HaiVisions MAKOHD Telepresence Codec Transmits First Live Stereoscopic 3D High Definition Surgical Procedure Using IP Video

HaiVision Systems Inc., the world's leading vendor of performance H.264 network video codecs, announces that today at the annual meeting of the Canadian Urology Association (CUA) in Edmonton, Canada, the industry leading MAKO-HD video encoder/decoder technology is being used to transmit live surgical stereoscopic 3D high definition 1080i video from Intuitive Surgical's daVinci S robotic surgical system.

Orchestrated by Capital Health's Centre for the Advancement of Minimally Invasive Surgery and BEAM Regional Telehealth, attendees at the CUA meeting at the Shaw Conference Center are witnessing a comparison between robotic and traditional approaches to a urology procedure (radical prostatectomy). In this unique event, both traditional and robotic surgeries are being performed simultaneously within advanced Stryker equipped operating rooms at the hospital and are being broadcast live to the conference center for comparative purposes. The conference center is 2 kilometers from where the surgeries are taking place. In order for attendees to fully experience the 3D technology employed by the surgical robot, the two high definition sources from the surgical robot (necessary for the 3D effect) are being transmitted over a high speed network using HaiVision's MAKO-HD codec technology. Attendees are viewing the 3D surgery using polarized glasses and Lightspeed Design, Inc's DepthQ stereoscopic processing and systems integration technology.

"The stereo high definition video that we are receiving at the conference center is stunning," states Gayle Burnett, Regional Director for Capital Health's Centre for the Advancement of Minimally Invasive Surgery. "Most important for the effort was to retain synchronization between the video streams so that the stereo effect is maintained. HaiVision's technology accomplishes this absolutely and with imperceptible latency."

HaiVision has a long history of enabling remote viewing of medical video, as HaiVision codecs were first used for the transmission of standard definition stereo video from the daVinci system for live telerobotic surgery demonstrations at the American Telemedicine Associate conference in 2005. HaiVision's newest codec, the MAKO-HD, is ideal for medical applications, supporting the highest resolution and the lowest latency (70 milliseconds) available with the latest H.264 video compression technology. HaiVision has as well introduced SHARE-HD, a network video recording system designed for medical applications capable of recording and replaying multiple synchronous high definition video streams.

The MAKO-HD is the high definition video encoder/decoder available within the hai1000 network video system and supports up to 1080p resolution. The hai1000 multi-stream system, integrated within the systems of HaiVision's OEM clients, is the world's leading codec for telepresence.

For complete information on the MAKO-HD and hai1000 products, please visit HaiVision's download center at http://www.haivision.com/account/downloads/.

About HaiVision Systems Inc.:

Based in Montreal, Canada, HaiVision Systems Inc. is a private company and a world leader in delivering the most advanced video networking technology. HaiVision's products are deployed worldwide within the foremost telepresence suites and boardrooms, in healthcare facilities for video collaboration and training, for continuous presence distance education and remote learning, and within broadcast for remote interviews, IPTV, and content distribution.

For further information, please contact:

Peter Maag

HaiVision Systems Inc.

Tel: (514) 334-5445

Email: pmaag @ haivision.com

Web: www.haivision.com

HaiVisions MAKOHD Telepresence Codec Transmits First Live Stereoscopic 3D High Definition Surgical Procedure Using IP Video