Press Release
Aarhus, 05 September 2001
Danish Software Company Brings Whiteboards into the IT Age
The Danish start-up company Ideogramic ApS releases a breakthrough
in software for electronic whiteboards. The software eases
collaboration and development by combining the strengths of
whiteboards, Post It™ notes, and computers.
For many companies, whiteboards are indispensable tools in
development work. Whiteboards are used when discussing, and drawings
are later transferred to computers. The young Danish software company
Ideogramic ApS now releases software that dramatically enhances the
efficiency of this way of working: the developed technology combines
the known advantages of whiteboard, the yellow Post It™ notes, and
computers, respectively.
Managing director Michael Tyrsted, Ideogramic ApS, says: “The
basic idea is to optimize the collaboration at the
whiteboard. Typically, you use the whiteboard when discussing, and
later the results are manually transferred to a computer. Our software
combines the advantages of both tools: you go from the whiteboard
directly to the computer and you are able to continue you work
immediately. Nothing is lost or misunderstood because of
unintelligible writing on the whiteboard.”
The First of its Kind
Ideogramic’s first product, Ideogramic UML™, is a tool for
UML diagramming to be used by software developers. Far from being the
only computer tool for UML diagramming, Ideogramic UML™ is,
however, unique in being usable on other technologies than traditional
desktop computers. Whereas traditional UML diagramming tools are
designed for a single user on a personal computer, Ideogramic UML™
is designed for the software developers of the future who want to
collaborate in a natural and creative way. As well as being usable on
ordinary desktop computers, Ideogramic UML™ can be used on
electronic whiteboards, such as the Danish Tool-Tribe, and on handheld
electronic “pads”, such as the forthcoming Tablet PC from
Microsoft. Using any of these technologies, Ideogramic UML™ enables
its users to draw diagrams in a natural way with an electronic pen by
continuously interpreting and stylizing the hand drawn diagrams.
Bang & Olufsen has been a Committed User throughout Development
Ideogramic UML™ has during its development been actively used by
several Danish companies such as Bang & Olufsen, Cotas, System,
Kapow!, and Unigate. So, despite its recent release, the first
licenses of Ideogramic UML™ have already been sold among others to
a large consultancy company.
In addition, Ideogramic is developing a custom product based on its
patent pending technology forthe German company e-GIP Software AG. As
part of the contract, Ideogramic produces a gesture-based program that
enables consultants to draw diagrams naturally on a whiteboard in
collaboration with their customers while the diagrams are captured
electronically and transferred to the customers’ databases in order
to inform the work processes of the customers’.
A Product Based on Research
Previous to 12 months of product development in Ideogramic the
basis of its technology was developed at the Computer Science
Department, University of Aarhus. Here the four founding partners in
Ideogramic - Christian Heide Damm, Klaus Marius Hansen, Michael
Thomsen, and Michael Tyrsted – started and conducted the “Knight
Project” in which widely published research grounded the future
development of Ideogramic’s software.
Visit Ideogramic’s Web site to learn more about the company and
download videos of the usage of its software: www.ideogramic.com
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