| Blazepoint joins growing list
of printer manufacturers licensing Bitstream's font rendering solutions
CAMBRIDGE, MA and Oxford, UK — September 3, 2002 — Bitstream Inc. (NASDAQ: BITS) and Blazepoint Limited announced today that Blazepoint has licensed Font Fusion (Bitstream's premier font rendering engine) and a complementary selection of fonts for Blazepoint's own line of barcode label printers marketed under the name "Blazeprint." Blazepoint chose Font Fusion for their new "Blazeprint" printer range because of its ease of use and integration, support for international fonts, and ability to render and print high-quality characters. "An important part of the printing function for today's newer lines of printers is to provide both fast and high-quality text rendering. Our font rendering solutions provide both," said Anna Chagnon, President of Bitstream. "We are very pleased that Blazepoint, which has a broad portfolio of quality products within the areas of rugged IT products and printer solutions has selected Bitstream's fast, system-independent, font rendering technology for its sophisticated printing solutions." "Bitstream fonts are an important part of our product development plan to launch a range of specialist rugged thermal printers. Bitstream is a leader in its field, and we look forward to a lasting relationship," said Janet Barraclough, General Manager, Blazepoint. Blazepoint's robust barcode label and ticket printers are a range of high-quality printers designed to be used in the most varied environments and industries including warehouse logistics, parcel carrier industry, retail product marking, hospitals and healthcare, theatres, cinemas and sport venues. Blazeprint label printers use thermal print technology. The solid metal construction stands up to the harshest industrial environments. Due to its small footprint these printers can be used even in places where space is at a premium. High performance and economic price make these printers the market leader in price/performance in their class. About Font Fusion Font Fusion performs well in memory- and performance-constrained environments. For example, a complete traditional Chinese TrueType font with over 13,000 characters can occupy as much as 8MB. With Font Fusion, the same characters occupy less than 0.5MB, representing considerable savings in memory and disk space costs. Font Fusion is designed for operating systems, software applications, Web applications, low-resolution screen devices, multimedia servers, high-definition television screens (HDTVs), set-top boxes, continuous tone printers, personal digital assistants (PDAs), and other embedded systems and information and wireless appliances. Bitstream Inc. Founded in 1981, Bitstream is the first digital font foundry. In 1999, Bitstream created MyFonts.com, Inc. (http://www.myfonts.com), the Web site for finding, trying, and buying fonts on line. Bitstream is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Blazepoint Bitstream and TrueDoc are registered trademarks, and Font Fusion and ThunderHawk are trademarks of Bitstream Inc. Other technologies and brand names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies. Contact Bob Thomas Director of Product Management Bitstream Inc. 617.520.8376 Janet Barraclough |