LizardTech, the Seattle-based provider of imaging technologies, will buy Altamira Group’s Genuine Fractals technology with the goal of enhancing its product lines while providing its DjVu and MrSID software solutions to Genuine Fractals’ partners, alliances, customers and reseller channels.
The Genuine Fractals plug-ins for Adobe Photoshop and compatible image editing programs enable you to increase the resolution and size of your images while preserving original sharpness and detail. LizardTech will acquire the Genuine Fractals product line, intellectual property, patent rights, partnership agreements and trademarks from Altamira.
The acquiring company will gain access to Genuine Fractals’ sales channel with photography device manufacturers, such as Olympus, Nikon and Minolta. The transaction will be finalized in the quarter ending June 30, subject to customary regulatory approvals.
“Digital camera penetration doubled in 2000 to reach 25 percent of U.S. Internet households, and consumer purchase plans indicate that it will double again in 2001,” said Lia Schubert, research analyst for InfoTrends Research Group, in a statement. “Genuine Fractals’ resolution-on-demand and large format printing capabilities are strong additions to LizardTech’s imaging-focused solutions. Genuine Fractals technology complements LizardTech’s product applications and experience in delivering higher-quality files faster and more efficiently.”
MrSID, LizardTech’s image compression and expansion format based on wavelet technology, permits the same PDF to be small for Web usage, but high quality for production printing, says LizardTech’s Bob Greene. MrSID Browser Plug-in 1.3 for the Macintosh platform is now available for native viewing of MrSID images. It’s available for free directly from LizardTech’s Web site for Netscape and Internet Explorer Web browsers.
DjVu is a scan-to-Web solution for creating digital documents for easy storage and transmission of existing paper assets, such as leases, contracts, financial records and more.