Rogue Wave Inc., a young software-design and multimedia marketing company here, has inked a product licensing agreement with Tokyo-based World Bridge Co. Ltd. thats projected to bring the Spokane company between $2 million and $3 million in revenue this year.


Chuck Watkins, Rogue Waves CEO, says the agreement allows World Bridge to design content for Rogue Waves proprietary M-Disc and sell it in Asian markets.


M-Disc is a multimedia marketing product with the ability to update its datawhether its text, graphics, audio, or videoby tapping into a Web page.


Rogue Wave signed its contract with World Bridge earlier this month, and the Japanese company will send some of its employees to Rogue Waves offices here for training on M-Disc design and technologies.


This opens up our global networking ability, Watkins says. On its own, Rogue Wave wouldnt design effective marketing materials for Far East companies, he says, and the new agreement really breaks down the language barrier for us.


This year, its first full year in business, Rogue Wave expects to reach $5 million in sales, Watkins says.


Two Spokane companies, Rogue Wave Associates LLC and Media Design of Washington Inc., merged last September to form Rogue Wave. The Media Design name still exists and is used by the holding company for Rogue Wave Inc. From September to year-end 2000, Rogue Wave posted $600,000 in sales. The contract with World Bridge by itself could increase Rogue Waves sales fivefold, he says.


Dave McClave, Rogue Waves vice president of research and development, asserts, The growth in the company has been exponential all along. Theres little chance of it slowing any time soon.


The M-Disc is Rogue Waves first, and currently only, product. The disk is a business card-sized CD-ROM that stores a multimedia presentation.


The M-Disc technology includes the ability to connect to a Web site and download new information for a presentation. It downloads the information quicklyand in a way that might leave a viewer unaware that the Internet has been tappedas the disk starts to play.


Watkins says Rogue Wave currently is completing work on an M-Disc that will be used as a promotional piece for a charity golf tournament at the Spokane Country Club this summer that will benefit the Make-A-Wish Foundation. He says the disk will include television-like content and is expected to be released within a month.


Only a handful of sponsors have been confirmed for the event so far, Watkins says, but the M-Disc will update informationthrough a link to a Web siteabout the sponsors as they come on board. Theoretically, an M-Disc could include new information each time its played by the user.


Other companies for which Rogue Wave has made M-Discs include Ericsson, the Lincoln-Mercury division of Ford Motor Co., Sun Microsystems Inc., and the Club at Black Rock development near Coeur dAlene.


Rogue Wave also has begun internal testing of a new product called Aviso, which will be a Web-based document-making software that will allow a user to create multimedia presentations, resumes, and greeting cards. Watkins says Rogue Wave hopes to launch that product in the next two months.