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EXHIBIT NO. 99.1
PRESS RELEASE
MAX INTERNET COMMUNICATIONS INC. AND MAXPOP.COM, INC. SIGN DEVELOPMENT
AGREEMENT TO CREATE PROPRIETARY SOFTWARE PLATFORM FOR NARROWBAND VIDEO
STREAMING
THE SOFTWARE WILL UTILIZE THE MAX INTERNET MEDIA PROCESSOR(TM) TO STREAM HIGH
QUALITY DIGITAL CONTENT AT MINIMAL BANDWIDTH
Dallas, TX /PRNewswire/ - March 30, 2001 - MAX Internet Communications
(OTC:MXIP), a provider of solutions for accelerated video communications over
the Internet, and maxpop.com, a privately held Digital Media Services company,
today announced the signing of a joint development agreement to create a
proprietary software platform for video streaming and broadcasting that will
benefit from the media processing acceleration offered by the MAX i.c.Live
Internet Media Processor(TM). The objective from this initiative will be to
optimize the performance of maxpop.com's video processing platform, which is
being accepted and utilized by web developers, service providers, and content
creators.
According to the terms of the agreement, maxpop.com will pay MAX an aggregate
fee of $450,000 over 12 months to fund the development and maintenance aspect of
the contract. In addition, MAX will grant to maxpop certain exclusive rights,
including certain non-competition covenants, to MAX's technology that allow
maxpop to market, sell and use the developed technology in the broadcast
industry. The technology from this agreement will be owned by maxpop, from which
MAX will receive a guaranteed royalty of the gross profits derived from the use
of the technology. Exclusivity is maintained through the royalty payments
including certain minimum payment requirements during the first three years
following the completion of the developed technology. The contract also provides
certain rights to increased compensation in the event that maxpop is acquired.
As an additional development opportunity, the parties are in discussions with
regard to developing an NT platform which maxpop will underwrite a significant
portion at cost. Future development work beyond the scope of this agreement will
be provided for under a standard professional services agreement.
According to the terms of the agreement, MAX developers will create the software
platform which will be designed to handle transportation, synchronization, and
coding of video content for Internet applications. The improved compression
ratios will reduce the file size while maintaining video quality delivered to
dial-up users and across wireless networks. The compression efficiency derived
from the software development will address much more than low bit-rate video
streaming. According to Ron Thompson, CMO of maxpop "The proprietary software
will also facilitate the growing overlap of previous separate worlds for
wireless, telecommunications, Internet, and traditional broadcast networks.
Internet dial up users, wireless phones, and PDAs will be capable of receiving
video content based on our newly optimized platform and streaming
infrastructure.
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The software integrated into maxpop's processing platform could do for video
over the Internet what MP3 did for music."
maxpop.com's processing platform allows content providers and broadcasters to
encode once, and deliver everywhere. This development initiative is possible due
to the MAX Internet Media Processor and the company's highly skilled engineers.
Robert F. Kuhnemund, Chairman of MAX Internet Communications commented, "Our
team of engineers will design a software platform to improve image quality at
lower bandwidth utilization, and additionally, include embedded security
features to provide easy convergence with maxpop's Internet client market. To
date, the anticipated synergies between video content and access in narrowband
have not been realized. This proprietary streaming solution solves the
long-standing problems of bandwidth and inferior web broadcasting due to poor
picture quality." Mr. Kuhnemund concluded by saying, "This agreement is
representative of the new management's initiative toward a licensing and
development directive, and we are very pleased to have maxpop as one of our
development partners."
ABOUT MAXPOP.COM
maxpop.com, Inc. is a privately held Digital Media Services company based in
Deep Ellum, Dallas, Texas. The state-of-art POP (Point-of-Presence) is a
complete Internet-based broadcast quality studio equipped with a proprietary
video processing platform and distribution network engineered for the exchange
of digital media over radio, Internet and broadcast networks. maxpop.com
develops and applies technology improvements that assures the companies
leadership in future enhancements to encoding, compressing and streaming video.
Strong partnerships with global carriers, silicon and device manufactures, web
developers and content providers, together with maxpop's video processing
platform, enables maxpop to provide optimized standard-based solutions for all
the necessary parts of the content creation, encoding, compressing, and
distribution chain over Broadcast, Internet, and Wireless networks.
For more information about the company, visit the web site at www.maxpop.com or
contact the company at:
Michael Mendyk
Chief Executive Officer
maxpop.com
214-752-5095
ABOUT MAX INTERNET COMMUNICATIONS:
MAX Internet Communications develops and sells software-based media processors
for enhanced video communications over the Internet. The exclusive MAX Internet
Media Processor is a 792-bit core parallel processor with 72-bit VLIW
instruction code, which serves as a platform for accelerating Internet audio and
video communications on desktop PC's, digital set-top boxes, and eventually
portable devices. The MAX technology enables the highest quality one-way and
two-way video communication at the lowest bandwidth. Through customized
development and strategic partnerships, MAX leverages its hardware and software
solutions to be an integral component in the complete communication solution for
key target markets.
For more information about the company, visit the web site at www.maxic.com or
contact the company at 214-691-0055.