COLOGNE, Germany, Sept. 29, 2004 — Today at the Photokina 2004 trade show, Microsoft Corp. announced it is working with FotoNation Inc., a market leader in imaging and connectivity solutions for the digital photography industry, to implement Microsoft’s new Media Transfer Protocol (MTP) and specifically MTP over Internet protocol (MTP/IP) in wireless digital still cameras.
A freely available and openly licensable protocol, MTP technology was created by Microsoft for digital media devices such as cameras, as well as other devices such as cell phones and portable music and video players. MTP/IP is based on FotoNation’s implementation of the Picture Transfer Protocol over IP (PTP/IP).
MTP will enable the same ease of use that drove broad adoption of PTP, as well as provide improved functionality compared with PTP for digital still cameras and a variety of other consumer electronics devices. Its benefits include the following:
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Extended device management and control for new device classes
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Improved content transfer speeds between PCs and devices, and support for large numbers of files with improved thumbnail viewing
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A common technology for wired and wireless device control and content transfer to a PC for wireless digital still cameras, as well as for other emerging classes of portable media devices
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A greatly simplified networking experience for wireless digital camera owners
Legacy wireless device owners will enjoy these performance enhancements while maintaining both forward and backward compatibility with PTP/IP implementations.
“FotoNation has been working on simplifying the user experience with cameras since the earliest stages of digital photography proliferation. With the obvious progression of multimedia devices toward wireless networking, FotoNation pioneered the development of PTP over IP specification,” said Eran Steinberg, CEO of FotoNation. “By joining forces with Microsoft, we hope to bring to our customer base a rich understanding of the benefits and features of MTP while offering the protocol implementations, testing and development tools to support the technology.”
“We’re building MTP/IP upon FotoNation’s widely respected and adopted PTP/IP technology to provide an enhanced and easy-to-implement standard for the imaging industry and other device manufacturers,” said Amir Majidimehr, corporate vice president of the Windows®
Digital Media Division at Microsoft. “As we watch the digital imaging industry embrace wireless connectivity, we believe it is imperative to develop technology that enables wireless media devices to offer the richest experiences possible.”
About FotoNation
FotoNation Inc. ( www.fotonation.com ), a leading R & D company in digital imaging, with offices in the US and Europe, is dedicated to providing a better experience for digital photographers through its “Connected Photography” and “Imaging Technology for Cameras” software and technology for Internet, PC, and embedded applications.
About Microsoft
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.
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