SEATTLE, Sept. 24 PictureIQ(TM) Corporation, a provider of intelligent Web image content production and delivery solutions for businesses, today announced plans to introduce a plug-and-play server appliance incorporating Adobe AlterCast(TM) imaging server software. Adobe AlterCast, recently announced by Adobe Systems, Inc., will help automate the process of creating and re-purposing images and graphics. Developed and marketed by PictureIQ, this server appliance version will complement PictureIQ's current, award-winning product line by providing increased power and efficiency in preparing, enhancing and manipulating image content. This announcement demonstrates the emergence of a new information technology category called dynamic imaging. PictureIQ and Adobe's products will shape this category to fundamentally improve image content production processes and facilitate smarter image delivery on the Web. The PictureIQ AlterCast-based server appliance, expected to be available in the first half of 2002, will offer publishers of frequently updated Web sites a convenient and turnkey solution that automates the process of creating and re-purposing images for publishing to the Web. It will offer powerful image content conversion and enhancement capabilities such as image resizing, compression, automatic optimization of brightness and contrast as well as automatic file format conversion. It will also enable image content to become an integral part of the automated workflow offered by content management systems, which today are specifically relied on for streamlining text creation and related page assembly. Inefficiencies in the way image content is prepared and deployed on the Web dramatically affect site performance, company image, and ultimately, the bottom line. Yet more than 70 percent of all Web content is graphics or image based. Dynamic imaging eliminates costly and labor-intensive image production, and improves Web-oriented image quality and performance. "With AlterCast, Adobe is offering an exciting new standard for imaging technology that extends its desktop software leadership into the server environment,'' says Tom Hull, CEO of PictureIQ Corporation. "We are very pleased to be aligning with Adobe to offer a simple and easy-to-deploy server appliance that will help broaden and accelerate adoption of the AlterCast technology among top enterprises.'' Proven Leader in Image Optimization and Delivery PictureIQ has proven expertise offering server appliances that provide full compatibility with existing image workflow and Web infrastructure environments. PictureIQ recently launched its TransForce(TM) server appliance to improve "time-to-Web'' image production processes by dynamically and automatically optimizing images using a single high-resolution source image. Its smart delivery capabilities serve optimized images based on users' contextual attributes such as bandwidth or network traffic constraints, as well as the browser-based device that's being used to access the content. "PictureIQ was first-to-market with its introduction of a standalone image content server appliance optimized for intelligent Web image production and delivery,'' says Harry Vitelli, senior director of product management, Web developer products at Adobe. "We look forward to expanding our existing relationship with PictureIQ to give businesses a unique advantage in preparing and delivering image content throughout their enterprise and via the Web.'' Quick and Easy to Integrate, Deploy The AlterCast-based server appliance from PictureIQ will be capable of quickly and easily integrating into any network infrastructure without requiring changes to existing hardware or back-end software. Server appliances are a useful and effective solution designed to address key Internet infrastructure issues such as scalability, reliability, availability and manageability. According to IDC, sales of server appliances are predicted to grow tenfold during the next four years and outpace general server sales. IDC estimates the server appliance market will grow from $1 billion in 1999 to $11 billion worldwide by 2004 (not including storage appliance figures).