VICON ANNOUNCES NEXUS FOR LIFE SCIENCES

The only motion capture software built specifically for life science users

27 June 2006, Oxford, UK: Vicon, a leading developer of motion capture systems and part of Oxford Metrics Group plc (LSE: OMG), today announced the launch of its next generation product suite for the Life Science market – Vicon Nexus.

Offering superior data capture, native real-time data feedback, seamless video, unrivalled ease-of-use and features that allow users to customise the software to suit their needs, Vicon Nexus is a huge leap forwards in motion capture technology.

Unlike other motion capture providers’ software, Vicon designed Nexus specifically for life science users, rather than try to suit the requirements of all markets within a single application. The importance of this is clear when the users’ objectives are considered – entertainment users (IE: special effects for movies and video games) require realistic looking movements from often very complex moves, whereas life science users want to measure the skeletal movement accurately.

Achieving this objective quickly and easily is what Vicon Nexus has been designed to do.

Examples of the uses of Vicon Nexus for life sciences include:
• Gait analysis – allowing doctors to assess the gait of children with cerebral palsy.
• Sports analysis – analysing the techniques of professional athletes.
• Animal assessment – measuring the way a race horse moves.

Vicon Nexus has a modern, clear and well designed user interface, ensuring maximum ease-of-use for the operator. It also has a series of wizard-based customisable functions that enable a novice user to start using it straight away.

Nexus delivers all relevant information to the user in real-time, including the system status, the subject’s movements and data from other devices such as force plates. It also integrates digital video cameras seamlessly, which lets the operator view reference video along with the 3D motion capture in real time. In addition, Vicon Nexus can overlay 3D information on the 2D video image, for example force plate data and 3D skeletal data.

Nick Bolton, OMG Chief Executive, said: “Vicon understands the needs of life science organisations better than any other motion capture company. Our technology is used across the world to make a real improvement to people’s lives, and with the development of Vicon Nexus, we will continue to deliver excellent products and services to this vitally important market.”

Vicon Nexus is compatible with all file types from Vicon’s previous life sciences product – Workstation, giving customers the assurance of a reliable upgrade path. It also provides the foundations upon which future features and functionality aimed at life science users will be based.

About OMG
OMG plc (Oxford Metrics Group. LSE: OMG) is a group of technology companies which produce image understanding solutions for the entertainment, defence, life science and engineering industries. Be it for capturing the movements of actors (for the movie industry), sportsmen (for video games or improving team performance), children with cerebral palsy, rehab patients and animals (for medical, life science and research industries) or virtual reality displays (for engineering and development), the Group has the world leading market position and a strong international reputation for precision instruments.

Founded in 1984, the Group’s headquarters are in Oxford, UK, and has offices in California and Colorado, USA. It has customers in over 35 countries and is a quoted company listed on AIM, a market operated by the London Stock Exchange. The Group trades through two core operating subsidiaries – Vicon, the world’s biggest motion capture and movement analysis company and 2d3, a manufacturer of specialised visual effects software.

Oxford Metrics’ global clients in science, medicine, sport, engineering, gaming, film and broadcast include major hospitals and research facilities such as Guy's Hospital, Nuffield Orthopaedic and Loughborough University, engineering industry leaders including Ford Motor Company, BMW, Airbus, Caterpillar, and Toyota, and in the entertainment sector, Sony, Industrial Light and Magic, The Moving Picture Company (MPC), Sega, Nintendo, UbiSoft, EA, Square Enix and many others.

For more information about OMG and its subsidiaries, visit www.omg3d.com, www.vicon.com, or www.2d3.com

For further information on Vicon Nexus visit http://www.vicon.com/products/viconnexus.html