NewTek Founder Inducted into SA Sci/Tech Hall of Fame

Tim Jenison

Tim Jenison among honorees for 2005 by San Antonio Technology Accelerator Initiative (November 03, 2005) NewTek, Inc., manufacturer of industry-leading video and 3D animation products, today announced that Tim Jenison, Founder of NewTek and widely acknowledged as the father of desktop video, has been inducted into the San Antonio Science and Technology Hall of Fame. The Hall of Fame is an effort of the San Antonio Technology Accelerator Initiative (SATAI), which conducted the induction ceremony on November 2, 2005, at its annual Stars of Innovation Gala.

Jenison was one of six inductees, and was recognized for his role in developing the Video Toaster and launching the desktop video revolution, which has had a profound effect on video production world-wide.

"Most innovators take existing technology and improve on existing ideas. What makes Tim Jenison a visionary is that he shatters the current mode of thinking while creating technology that can change people’s careers and lives," said Jim Plant, CEO of NewTek.

Before the release of Video Toaster in 1990, desktop video was simply sending single frames of video out to expensive equipment and laying them to tape one frame at a time. The Video Toaster replaced over $100,000.00 worth of video gear for under $2,000.00. For just a few thousand dollars, entire new career fields opened up for people who could never before have dreamed of having their own production business, including event videography and freelance video production, and the ranks of video professionals expanded by an order of magnitude.


In addition to seeding new video production careers, Video Toaster empowered studios to do more with existing budgets, due to the inclusion of LightWave 3D . This 3D animation , modeling and rendering software was pivotal in the production of television shows such as Babylon 5, Seaquest DSV, Unsolved Mysteries and many others. Since the launch of NewTek Video Toaster in 1990, LightWave has been used in almost 200 feature films and countless television productions. For the last decade, most of the television series that have won Emmy Awards for visual effects were produced using LightWave .

Jenison’s impact on the television world was recognized by the National Television and Sciences Academy with an Emmy Award in 1993. In 2003, NewTek was again presented with an Emmy for LightWave 3D 's seminal role in the revolution of visual effects over the preceding decade. In 2005, NewTek is initiating yet another revolution with the release of the TriCaster(TM). This groundbreaking product brings the dynamics of live television to business and educational presentations, and received five "best-of-show" awards from publications and professional organizations at the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) 2005 convention, including from NAB itself. Additionally, TriCaster garnered a 2005 Technical Emmy nomination.


About NewTek
With headquarters in San Antonio, Texas, NewTek is a leading provider of full-featured video editing , live production, presentation and visual effects tools including TriCaster(TM), VT[4](TM) and LightWave 3D ®. NewTek launched the desktop video revolution in 1990 with the release of the legendary Emmy®-winning Video Toaster®. The company's products are used worldwide on projects ranging from home video to feature film. Recent projects using NewTek production tools include Access Hollywood , Entertainment Tonight, ManiaTV, Battlestar Galactica, Children of Dune and The Final Cut. Clients using NewTek's video production products include NBC, MTV, Paramount Pictures, Zoic Studios, FEMA, SBC Center – San Antonio Spurs, U.S Navy Reserves, Yale University Medical School and McDonald's.

Website: http://www.newtek.com