Public Testing Program to begin: all registered owners of LightWave 3D® version 9 invited to participate in the final testing phase of the latest Mac-based technology.

San Francisco, CA, Macworld, – January 9, 2007 -- NewTek, Inc., manufacturer of industry-leading 3D animation and video products, today announced that the Universal version of LightWave 3D® will be available in March 2007. LightWave 3D for the new generation of Intel®-based Macs takes full advantage of the advancements in the operating system and development environment from Apple, providing noticeable speed and performance improvements for Mac users. The Universal version enables LightWave® to run on both the PowerPC G4 and G5 CPUs and the new Intel-based Macs. Optimized performance will be provided for Mac users natively on both series of CPUs.

“3D artists always push the limits of hardware and software,” said Jay Roth, President, NewTek 3D Division. “Running LightWave 3D on the new Intel-based Mac systems, we’ve been blown away by the results of our preliminary testing comparing the new top of the line Mac Pro versus the top of the line PowerPC series. The performance gain we’ve seen in our test is an amazing 2x improvement in render speed. LightWave is tuned for multi-core support and increased OpenGL performance making the combination of LightWave and the new Mac Pro unbelievably impressive.”

"The blazing speed of our Intel-based Macs offers a significant performance advantage for applications reliant on intense graphics," said Ron Okamoto, Apple's vice president of Worldwide Developer Relations. "We're pleased that NewTek has joined the thousands of developers using XCode and other innovative Apple tools to develop Universal versions of their applications."

The move to a Universal application provides NewTek with a foundation for upcoming advancements in 3D technology for the Mac community. The first 3D application from NewTek beyond LightWave to take advantage of this new technology is 3D Arsenal, NewTek’s 3D offering specifically designed for video editors.

San Antonio, Texas-based NewTek Inc., is a leading provider of full-featured video editing, live production, presentation and visual effects tools including LightWave 3D®, winner of the 2003 Primetime Emmy® Engineering Award, Video Toaster®, TriCaster™, TriCasterPRO™, SpeedEDIT™, and 3D Arsenal™ . NewTek launched the desktop video revolution in 1990 with the release of the legendary Video Toaster®. The company's products are used worldwide on projects ranging from home video to feature film. Recent television and film projects using NewTek production tools include Ant Bully, The DaVinci Code, Mr. & Mrs. Smith, Serenity, Sin City, Fantastic Four, The 4400, Stargate: SG1, Stargate: Atlantis, Battlestar: Galactica, Prison Break, LOST, CSI, Access Hollywood and Entertainment Tonight, Recent game titles include Shadow of the Colossus, Black, Ridge Racer 6, Burnout Revenge, Driver: Parallel Lines, Quake IV and Heroes of Might and Magic 6.
Newtek Europe - 3D Storm, located near Bordeaux, France, is the NewTek distributor for Europe, Middle East, Africa and Russia.
www.newtek-europe.com
www.newtek.co.uk
www.newtek.fr

For Press Contact or Review Units Only:
Audrey-Jane Belin
+33(0) 557 262 275
aj@newtek-europe.com

For General Information:
Call: +33(0) 557 262 262
or email: info@newtek-europe.com

Newtek Europe
Europarc
17 avenue Léonard de Vinci
F-33600 PESSAC
Tel:+33 (0)5 57 262 262
Fax:+33 (0)5 57 262 261
www.newtek-europe.com

LightWave, LightWave 3D and Video Toaster are registered trademarks of NewTek.
LightWave Viz CAD Suite is a trademark of NewTek Europe
TriCaster, TriCaster PRO, SpeedEDIT and 3D Arsenal are trademarks of NewTek, Inc.
All other products or brand names mentioned are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.