from any angle as the user moves around the display. The ARL will
also receive the Perspecta SDK, which is used for application
development and migration.
"This is an important endorsement of the Perspecta platform
and spatial image rendering," said Cameron Lewis, Actuaity
president and CEO. "The Army has been extremely encouraging
during the development phase of the new release for first customer
ship. Perspecta provides the Army with unique visualization capabilities;
we're very optimistic about the possibilities for command and
control as well as field operations."
Actuality will provide ARL with a fully configured Perspecta
platform -- including version 1.5 of the Perspecta display, software,
and rendering kernel -- integrated with an IBM(r) IntelliStation(r)
M Pro graphics workstation and flat-panel display. The complete
system will be mounted on a stabilized rolling cart along with
a retractable keyboard and joystick so the whole unit can be easily
rolled into any lab or meeting room for use by individuals or
in group settings.
The Perspecta display illuminates a record 100 million volume
pixels, or "voxels," throughout a full range of 3D locations
within a transparent 20-inch diameter sphere. This is unlike 3D
displays that require special stereoscopic goggles to simulate
multi-dimensional imagery, or flat-screen monitors that render
3D data into flat 2D images. In addition, Perspecta's embedded
graphics engine allows fully animated 3D imagery to be controlled
and maneuvered from the customer's computer by rapidly computing
the data required to project over 5000 images per second onto
its rotating screen. The Perspecta display uses the company's
Spatial Rendering Kernel, a collection of proprietary algorithms,
which slice the user's 3D data into a format suitable for projection
into spatial 3D.
More information is available at www.actuality-systems.com.
ABOUT ACTUALITY SYSTEMS
Actuality Systems, Inc. develops, produces, sells, and licenses
the Perspecta spatial 3D platform, a combination of hardware and
software that permits 360-degree visualization, simulation, and
collaboration. Founded in 1997 in Cambridge, the firm has received
venture funding and now operates from offices in Burlington, Mass.,
north of Boston. Actuality's President and CEO is Cameron Lewis,
who, in addition to executive roles at Netscape and PatientKeeper,
developed the first anti-virus ASP service at McAfee.com, and
headed up more than $400 million in mergers and acquisitions at
MedicaLogic. The company's chief technology officer, Gregg Favalora,
has been named one of the top young technologists by MIT Technology
Review. Company chairman, Rob Ryan, was a founder and former CEO
of Ascend Communications, Inc., which was acquired by Lucent in
a deal valued at more than $24 billion.
Media Contact Info:
Ellen Walravens, aMate Comm., (781) 281-1546; Ellen@amatecommunications.com
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