Corda Press

< BACK TO PRESS RELEASES MAIN

Crunchy Technologies forms exclusive strategic alliance with Corda Technologies -Integrates CORDA’S PopChart™ charting/graphing solution into PageScreamer™ and WinScreamer™ Product Suites-

Arlington VA, March 21, 2002, Crunchy Technologies, Inc., an Arlington, VA. based provider of secure, accessible e-business and e-government software products and custom applications, today announced an exclusive alliance with CORDA Technologies, a Lindon, Utah based developer of dynamic, interactive, Web-based charting and graphing solutions.

Through this agreement, Crunchy will integrate Corda’s PopChart™ charting and graphing solutions into the PageScreamer™ and WinScreamer™ family of solutions to help make web sites accessible to all members of the public and meet the requirements of section 508 of the Federal Rehabilitation Act.

On August 7, 1998, the President signed into law the Workforce Investment Act of 1998, Public Law 105-220. Title IV of the Act is the Rehabilitation Act Amendments of 1998. Subsection 408(b) amended section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (29 U.S.C. 794d). Subsection 508(a)(1) requires that when Federal departments or agencies develop, procure, maintain, or use Electronic and Information Technology (EIT), they shall ensure that the EIT allows Federal employees with disabilities to have access to and use of information and data that is comparable to the access to and use of information and data by other Federal employees. Section 508 also requires that individuals with disabilities, who are members of the public seeking information or services from a Federal department or agency, have access to and use of information and data that is comparable to that provided to the public without disabilities.

There are an estimated 800,000 visually impaired persons currently using the Web. It is projected that there are 6.5 million Americans age 55 or older that experience severe vision loss; by 2030 this number will double. There are also an estimated 5 million Americans with learning disabilities that have difficulty using web sites.

Louis J. Hutchinson III, Crunchy’s CEO & President said, “Technology and information is becoming so pervasive in our society it is almost criminal to limit access. Integrating PopChart™ puts the best of breed accessible charting and graphing solution with our industry leading Enterprise Accessibility Products. Together we will have a significant impact on the accessibility of the web, applications, product software and desktop software for commercial, government and state and local organizations.”

As a result of the exclusive partnership, PageScreamer™ products will use the integrated PopChart™ Technology to help end-users create section 508 compliant charts and graphs with descriptive text. When the PageScreamer™ products are in the correction mode, they examine the images used in web pages and if the images contain static charts and graphs, identify them for the end user. The end user can then create equivalent charts and graphs with descriptive text to meet the requirements of Section 508. The PageScreamer™ products will then modify the source code for the web pages to refer to the newly created charts and graphs.

Many organizations currently provide data in a tabular format in order to meet minimum accessibility requirements. The availability of accessible charts and graphs with descriptive text allows them to provide tabular data in graphical formats as well. With the PopChart™ integration PageScreamer™ products will provide options to the user to translate HTML data tables into corresponding compliant charts and graphs.

The PageScreamer™ Suite of products generates several reports that include charts and graphs as part of its functionality. Using PopChart™ technology, these products will now generate informative interactive graphical reports. These interactive graphical reports will provide data mining capabilities for further analysis.

Neal Williams, CEO of Corda, characterized the alliance as “a great opportunity for us to partner with Crunchy Technologies, the clear leader in accessibility solutions. Accessibility is one of our main priorities at Corda, and with our new alliance, we can help blind and low vision individuals and those with learning disabilities that have been locked out of the Web space take advantage of this wonderful universe of information.”

About Crunchy Technologies

Crunchy Technologies develops accessible packaged software products and custom applications for business and government clients. Crunchy manufactures the PageScreamer™ product suite, the leading tools for making Web content accessible to users with disabilities and compliant with Section 508 of the 1998 Rehabilitation Act. Crunchy's professional services team architects and builds secure, accessible e-business and e-government applications and systems. Crunchy's expertise includes Internet, intranet, extranet and wireless application development, IT infrastructure design and implementation, security implementations and accessible web content, web application and product software development.

About CORDA Technologies

Corda Technologies is the global leader in interactive data visualization solutions. With more flexibility, scalability and speed than any other charting or mapping solution, Corda's family of tools and services are the leading choice for fast and easy to build charts and maps. Corda's solutions display data as visual images allowing customers to explore relationships, perform analysis and more easily understand their data.