Software Architects, Inc.

SAI ANNOUNCES BLU-RAY DISC FILE SYSTEM DEVELOPER TOOLKIT

WORLD’S FIRST READ/WRITE BLU-RAY DISC FILE SYSTEM TOOLKIT FOR MS WINDOWS PROVIDES EASY INTEGRATION TO SOFTWARE APPLICATIONS FOR SUPPORT OF BLU-RAY FORMAT VIDEO AND DATA DISCS

Software Architects, Inc., the world’s first and leading supplier of disk drive utilities that use the Universal Disk Format (UDF), announced the commercial release of its Blu-ray Disc File System developer toolkit for MS Windows.. Targeted at developers of video and data storage applications, version 1.0 provides developers with an easy to use API to the file system and related formatting code. .

The toolkit makes it easy for application developers to format media to the Blu-ray File System format, read, write, append and erase files and handle all operations required to support removable optical media in Windows environments. The toolkit API includes over 100 calls to the file system and formatter.

Targeted at next generation Blue Laser optical discs, the toolkit supports most removable media types, including recordable DVD.

The Blu-ray Disc Founders Group specifies Blu-ray Disc File System format files for use on new high capacity video recorders that use “blue laser” writing technology. Most blue laser based high capacity consumer video recorders are expected to use this format, which is optimized for handling future high definition digital video broadcasts and recordings.

This format is completely different than the UDF format currently used on all DVD video disks and recordable DVD media. Until now, there has been no practical development tool available for software developers to use, read and write Blu-ray Disc media on a PC.

Just as recordable DVD drives have become widely adopted on personal computers to provide a means of playing, editing and mastering UDF format DVD video discs, the company expects very high capacity Blu-ray Disc drives to become widely adopted on PC’s for similar purposes. The company expects this category to grow starting in 2004.

“SAI was the first software company to commercialize UDF file system software for running recordable DVD drives on PC’s”, stated Robert Zollo, president of SAI. We believe Blu-ray Disc consumer recorders and disc drives will build on the flourishing recordable DVD market and rapidly expand as a personal computer accessory for video recording, editing and mastering. SAI will provide a family of tools for software developers and some of its own software products targeted at making it easy for consumers and professionals to adopt and use this exciting new category of video recorders.” The company has already licensed its Blu-ray Disc File system technology to Samsung, the Korean consumer electronics giant, for use in a future consumer electronics device, and it plans to release its own commercial software product line to support Blu-ray Disc drives later this year.

Systems Support:
Supports all Intel Pentium or later PC systems running Windows 98, Me, 2000, or XP. 128 Mbytes RAM required; 256 Mbytes recommended. 5 Mbytes free hard disk space.

Compliant with Industry Standards
Blu-ray Disc File System Developer Toolkit is compliant with Blu-ray Founders Group published Blu-ray Disc File System specification v1.0. (For more Information on this specification contact Philips Licensing at: www.licensing.philips.com.).

Pricing & Availability
Please contact SAI for further details.

For further information, please contact:
Robert Zollo, Software Architects, Inc., tel. 425/487-0122, email: bobz@softarch.com

About the Blu-ray Disc Founders Group
The Blu-ray Disc Founders Group is group of ten major consumer electronics companies that have jointly established specifications for Blu-ray Disc, a next-generation, large-capacity, optical-disc video recording format for HDTV and other applications. The companies, include Hitachi, LG Electronics, Matsushita, Mitsubishi Electric, Pioneer, Royal Philips Electronics, Samsung, Sharp, Sony and Thomson Multimedia.

Blu-ray Disc enables recording, rewriting and playback of up to 27 gigabytes of data on a single-sided single-layer disc that is the same size as standard CDs and DVDs. A Blu-ray disc will record over 2 hours of digital high-definition video and more than 13 hours of standard TV broadcasts. Write once and re-writable media formats are planned.