Press Release: Alpha Virtual, Inc.
July 2, 2002
LOS ANGELES, CA -- Alpha Virtual, Inc., (OTC Bulletin Board: APHV; www.alphavirtual.com
), a leading Web collaboration software company, yesterday announced the launch of its Media Services Group, which
will provide an array of Web creative services, including digital 360 degree panoramic and still photography, that
adds remarkable new "virtual tour" experiences for hotel and timeshare operators in the hospitality industry.
The industry is trying many new ways to attract visitors by providing online photographs that add the element of
virtual reality imagery to their Websites -- giving visitors a better feel for the attractiveness of each property.
Alpha Virtual's ultimate plan is to combine creative media with real-time Web collaboration tools -- offering innovative
ways for end users to share online experiences.
Since launching Alpha Virtual's Media Services Group, Pleasant Holidays(TM), one of America's leading travel companies
since 1959, has partnered with the entity as a "Preferred Service Provider" and contracted with them
to provide high quality, "surround" images that captivate and attract visitors to learn more about each
property. Visitors get to experience the full feeling of being inside rooms or standing outside looking around
the grounds of the hotel or resort. Alpha Virtual's imagery specialists, photographers, and post-production artists
are skilled in using Panoscan(TM) camera systems to capture a variety of exposures depicting shadows, mid-tones,
and highlights within each scene. The end result is a perfectly balanced image that translates nicely into a digital
QuickTime VR or Java file that can be inserted into a standard Web page.
"Alpha Virtual's 360 degree photographic images enhance the planning process that travelers undertake when
seeking destinations and places to stay," states Todd Castor, vice president of eCommerce at Pleasant Holidays.
"We've also added "virtual tours" to our travel agents-only Website, enabling agents to view the
images with their clients as part of the selection process. The feedback from the beginning has been overwhelmingly
positive, and the "virtual tours" have been one of the most popular areas of Pleasant Holiday's Websites.
It has helped our online booking sales significantly and our customer's ability to make informed choices. Our Media
Services team has a photographic style that is truly stunning and uses proprietary techniques that generate exceptional
quality to digital images," said Dan Mapes, CEO of Alpha Virtual. "Our creative product adds tremendous
value to Pleasant Holiday's online initiatives, and will be universally appealing to other travel, automotive,
or real estate Websites as well. Eventually, we see real value in wrapping this unique content with our OneView(TM)
Web collaboration tools to allow groups of visitors to share online experiences together in real-time."
About Alpha Virtual
Alpha Virtual, Inc. is an Internet software company (OTC Bulletin Board: APHV) based in Los Angeles, California.
It builds and sells innovative Web collaboration products that allow developers to add real-time Web cruising,
rich media sharing, groupware, and chat/messaging features to existing Websites quickly and easily. The company
was formerly known as Perceptronics with a thirty year-old track record in international defense industry software
development. In addition to its collaboration products, Alpha Virtual provides custom software development and
creative media services. It is focused on customers with needs in digital broadband technologies and infrastructure
development for next generation entertainment, eLearning, and eCommerce applications. Visit www.alphavirtual.com
for more information.
About Pleasant Holidays
Pleasant Holidays, LLC, established in 1959 and working through travel agencies nationwide, offers individual and
group vacation travelers a broad range of value-added, customized Holiday packages featuring more than 400 leading
hotels, 30 airlines, and car rental options in such major destinations as Hawaii, Mexico, Tahiti, Fiji, Australia,
New Zealand, Japan and Asia. For more information and reservations, call Pleasant at +1-(800)-742-9244 or www.pleasantholidays.com
.
This press release contains forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties. Factors that
could cause actual results to differ materially from these forward-looking statements include, but are not limited
to, general business conditions in the industry, changes in demand for products, the timing and amount or cancellation
of orders and other risks detailed from time to time in Alpha Virtual's filings and reports with the Securities
Exchange Commission, and published on the Edgar system. Alpha Virtual, OneView, and OneMind are service trademarks
of Alpha Virtual, Inc. All other product and company names are trademarks of their respective holders.
SOURCE: Alpha Virtual, Inc.