Icon Sports Media Leverages Spitfire Photo Technology to Deliver New Online Archive of Editorial and Historical Sports Images

San Francisco, CA, February 11, 2008 --(PR.com)-- Spitfire Photo (www.spitfirephoto.com), providers of cutting-edge technology solutions for online image management and sales, along with Icon Sports Media (Icon SMI), the nation’s premier sports photo agency, have jointly announced the launch of Icon SMI’s new online database of searchable sports images, now available at www.iconsportsmedia.com.

The new website, which includes over 1 million images covering more than 100 sports worldwide, takes advantage of Spitfire Photo’s proprietary image distribution and search technology, renowned for its speed, flexibility, and wealth of options. In addition, Spitfire Photo offers extensive brand integration capabilities, providing Icon SMI with a unique web presence that represents their brand image.

“Spitfire Photo levels the playing field for agencies of all sizes by providing the technology that was formerly only available to big-budget organizations such as Getty or Jupiter Images,” said Steven Rabkin, president of Spitfire Photo. “Icon exemplifies quality and excellence in editorial sports imagery and we are honored to be chosen as their technology partner.”

Icon SMI’s extensive network of photographers, clients, and press contacts can now benefit from Spitfire Photo’s wide array of innovative features, including rapid image upload and syndication, FTP and downloadable lightboxes, and potent search capabilities to greatly enhance locating and purchasing up-to-the-minute sports images.

"Spitfire Photo is the industry standard when it comes to advanced user access technology and gives us a great opportunity to work collaboratively with not only our clients but also our more than 250 contributing photographers,” said Jamie Calsyn, president of Icon SMI. “It gives us incredible control and reliability over our database and ensures that we can deliver our images at the conclusion of a game in a fast, productive manner -- absolutely critical to our business.”

Icon SMI and Spitfire Photo collaborated on the design of the new website to offer a unique approach to navigating the expansive database through the use of a newsfeed-style homepage and individual sports sections, making it possible to quickly locate the latest images by sport. To gain immediate access to browse and search the website, users can register online at www.iconsportsmedia.com. Registered users can also take advantage of a host of website features such as instant image downloads and lightbox management and sharing.

“Our new database benefits our photographers and editors tremendously,” said Calsyn. “It’s exciting to be on the cutting edge of the digital photography industry.”

About Icon Sports Media
Icon SMI was founded in 1999 by visionary sports photography veterans who wanted to meld the best of sports imagery with the latest digital technology by combining image media under one multi-functional, web-based infrastructure. Since their founding, Icon SMI has become one of the leading services in providing sports imagery from around the world thanks to an extensive network of sports photographers and foreign press agencies who are committed to capturing the defining moments and decorated athletes from professional, college and grassroots sports.

Along with Icon SMI’s online collection of over one million digital images, the service is augmented by a separate collection of three million historical images by some of sports photography’s finest professional photographers.

About Spitfire Photo
Spitfire Photo, a Virtual Moment, LLC company, is committed to delivering cutting-edge technology solutions for digital media management. Offering both custom packages as well as the SpitfirePro and SpitfirePrints subscription services, Spitfire Photo strives to simplify and optimize digital photography workflows while maximizing online visibility. Spitfire Photo powers the image archives and store fronts for many of the world’s best photo agencies and professional photographers. Learn more at www.spitfirephoto.com.