Eyetech Group Ltd Amiga Product Notes
	Latest News in Brief		Eyetech to be first official manufacturer of Amiga development machines

We will be producing two main models of DevBoxes. The stand-alone model - the EZDev-Plus - is based on the Amiga reference specification bur with additional hardware and software to network to any existing WB3.0+ Amiga platform. The EZDev-Tower is a fully integrated Classic Amiga and reference DevBox system networked in the same enclosure, sharing drives, keyboard and display.

This system , which is based on the EZTower Mk5, is ideal for developers wishing to port applications from the Classic Amiga architecture to the new Amiga Operating Environment (OE), and subsequently back to the intended PPC hosted Amiga OE (using a PowerUp PPC card/BVision fitted to the Classic Amiga). Upgrades will be available for existing EZTower owners (not Z4) at reduced prices. In addition Eyetech will be shipping the Amiga OE as a shrinkwrapped package from mid June for developers wishing to use or source their own DevBox hardware - see separate news story.

Amiga Inc. of Snoqualmie, WA is pleased to announce a strategic relationship with Eyetech Group Ltd. of Stokesley, North Yorkshire, UK to manufacture the first release of the Next Generation Amiga Development Machines and to distribute these in Great Britain and the Republic of Ireland.

This will no doubt come as welcome news to the British Amiga community who have long enjoyed an excellent relationship with Eyetech.

Eyetech is well known as a leading supporter of Amiga - and the Amiga Community - of great integrity. Eyetech's involvement in the Amiga market dates back to 1993.

Amiga and Eyetech both share a vision and strategy to re-establish the next generation Amiga Operating Environment as the leading multimedia hardware-independent delivery platform for the year 2000 and beyond. Both companies belive that this strategy will return Amiga to its rightful position as a leader in multimedia computing, and thereby redeliver the recognition and pride back to the loyal Amiga community that has waved the flag over these last 15 years.

Our relationship with long time company Chairman, Alan Redhouse, proves that Eyetech has a firm belief in our product, our company, and our community. Of particular interest to both Amiga and the community is Eyetechs EZTower Mk5 which networks together - in a single tower system - both an A1200 (with optional PPC/BVision) with a next generation Amiga Development Machine and the Amiga SDK. "The reputation of Eyetech as well as their ability to offer such a high quality and wide-ranging choice to the Amiga community in the form of both the EZTower Mk5 and the EZDev-Plus - Eyetech's stand-alone DevBox - is unprecedented. We wholeheartedly support Alan and his team at Eyetech and join the community in welcoming Eyetech to the Amiga future." said Randall Hughes, Vice President Sales and Strategic Alliances at Amiga.

Alan Redhouse commented: "I am delighted that Eyetech has been chosen as Amiga's partner to help UK companies and individuals take advantage of porting and developing applications under the new Amiga Operating Environment. We will of course continue to service and support Classic Amiga users Worldwide from the 5000 square feet (500 square metres) of warehouse space dedicated to Amiga products here at our UK base.

"The Classic Amiga also forms the basis of our Multimedia Presentation and Kiosk systems as its tightly integrated, purpose-designed premptive multitasking, multimedia-centric operating system allows us to achieve levels of performance, reliability and cost-effectiveness which cannot even be approached on a PC-based system. We are now looking forward to developing new, high-performance multimedia products around the new generation Amiga Operating Environment, as well as providing continued support for our existing commercial and leisure customers."

Eyetech's developer platforms for the new generation Amiga Operating Environment will be officially released on 1st June 2000. The product portfolio will include EZTower Mk 5 based integrated systems, upgrade kits for existing EZTower users and the stand-alone EZDev-Plus system. All systems will ship with Eyetech's 5-click Amiga - Linux networking software, specially tailored for the new Amiga Operating Environment.