Support for the upcoming JPEG 2000 standard should be quick and easy to add to FotoStation Pro 4.5, says Frenning, simply by loading a JPEG 2000 QuickTime plug-in. In addition, v4.5 will support HTTP file uploading. With the appropriate switch flipped in a newspaper's web server software, FotoStation Pro 4.5 will enable a photographer to select a group of files, choose a menu command, select the destination server from a pre-configured popup list, then move on to other things as the files transmit across the Internet. FotoStation Pro 4.5's HTTP Upload HTTP uploading should be comparable in speed to the FTP uploading feature already present in the Windows version of FotoStation Pro 4.0, but will be easier to implement than FTP for some organizations as it more easily skirts firewall concerns presented by IT departments. That's because the port on the firewall that is often already open to enable the web server to function is the same port that is used by FotoStation Pro 4.5's HTTP upload.
Wide availability is to follow shortly after that.
Owners of FotoStation Pro 4.0 will be able to upgrade to v4.5 for free next month by downloading an update from Fotoware's web site. Eroket , Fotoware's North American distributor, is currently offering a steep discount on FotoStation Pro for North American customers only. Fotoware hasn't yet announced which, if any, features from the Pro version of 4.5 will make it into a revamped standard version. There are many ways to squeeze a high-resolution photo enough to permit quick transmission and efficient storage. The dominant method is JPEG compression.