LAS VEGAS (Photo Marketing Association)--Feb. 2, 2000--The Digital Imaging Group (DIG) today announced the first public release of its innovative image metadata specification, DIG35. The draft specification will be available for public review and comment on March 1, 2000; it is currently under private review by DIG members.

Developed during a 16-month collaboration of the biggest household name companies -- AGFA-GEVAERT N.V., Canon Inc., Eastman Kodak Company, Fuji Photo Film Co., Ltd., Hewlett-Packard Company, Polaroid Corp. and Seattle FilmWorks -- along with hot new start-ups Digital Intelligence, Digitella Technology Inc., NETIMAGE and PhotoChannel Networks Inc., DIG35 will revolutionize the way images are managed across a wide range of consumer, business and professional applications.

Other companies endorsing the DIG35 standard include ACD Systems, Alinari, Canto, Digimarc, G&A Imaging, Intel, Iterated Systems, IXLA, LizardTech, MGI Software, OpenGraphics, Pegasus and RCO.

As the sales of imaging devices drive an explosive growth in the number of digital images produced, users are already facing an image management problem; "With a digital camera, a user can create more files to manage in a weekend than a typical computer user creates in a year," stated Lisa Walker, president of the DIG. "Fortunately, DIG35-enabled applications will make it easy for people to keep track of image information and get the greatest enjoyment possible from their picture collections."

While the concept of image metadata is not new, DIG35 breaks many of the barriers within existing approaches. Current image formats such as EXIF (an extension of JPEG used by many digital camera manufacturers) and TIFF already support metadata, but have limitations in the amount and types of data that can be handled. Designed to be file format independent, DIG35 builds on the experience gained with these earlier efforts and adds specific CONTENT information previously lacking.

Application developers, already familiar with XML and supporting existing metadata formats will find it easy to move to DIG35. One of the first major implementations of DIG35 is expected to be as an extension to the upcoming JPEG 2000 standard, currently in the final stages of ISO approval.

"The DIG35 initiative group is excited to have completed the draft specification and encourages developers to review and comment on our first public release," said Kats Ishii, Canon Inc. and chair of DIG35 initiative. "Developers' insight is extremely valuable to us so we can ensure our standard is as robust and useful as possible."

The DIG35 Working Draft will be available for public review and comment from March 1-29, 2000. To be included on the notification list for public comment, send an email to dig35comment@digitalimaging.org. The final specification is planned for release in the third quarter of 2000.

About the Digital Imaging Group

Launched in October 1997, the DIG is an open-industry consortium created to expand the use of digital images across consumer, business and professional imaging markets and applications. Membership gives companies the opportunity to help define the evolving technical platforms in digital imaging, and to create solutions built on those foundations.

Membership also gives participating companies the opportunity to collaborate in future marketing and promotional activities. Further information about the DIG and the DIG35 initiative is available at http://www.digitalimaging.org or by contacting the DIG at admin@digitalimaging.org or 650/872-8722.