RSI plans to release new, free distribution platform for IDL applications

JUNE 5--Research Systems Inc. (RSI; Boulder, CO), a wholly owned subsidiary of Eastman Kodak Company, will provide a new, free Interactive Data Language (IDL) distribution platform with the upcoming release of IDL 6.0, scheduled for July 2003. IDL Virtual Machine (IDL VM) provides a simple, no-cost method for IDL users and software developers to distribute and share compiled IDL code. The new IDL VM will allow both novice and advanced software developers to distribute compiled IDL software code, applets or entire applications without additional runtime licensing or runtime license fees.

"By greatly facilitating collaboration and code-sharing, IDL VM will allow a simple and quick way for researchers, scientists, engineers, and other technical professionals worldwide to share applications written in IDL," said Jim Kelley, vice president of product marketing for IDL and ENVI. Kelley added that because IDL code is platform-portable, users can write applications once and deploy their application and user interface code across multiple computing environments.

IDL VM will be included with IDL 6.0 and will be available for all IDL-supported platforms, including Windows, Linux, Mac OS X, and the Unix operating systems. As IDL VM can exist without an IDL license and run without the IDL development environment, it can be downloaded as a separate product from the RSI Web site at www.RSInc.com.