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Virtual Prototypes Inc. Appears On Alexander Haig's World Business Review TV Series Discusses Financial Services on the Internet

4 December 2000

Virtual Prototypes Inc. Appears On Alexander Haig's World Business Review TV Series Discusses Financial Services on the Internet

    BOCA RATON, Fla.--Dec. 4, 2000--Multimedia Productions (USA) is proud to announce the appearance of Philippe Collard, president and CEO, Virtual Prototypes Inc., on World Business Review. The weekly Television series focuses on business and technology, and is hosted by General Alexander Haig, former Secretary of State for President Reagan and former COO and president of United Technologies Corporation.
    Virtual Prototypes Inc. was selected to appear for its application of advanced software technology and the Internet to today's Financial Services industry. "With the pace at which new electronic components are being made for automobiles, manufacturers need to re-engineer on a non-stop basis," said the show's coordinating producer, Chris Graniti, adding, "with Virtual Prototypes products, they can do all of this and save tremendous labor and material costs, as well as a significant amount of time-to-market."
    A World Business Review field report, shot on-location in Austin, Texas provides an inside view into how Virtual Prototypes products work.
    Mr. Collard appears on General Alexander Haig's World Business Review to discuss the opportunities and challenges facing today's automobile manufacturers. Also appearing on the show is industry expert Daniel T. Miklovic, vice president, Collaborative Commerce, Gartner.
    "People are spending more and more time in their automobiles, and they want that time to be productive time. At the same time, we're also driving our cars farther and into different places. The cars are becoming a much more important part of our life. Therefore, we want a lot from them. We want information. We want access to the Internet. We want to make sure the car's all right; we want to monitor its performance. We're demanding an awful lot from a simple system," said Mr. Miklovic.
    The company however, is not only bound to the automotive industry. "We actually came from the defense industry, where we build those products for very, very demanding-type application. And down the line, we see that those technologies would be applied to the telecom market, and also the medical instrumentation market," said Mr. Collard.
    Three of Virtual Prototypes' products that are of particular relevance to the automotive industry are:

    VAPS - This tool is used to graphically design and test our clients displays and instrumentation in a point-and-click fashion. Fully interactive, data-driven and real-time VAPS models give our clients the opportunity to operate their display as a virtual prototype, thereby greatly reducing the expense and delay of physical build.
    CCG Lite - This is Virtual Prototypes' C Code Generation Tool. It allows clients to leverage their working capital dedicated to research and development. In this prototype phase, the code that will be embedded in the deployed product is automatically generated. An additional benefit is that the hand-coding phase of the normal process is eliminated, allowing for changes to be made to the prototype very late in the design cycle, thereby avoiding additional development costs.
    QCG - According to the company, Virtual Prototypes' Qualified Code Generator is used for safety-critical applications. This software tool generates certifiable software executables that accelerate the software development process as well as provide the means for a critical reduction in the resources involved in development, testing and quality assurance.

    Taped in Washington, D.C., World Business Review currently airs on PBS The Business & Technology Network, and in quality business slots in numerous Public Television markets, including New York, Chicago, San Francisco and Miami. The weekly series can also be viewed on TWA, United Airlines, via webcast on BTNNTV.com (Business & Technology News Network), or through video on demand via yahoo!broadcast (broadcast.yahoo.com) or www.AENTV.com.
    World Business Review has been developed into curriculum for college and university-level courses, and is being used in a variety of business and technology courses within the School of Business libraries at Carnegie Mellon University, Dartmouth College, Duke University, DePaul University, Georgetown University, University of Florida, University of Notre Dame, City University of Hong Kong, among other distinguished institutions of higher education.
    Individual videotapes or continuing education systems (via Indiana State University) are available by calling 1-800-WBR-1032 or by visiting www.wbrtv.com, which showcases featured topics and specific companies' technologies.