Onstream Media Corporation ( OTC: ONSM), a business services provider of video and rich media communication, webcasting and digital asset management services formerly known as Visual Data Corporation, and North Plains Systems Corp., (NPS), a leading provider of digital asset management (DAM) solutions, today announced that Onstream Media Corporation will license NPS's TeleScope Application Platform™ and when integrated will provide an advanced suite of hosted digital asset management services. The agreement was jointly announced by Hassan Kotob, president and CEO of North Plains Systems, and Randy Selman, president and CEO of Onstream Media Corporation. Onstream Media will integrate North Plains' TeleScope Application Platform™ into its digital asset management services platform used by motion picture studios, broadcast and post-production facilities, media and entertainment, financial services, government, healthcare and education to better manage their digital rich media. The solution will enable users to encode, log, index, store, collaborate, transcode, retrieve, and distribute rich media libraries of nearly unlimited size via an IP-based global network. It will be suitable for individual creators, workgroups and enterprise class organizations and is available on a monthly subscription basis. Onstream Media has contracted with Science Applications International Corporation ("SAIC"), a leading IT security firm, to provide the highest level of security, availability and reliability to the Onstream Media Network. Security offerings will include advanced user authentication, permissible user controls, digital rights management, firewalls, VPNs, intrusion detection and network monitoring to support the most demanding customer requirements. The agreement also enables North Plains to offer the Onstream Media ASP service to its existing clients. Companies will have the option of deploying TeleScope Enterprise™ as a hosted service to manage their media archives, video libraries and eLearning initiatives on a local, national or global basis. The new ASP service will benefit companies that are looking to reduce the cost of managing their digital assets in house, reducing or eliminating major technology investments and avoiding the need for redundant data management teams. Onstream Media's ASP service will enable greater efficiency in managing digital assets globally, including asset security, transport security, cost effective media transformation, advanced user authentication and integrated workflow. "The delivery of DAM as a managed on-demand service makes a lot of sense for large to medium-sized enterprises," said Michael Moon, CEO of GISTICS and the leading analyst firm that tracks the digital asset management market. "DAM On-Demand preempts the need for end-use organizations to manage the deployment and maintenance costs of 10 or more rapidly evolving media technologies. We estimate that renting rich-media technologies from managed service providers such as OnStream Media will save a global firm $2 to $5 million over a five-year period." Added Moon, "The alliance of North Plains Systems, Onstream Media and SAIC makes the best of all worlds. North Plains brings rock-solid media workflow and repository management technologies. OnStream Media brings a global Web provisioning platform and world-class video DAM services group, consisting of the recently acquired Virage Services Group and Ednet (Entertainment Digital Network). SAIC brings a top-notch professional services group with unmatched capability in DOD-level security, IT capabilities-maturity, and custom development of Web services." "Onstream Media will offer our customers the highest degree of integration with their Telescope installation, and fast implementation times for moving their in-house libraries to a hosted model. This partnership will offer the security and reliability of Onstream Media's global IP network and the proven scale and performance of the TeleScope Application Platform," said Carlos Montalvo Chief Marketing Officer of North Plains. "The selection of North Plains comes after a two-year assessment of leading digital asset management software vendors," said Randy Selman, president and Chief Executive Officer of Onstream Media. "The TeleScope application gives us the scale and performance that our media and enterprise customers demand. Their mature APIs and distributed architecture will allow Onstream Media to rapidly integrate state of the art security, workflow and encoding technologies that are beyond the reach of most installed DAM systems because of cost and complexity." Existing North Plains clients will also benefit from this partnership by tapping into Onstream Media's advanced webcasts and video transport services. Onstream Media provides one of the most advanced webcasting communications solutions, which services over 2,000 clients worldwide. About Onstream Media Corporation About North Plains Systems Corp. About Science Applications International Corporation This press release contains forward-looking statements, some of which may relate to Visual Data Corporation, and which involve numerous risks and uncertainties. Actual results, performance or achievements could differ materially from those anticipated in such forward looking statements as a result of certain factors, including those set forth in Visual Data Corporation's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. |