WOODBURY, NY-The Harman Consumer Group today announced it has entered into a relationship with Oraios Corporation, a developer of cutting-edge web site interfaces, to create state-of-the-art web sites for its Harman Kardon, Infinity and JBL brands that will feature unique 3-D virtual reality graphic interfaces and innovative interactive capabilities. The sites will enable consumers to travel through highly realistic three-dimensional "virtual stores," where they can view products, interact with product specialists and even talk to other on-line visitors in real time.

The Oraios technology enables the creation of a complete 3-D on-line "city," with individual "stores" that consumers can enter by means of "avatars," an on-line personal representation of themselves. Once inside a virtual Harman Kardon, Infinity or JBL store or the Harman Outlet Store, a shopper will be able to walk throughout the virtual site to view and even pick up and examine products close-up, simply by moving and clicking their mouse.

Herman Sperling, Vice President of Marketing for the Harman Consumer Group pointed out: "Our partnership with Oraios reflects our commitment to providing our consumers with a superior Internet experience. The Harman Kardon, Infinity and JBL 3-D interactive online sites will represent nothing less than the next advance in the state-of-the-art of on-line presentations. The improvement in the look, feel and functionality of the 3-D browsing experience is extraordinary, compared to the conventional way of clicking through static, text-filled menu screens to search for desired products and information." Sperling concluded, "This technology simply makes it far easier and more appealing for our customers to obtain product information online, which will enable them to make more informed purchasing decisions when they visit their local retailer."

The capabilities of the Harman on-line sites will be considerably more extensive than conventional sites. Consumers will be able to personalize the appearance of their avatars with gender, clothes and hairstyles of their choosing. Once inside the virtual city, known as Oraios City, users will be able to easily travel to the Harman stores and other shopping, entertainment and knowledge sites by means of on-screen maps and other navigation aides. Thanks to Oraios' proprietary streaming video technologies, an ordinary 56K dial-up modem can be used for the Internet connection, with no broadband capability required.

Products will be on display throughout each Harman-branded "store," organized and displayed by category as in a real store. Each Harman site will be hosted by virtual salespeople, who correspond to actual Harman sales representatives on the other end of the connection. Thanks to the sites' sophisticated CRM customer support technologies, users will be able to communicate with the salespeople in real-time using an ISP voice connection or via text, and each salesperson will have a unique identity, enabling consumers to recognize and speak to them on a one-on-one basis and establish ongoing relationships.

Consumers will be able to examine each product in detail from different views, or even by picking up items and looking at them up-close. By clicking on a particular product, specifications and purchasing information are displayed in a pop-up window, making it easy to "browse" thorough a site and compare different products.

Users can meet with other on-line participants via chat rooms and buddy lists, or in their own virtual apartments, which each user can decorate and even furnish with virtual appliances and audio/video components that can connect to other web sites and applications, or be used to control other home-entertainment devices. For example, a user can "install" an audio/video system in their apartment - which can then be used to control their actual home A/V system.

The city will offer many additional interactive capabilities and resources, such as the ability to create comparison-shopping databases, easy navigation to other Oraios City locations and stores, and ready access to more than 10,000 related information and content sites.

The new Harman Kardon, Infinity, and JBL sites will launch by December 1, 2000.

About Harman Consumer Group

The Harman Consumer Systems Group (HCSG) is a leading designer, manufacturer and marketer of a wide range of high-fidelity loudspeakers, audio and video components and multimedia systems for use in homes and automobiles, and with computers. The Group's brands include JBL, Infinity, Harman Kardon, Mark Levinson, Madrigal Imaging, Revel, Proceed, Audioaccess and Lexicon.

HCSG is a division of Harman International Industries, Inc. Harman International (www.harman.com) is a leading manufacturer of high-quality, high-fidelity audio and video products for the consumer and professional markets. The Company's stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "HAR."

About Oraios

Oraios Inc., through its wholly owned R&D subsidiary, Oraios Technologies Ltd., located in Israel, is developing a multi-user platform that displays large and complex 3D scenes viewed over the Internet. Oraios' breakthrough technology overcomes today's dial-up, CPU and memory limitations. Proprietary technology is based on system architecture that reduces the amount of server-to-client data to be transferred. The company's broadband engine is currently under development. Oraios' technology is targeted at electronics and game manufacturers, media firms, ISPs, community and entertainment sites, broadband providers, e-commerce and e-learning sites.

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