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Planar Launches New Flat-Panel Radiology Monitor Ideal for Clinical Segment
BEAVERTON, Ore., Oct 7, 2002 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Planar Systems Inc. (NASDAQ:PLNR) is launching the newest addition to its DOME CX family of flat-panel display products: the DOME C2(TM). The DOME C2 is suited for radiological applications in clinical settings, featuring the industry-leading attributes of the DOME C3(TM)and C5(TM) high-resolution, high-end flat-panels in a cost-effective 2-megapixel format.

Six months after Planar's acquisition of Massachusetts-based DOME imaging systems, the combined product development team has leveraged synergies to quickly launch a display solution for the evolving medical imaging market. The DOME C2 allows practitioners throughout the healthcare enterprise to access high-quality grayscale images in real time, without the hassles of film. This enables referring physicians, oncology technicians and a variety of support staff to access images on displays that are fully calibrated to meet the DICOM standard.

Planar designed the DOME C2 to be as "intelligent" as its high-end, high-resolution CX flat-panel displays by adding the innovative CXtra(TM) software. With this software, users can view everything from luminance levels, hours of backlight operation and panel temperature to serial numbers and firmware-revision levels. CXtra also offers quality assurance departments the ability to monitor and manipulate panel states remotely through any simple network management protocol (SNMP) console.

Because the DOME C2 self-calibrates and continuously stabilizes its luminance through its exclusive RightLight(TM) technology, hospitals no longer need to calibrate medical displays to ensure continuous image quality and consistency. RightLight uses an unobtrusive sensor embedded in the back of the panel to manage luminance and maintain DICOM conformance, ensuring continuous image quality and DICOM consistency throughout the life of the display. The DOME C2 also offers grayscale fidelity of 3,061 distinct shades of gray, more than any other 2-megapixel flat-panel on the market, ensuring accurate representation of subtle image information.

"At Planar, we pay close attention to the needs of our customers and to our market. We recognized our customers needed the option of a high-quality 2-megapixel grayscale flat-panel display, and our objective is to satisfy the full range of needs for medical display solutions," said Matt Harris, general manager for Planar's medical business unit. "Planar designed the DOME C2 to provide clinicians with a superior display device at referral quality resolutions with all of the great features found previously only in our high-end, high-resolution CX flat-panel display systems."

The DOME C2 offers referral-quality resolution (1600 x 1200 pixels) in a portrait or landscape flat-panel display. In addition, the DOME C2 has an extremely high luminance of 200 fL (700 cd/m2), a contrast ratio of 700:1, and a 170-degree wide viewing angle. It is slim and space-efficient, lightweight (6.5kg), and can be wall-mounted to offer a wide variety of location and viewing options. The DOME C2 also offers low energy consumption, produces significantly less heat, and significantly reduces users' eye fatigue as compared to CRT monitors.

The DOME C2 is an important complement to the suite of Planar display and computing solutions used in patient monitoring, surgical, radiological imaging, informatics, ancillary and administrative applications. These products serve as the medical world's gateway to patient information. 

    About Planar
Planar Systems is a worldwide leader in the development and marketing of electronic information display systems. The company specializes in collaborative relationships with customers, designing and producing flat-panel display solutions ranging from desktop monitors to high-performance displays for challenging field applications in medical and industrial markets. Founded in 1983 and publicly traded on The NASDAQ National Market as `PLNR', Planar is headquartered in Oregon, USA, and operates manufacturing and sales in the United States, Europe and Asia. For more information please visit www.planar.com.

PLANAR and DOME are registered trademarks of Planar Systems Inc. DOME C2, DOME C3, DOME C5, CXtra and RightLight are trademarks of Planar Systems Inc. 

CONTACT:          Planar Systems
                  David Hebert (Marketing Contact)
                  781/895-1155
                  david_hebert@planar.com
                  Stewart Clark (Investor Contact)
                  503/748-6984
                  stewart_clark@planar.com
                  or
                  The Bohle Company
                  Derek Asato (Media Contact)
                  310/785-0515, Ext. 201
                  derek@bohle.com

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