ROCHESTER, N.Y.--Nov. 5, 2001-- Xerox Corporation and Rochester Institute of Technology's (RIT) Information Technology Laboratory have created the first Web site for technology transfer where developers can test drive promising software from both commercial and academic laboratories. It offers a faster way to move research out of labs and into products. The site, www.alphaAve.com, has launched with six technologies available for free trial use, a first step in what is planned to be a multi-partner site for new product development. The first technologies are from two Xerox laboratories, Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) and the Xerox Architecture Center. Technology from RIT will be posted shortly. AlphaAve.com(TM) is a collaborative effort developed, designed and owned by Xerox and RIT. More partners will be added in the future. AlphaAve.com is designed to make new technology available more quickly to more people. "Xerox and RIT expect this will be an indispensable software sandbox where early adopters can check out the latest technologies and experiment with them on a licensed trial basis,'' said Herve Gallaire, president of the Xerox Innovation Group, which includes the company's research and technology laboratories. "We hope to see dozens of early-stage technologies posted here during the next year.'' "AlphaAve.com is a crossroads where development and research can intersect,'' said Jeffrey Lasky, director of RIT's IT Lab. "Product developers can look for novel ways to accomplish their goals, while researchers can receive early feedback on their work, which will help them bring it to market faster.'' At alphaAve.com, software developers can download the technologies, contribute feedback, or request support. They can also register to receive automatic notifications when new technologies are added to the site. Each posting includes a description and history of the technology, some specific scenarios where it might be used, and system requirements. RIT's IT Lab, funded by $1.5 million from New York state, works with industry to fuel economic development. A part of RIT's newly formed B. Thomas Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences, the IT Lab is a multidisciplinary lab that conducts applied research and software development in collaboration with industrial and business partners. The lab provided facilities and expertise to produce alphaAve.com. RIT students in information technology and design assisted with development. Xerox annually spends more than $1 billion on research and development, and it concentrates on five subject areas: xerographic marking, direct marking, document imaging systems and architecture, solutions and knowledge, and platform planning and product delivery. The first technologies posted at the site represent a range of software and can be used in a variety of situations, including creating community-shared Web pages, embedding data in digital documents, providing an interface to printers on the Internet, and digitally compressing documents containing color, graphics and text for efficient transmission and storage.