Issue: Animation - Aug 23, 2004

ALIAS TO ACQUIRE KAYDARA

TORONTO - At the recent SIGGRAPH show in Los Angeles, 3D software provider Alias (www.alias.com) announced its plans to acquire Kaydara, a developer of realtime 3D character animation and motion editing solutions. Alias itself was recently acquired from SGI by Accel-KKR and Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan.

"Kaydara has quickly become the recognized leader in its field, and this strategic acquisition brings an additional pool of highly complementary intellectual and technical property to Alias's existing product and service portfolio," explains Doug Walker, president of Alias. "This move effectively unites the top 3D product development talent in Toronto and Montreal, allowing our team to harness this combined creative power and deliver innovative 3D software solutions that enable our customers to create, visualize and communicate compelling digital visual experiences."

Operating under the Alias name, Kaydara will remain in Montreal and current president Michel Besner will stay with the company and join Alias's executive management team. "The time was right to team up with Alias," says Kaydara's Besner. "Kaydara will now benefit from access to further investment, Alias's existing technology and the company's strong global marketing and distribution network.

Ultimately, this union will bring even greater value to customers of both companies and the overall 3D industry." Kaydara products - most notably MotionBuilder and Kaydara FBX - will continue to support all current industry platforms and will be sold as standalone products under the Alias brand name.