Profile: Bitstream Inc (BITS.O)

Bitstream Inc. (Bitstream), incorporated in 1981, is a software development company. The Company is focused on bringing software products to a variety of markets. Bitstream categorizes its products and technologies into three product lines: fonts and font technology, mobile browsing and messaging technology, and variable data and Web-to-print publishing technology. Font technology solutions enable developers to display text in any language for any device or application. The Company works with partners from around the world to provide complete text composition and font rendering solutions for consumer electronics devices, mobile handsets, set-top boxes, digital TVs, printers, graphics and software applications, and embedded systems. The Company’s mobile browsing technology provides a consistent, full HyperText Markup Language (HTML) browsing experience on almost any handset, while its mobile multimedia messaging technology allows subscribers to create and send personal mobile messages using almost any handset.

Fonts and Font Technology

The Company sells fonts and font-related products developed and designed by third party foundries and designers. Bitstream established its MyFonts Website as a universal source for fonts from a variety of international font vendors and designers. As of March 1, 2009, over 450 foundries, large and small, domestic and international, participated as partners with MyFonts to offer their fonts for sale. This represents an aggregate collection of over 60,000 fonts.

Bitstream font technology products include Font Fusion, a font rendering subsystem that enables developers of consumer electronics devices, mobile handsets, set-top boxes, digital televisions, printers, graphics and software applications, and other embedded systems to render characters in any language, any format, at any resolution, on any software platform or hardware device; Bitstream Panorama, a global text composition engine, and together with Font Fusion, offers a layout and font rendering solution for developers building mobile handsets, smart phones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), set-top boxes, graphics applications, and embedded systems; btX3, a font subsystem that enables Linux applications to render characters; TrueDoc, a portable font technology, and TrueDoc Imaging System (TDIS), a font subsystem for developers of operating systems, servers, applications, printers, and printer controllers.

Bitstream font products include Bitstream Typeface Library, which consists of over 1,000 digital typefaces deliverable in industry-standard OpenType, TrueType, and PostScript Type 1 font formats; BTN Library, which consists of 500 fonts for OEMs and ISVs; Certified Simplified Chinese GB18030 Font, Bitstream Hei, a TrueType font that has been certified by both the State Language Committee (SLC) and Committee on Information Technology Standards/China Electronics Standardization Institute (CITS/CESI); Asian Stroke-Based Fonts, which consist of Unicode and native encodings of Chinese, Japanese, and Korean fonts, all in a compact and scalable stroke format; International Fonts, which consist of non-Western language typefaces such as Arabic, Chinese, Cyrillic, Greek, Hebrew, Indian, Japanese, Korean, Thai, and Vietnamese; Tiresias Screenfont, a font that was originally designed for the Royal National Institute of the Blind (RNIB); Closed Caption Television (CCTV) Font Set and TV Font Pack, an EIA-708-B compliant set of closed captioning fonts that support the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) requirements for closed captioning display on digital and analog TVs; and a set of 12 typeface designs that provide a comprehensive collection of serif, sans serif, and monospaced fonts for viewing on TV screens, and MobileFonts, a set of fonts designed and hinted specifically for display on mobile handsets.

The Company competes with Monotype Imaging Corporation, Arphic, and FreeType.

Mobile Browsing Technology

Mobile operators, device manufacturers, and enterprise organizations can license different versions of the ThunderHawk technology depending upon their needs. Bitstream’s mobile offerings include software for sending multimedia messages called myMMS. myMMS is a multimedia messaging service (MMS) that allows anyone to create and send personal mobile messages using almost any handset.

The Company competes with Opera Software ASA, InterObject, Wireless Central, Access Co., Ltd., and Novarra Inc.

Variable Data and Web-To-Print Publishing Technologies

The Company’s variable data and Web-to-print publishing products, which are marketed and sold under the Pageflex brand, use intelligent, flexible templates to automatically assemble customized content, such as logos, imagery, illustrations, and text, in print, bitmap, or HTML formats for production through a range of digital print output devices, the Web, and e-mail. Pageflex templates are based on the principle of separating document content - raw information - from document design - how the page is laid out, what fonts and colors are used, and how images are sized and positioned.

The Pageflex product line consists of Pageflex Server, an integrated server platform of variable publishing modules, gives enterprises in many industries and digital printing service providers the ability to design and produce customized database-driven or Web form-driven marketing communications on demand; Pageflex Storefront, a turn-key software product that enables customers to define, auto-generate and manage Web-to-print document customization sites; Pageflex Persona Cross Media Suite, a desktop software application enabling targeted and personalized content in both print and e-mail, and Pageflex NuDoc, an advanced document composition engine based on the principle of separating form from content.

The Company competes with PressSense, Printable, Objectif Lune and XMPie.