The purchase will link exterior iPIX™ Virtual Tours to the COLDWELL BANKER®, CENTURY 21® and ERA® property listings displayed at move.com, Cendant's relocation Internet portal, and on coldwellbanker.com, century21.com, and ERA.com. In addition, brokers and sales associates affiliated with these franchised brokerages will have the option to purchase additional images and services from iPIX at significant discounts.
"The Internet is an increasingly vital tool in the home buying process. This agreement is part of our ongoing commitment to equip our affiliated brokers with the best technology to capitalize on it," said Richard Smith, Chairman and CEO of the Cendant Real Estate Division.
Move.com Group President and CEO Sarah Nolan added, "Our experience shows that virtual property tours make online listings more attractive to consumers. By bringing these 350,000 iPIX™ Virtual Tours to the listings at move.com, we can enhance the experience for our site's visitors and ensure that move.com and the Web sites affiliated with our brands are the most robust sites available to home buyers and sellers on the Internet."
The agreement makes iPIX end-to-end Internet picture delivery services available to the brokers and sales associates of the world's largest residential real estate brokerage franchiser. Tours will include a single scene exterior providing a view of the front of the property and the surrounding location. In addition, approximately 200,000 sales associates will have the option to purchase upgrades for additional iPIX images, distribution to additional Web portals, and email marketing tools. Cendant's Rent Net® Web site, part of the move.com network, is already the largest single user of iPIX Tours on the Internet.
"This landmark agreement demonstrates the wide acceptance of iPIX solutions to drive ecommerce in the real estate industry by saving time for the home buyer, seller, and the agent," said Jim Phillips, CEO of iPIX. "This deal will provide a quantum leap in market awareness and adoption across the industry with two hundred thousand brokers and sales associates standardizing on iPIX™ Virtual Tours for every listing. It also reflects the confidence that The Trust, Cendant, and move.com have in iPIX to host and distribute the tours on the Internet rapidly and reliably."
Real estate professionals use iPIX Internet-based Tours and hosting services to allow potential buyers to teleport themselves into any home, apartment, or commercial property for sale or lease. Navigating with a mouse, viewers can look in any direction as if they were in the property. iPIX™ Virtual Tours allow viewers to change the point of view, zoom in on a favorite item, or zoom out for a wider perspective.
iPIX and The Trust through its designee, Cendant, plan to integrate the ordering system to allow for the automated order entry, processing, dispatch, and posting of iPIX Tours. When sales associates upload a new property listing to their brand Web sites, the iPIX customer relations management system will be triggered automatically to link the exterior iPIX™ Virtual Tours with the listing on the COLDWELL BANKER®, CENTURY21® and ERA® Web site as well as at move.com. This integrated system will result in the most streamlined implementation of iPIX™ Virtual Tours in the industry with improved service levels.
About iPIX
iPIX is the standard for delivery of Internet Pictures. Web sites and Internet connected devices dependent on visual content rely on iPIX. The iPIX end-to-end visual content solution enables the capture, processing, hosting, and distribution of rich media to thousands of Internet sites and millions of Internet connected devices. A broad array of industries, including real estate, e-retail, automotive, travel, publishing, and entertainment, are capitalizing on iPIX Internet picture delivery to give viewers more information, more interaction, and a richer online experience. The company is headquartered in Oak Ridge, Tennessee with co-headquarters in Palo Alto, California.
About Cendant Corporation
Cendant Corporation is a global provider of real estate, travel, and direct marketing related consumer and business services. The Company's core competencies include building franchise systems, providing outsourcing solutions, and direct marketing. As a franchiser, Cendant is among the world's leading franchisers of real estate brokerage offices, hotels, rental car agencies, and tax preparation services. The Company's real estate-related operations also include Move.com Group, Cendant's relocation, real estate and home-related services portal on the Internet. As a provider of outsourcing solutions, Cendant is a major provider of mortgage services to consumers, the global leader in employee relocation, and the world's largest vacation exchange service. In direct marketing, Cendant provides access to insurance, travel, shopping, auto, and other services, primarily to customers of its affinity partners. In addition, Cendant Internet Group is aggressively pursuing a convergence strategy for the Company's off-line and online businesses. Other business units include NCP, the UK's largest private car park operator, and Wizcom, an information technology services provider. Headquartered in New York, NY, the Company has approximately 28,000 employees and operates in over 100 countries.
About Cendant Internet Group
Cendant Internet Group is aggressively pursuing Internet, broadband, and wireless related convergence opportunities for Cendant with the objective of leveraging its businesses in the areas of travel, real estate, and direct marketing, as well as its proven core competencies in the areas of franchising, outsourcing, cross-selling, and preferred alliance programs. Cendant Internet Group will achieve this goal by incubating or developing new initiatives and/or by working with leading Internet businesses through marketing alliances, strategic investments, and M&A activity.
Internet Pictures and iPIX are trademarks and service marks of Internet Pictures Corporation. Other trademarks and service marks are the property of their respective owners.
This press release contains forward-looking information within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and is subject to the safe harbors created by those sections. Statements concerning the implementation of Internet Pictures Corporation's services and the benefits expected to result from those services constitute forward-looking statements and are based on current expectations. Actual results may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ include failure of Internet Pictures Corporation to integrate its services with the Web sites of Cendant Corporation and the failure of properties owned or managed by Cendant Corporation to adopt and utilize such services. The matters discussed in this press release also involve risks and uncertainties described from time to time in Internet Pictures Corporation's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). In particular, see "Risk Factors" in the prospectus filed with the SEC on May 4, 2000 which can be found at www.sec.gov.
