LONDON, Feb. 12, 2007 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- New Medium Enterprises (NME) (OTCBB:NMEN) and the DaTARIUS Group, today announced that they have signed an agreement, where DaTARIUS becomes the preferred off-line testing equipment provider for the HD VMD optical disc format. NME and DaTARIUS will jointly own the Intellectual Property Rights that emerge from efforts in building testing equipment for the industry.
The agreement represents a major advancement in the global manufacturing and testing process for HD VMD, since many replicators use DaTARIUS' DaTABANK system. The availability of driveCubes for HD VMD on the DaTABANK system is a catalyst for the optical disc industry and promotes the growth of the HD VMD format alongside Blu-ray and HD DVD.
"The DaTARIUS addition to the list of HD VMD format partners is an excellent step into the 'off-line' world of VMD which will continue to grow worldwide," said Alexander Bolker-Hagerty, Executive Vice President for Business Development, NME, Inc. "Our goal is to team with optical disc industry leaders such as DaTARIUS, and align ourselves with manufacturing and testing equipment suppliers that will allow our multilayer disc to flourish in the market."
"We are delighted to be working with NME and its emerging HD VMD format," said James Steynor, chairman and CEO, DaTARIUS. "This gives the optical disc industry an appealing, cost-effective alternative to blue laser formats. Our DaTABANK system, with a driveCube for HD VMD, gives media manufacturers the flexibility to integrate the VMD format, with full quality assurance throughout the production process, into their facilities."
VMD is currently being adopted by content providers and distributors worldwide, including EMEA (France, Germany, Italy, Russia, UK, Central Europe and the Middle East), the Americas (U.S.A. and Brazil) and Asia (China, India and Japan).
VMD technology can provide up to eight information layers on one side of a disc and can be utilized for both blue laser and red laser formats, thereby offering numerous content options and business opportunities for the high-definition and content ecosystem. VMD is applicable for single- and double-sided discs and a multiplicity of formats, including Blu-ray and HD-DVD.
About NME
New Medium Enterprises' HD VMD format and players provide the world's first affordable and true high-definition playback solution utilizing today's red laser technology and existing DVD industrial infrastructure. Incorporating break-through optical storage capacity, a red laser-based HD file format, encryption technology, authoring tools and compression technology, NME is providing the only high-quality and high-value offering for the discerning consumer electronics market. New Medium Enterprises, Inc. is listed on the OTC exchange in the U.S. under the symbol NMEN. For additional information about NME, please visit http://www.nmeinc.com.
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