HORIZONS TECHNOLOGY ANNOUNCES OPEN!INFO MANAGER MULTIMEDIA CONSTRUCTION
KIT

Software Combines Multimedia Authoring And Database Features With
User-Friendly Interface

NEW YORK, New York, June 20, 1995, PC Expo Booth #357 -- Horizons
Technology, Inc. (HTI) of San Diego, Calif, is introducing the Open!Info
Manager multimedia construction kit, a Windows-based software package
combining ease-of-use with powerful multimedia authoring and media
management capabilities for less than $300.
Open!Info Manager is targeted for the presentations and desktop publishing
market, which includes sales and marketing professionals, human resources
and training managers, advertising and public relations representatives,
creative directors, graphic designers, and publishers of all types of
printed materials who are making the transition into alternative media.

By combining a menu-driven graphical user interface with many of the
powerful capabilities of a full-featured authoring software package,
Open!Info Manager provides users with a creative construction tool for
interactive multimedia applications that is as easy to use as desktop
publishing software. As a multimedia construction kit, Open!Info Manager
provides the framework necessary to integrate and manage the many elements
required to build multimedia presentations and projects.

Open!Info Manager users can incorporate multimedia elements into dynamic
interactive applications such as business presentations, sales and
merchandising presentations, product demonstrations, training programs,
electronic catalogs and kiosks. The software does not require users to
learn complex programming or scripting languages.

Open!Info Manager is available immediately and is single-user priced at
$299.

Industry Analysts Project A 20 Percent Annual Growth Rate For Multimedia
Application Market

The introduction of Open!Info Manager follows months of research by the HTI
multimedia division. Leading industry analysts project that the multimedia
business application market will increase annually by approximately 20
percent over the next several years and that CD-ROM distribution of all
types of communication will continue to expand as CD-ROM drives become
standard and the price for creating a CD-ROM title continues to drop.

Open!Info Manager exploits both of these market trends by integrating
ease-of-use to attract relatively new multimedia users; media management
which facilitates rapid development and updates; and automated publishing
which facilitates CD-ROM distribution of these multimedia applications.

"In developing Open!Info Manager, HTI has found that there is a large
untapped market of creative professionals who understand how multimedia
communication increases the effectiveness and clarity of a message and who
are looking to apply their expertise to new multimedia technologies such
as interactive sales presentations and electronic advertising," said Ann
Nash, product manager for HTI. "Until now, these professionals have been
limited to two product categories: presentation graphics solutions that
are not powerful enough for their applications, and expensive high-end
authoring packages that require advanced knowledge of computer
programming. Open!Info Manager will demonstrate that authoring doesn't
have to be difficult. The package combines superior interactive multimedia
authoring capabilities with an intuitive menu-driven program that has the
look, feel and price tag of desktop publishing software."

Provides Storage And Retrieval Of Video, Audio, Animation, Graphics And
Text

Open!Info Manager offers many advanced multimedia features, including a
sophisticated object-oriented database that allows storage, retrieval and
previewing of video, audio, animation, graphics and text. Open!Info
Manager supports all major video compression algorithms including HTI's
new TrueMotion-S high-quality, software-only digital video and other major
video formats including AVI, AVS, MOV and MPG.

All media imported into this database can be previewed from within the
Open!Info Manager program and incorporated into any presentation or
multimedia project. To simplify the search and retrieval process,
Open!Info Manager allows users to save these files using descriptive
titles of up to 48 characters. In addition, because media is linked to
presentations and not embedded within them, authors can make revisions
simply by adding or deleting presentation elements.

The "global template" feature allows users to quickly and easily
standardize the look of a presentation. Each screen that references the
template follows its format, and changes made to the template are
automatically reflected on corresponding screens. Because the program
allows users to display multiple window overlays, the impact of template
changes can be reviewed immediately across the entire presentation.

Open!Info Manager automates the final publishing and distribution process.
Once the application is complete, the author simply selects the publish
command from the menu, and Open!Info Manager automatically assembles all
the elements necessary to install and run the final presentation. These
include the actual presentation, all the media elements, the runtime
player software and a final set-up program that is generated based on the
video used in the presentation. This set-up allows a viewer to quickly and
easily install and view the presentation.

Hot Areas And List Boxes Allow Users To Create Interactive Presentations

Open!Info Manager also allows users to create "hot areas" and "list boxes,"
designated onscreen elements that allow viewers to navigate their way
through an interactive presentation by selecting these elements. Any
graphic element displayed in a presentation can be designated as a hot
area to be activated when a user clicks on it using the system's mouse.

Additionally, Open!Info Manager allows users to launch directly into
virtually any third party application from within a presentation. This
feature allows users to display a spreadsheet or related text document, or
to take a test for computer-based training applications. Users can return
to the same point within the presentation simply by closing the
application.

System Requirements

Minimum system requirements for Open!Info Manager include a 486/33 PC with
4 MB of RAM (8MB recommend), 11 MB of hard disk space, 2x CD-ROM player,
Windows-compatible SVGA graphics adapter card capable of running 16-bit
color, Microsoft Windows 3.1 and a 16-bit sound card.

For More Information

For more information on Open!Info Manager, please contact Horizons
Technology at (800) 828-3808.

Horizons Technology, Inc.

Horizons Technology, Inc. (HTI) is a multimedia software development and
systems integration company headquartered in San Diego, California.
Founded in 1977, HTI specializes in the development of multimedia
applications and video compression software and services, and is the
exclusive worldwide provider of TrueMotion video used in desktop
applications. HTI has more than 450 employees with other major offices
located in Boston, Massachusetts and Alexandria, Virginia. HTI's European
headquarters is located in the Netherlands.

Horizons Technology Inc
3990 Ruffin Rd
San Diego, CA 92123
619-292-8331,  fax 619-292-7321

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