BURLINGTON, Mass. -- May 8, 2002 -- Actuality Systems, Inc., a pioneer in the development of spatial 3D visualization technology, will demonstrate its Perspecta platform at SID 2002, the 33rd Annual Symposium of the Society for Information Display, May 21-23, at the Hynes Convention Center in Boston. Previously known by its code name, Helios, the Perspecta platform consists of two elements: the Perspecta spatial display, which projects 3D imagery inside a 20-in transparent dome, and the Perspecta OS.

The Perspecta spatial 3D platform is compatible with several molecular visualization software packages and enables users to render high-resolution spatial images that can be viewed aross a full 360 degrees. The Perspecta SDK, based on an open standard, enables application development and migration.

"It's been barely a year since we first announced our prototype display," said Actuality's founder and CTO, Gregg Favalora. "We've come a long way since then. Today, we have better performance, higher image quality, and developer support. But the biggest change is that we are now actively selling our Perspecta platform."

In April, Actuality named Cameron Lewis, formerly of Netscape, McAfee.com, and MedicaLogic, as CEO. Since then, Lewis has worked to focus the company on bringing Perspecta to market. In the months ahead, the company plans to extend its software development kit, provide tools for industry-leading 3D applications, and accomplish its goal of providing unique visualization research tools to proteomics and drug discovery companies.

"3D images in 2D displays are widely used in a number of fields," said Lewis. "Perspecta makes it possible to visualize 3D in 3D, in real time, in high resolution, and with existing applications. For example, Perspecta can be used for lead optimization during the drug development process, allowing chemists to rapidly cycle through thousands of pharmaceutical candidates. And we enable high-performance visualization in other industries by offering a suite of development tools, available soon from our website in the Perspecta SDK."

The Perspecta display illuminates a world-record 100 million volume pixels, or "voxels," throughout a full range of 3D locations within a transparent 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, a custom embedded graphics architecture allows fully animated 3D imagery to be controlled and maneuvered from the customer's computer. The Perspecta OS includes 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.

Typical applications for the platform include: drug discovery, such as visualization of protein structures; surgical planning and radiation treatment planning, for doctors working to understand the exact location of a tumor on an x-ray or mammogram; air-traffic control; game development; security specialists seeking a faster and more reliable way to visualize the contents of freight or passenger luggage; and numerous other possibilities.

The Perspecta spatial 3D platform is priced from $40,000 per station including the Perspecta OS and a Perspecta display. The Perspecta SDK is available free. More information is available at www.actuality-systems.com or at the SID conference, booth number 3428.

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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.

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