Latitude Communications Pioneers Web Access To MeetingPlace Conferencing; New RealAudio, Web Scheduling and Web Archiving Features Facilitate and Streamline the Meeting Process

Business Wire, Dec 9, 1996

SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 9, 1996--Latitude Communications, a leading vendor of conferencing systems, today announced MeetingPlace WebPublisher, a new software product that integrates the MeetingPlace conference server with a company's existing intranet or Internet Web sites.

MeetingPlace WebPublisher lets browser users schedule conferences, access meeting materials and listen to recordings using the phone or a RealAudio-enabled Web site. MeetingPlace is the industry's first conference server -- a customer premises conferencing system that leverages a customer's existing communications networks to improve the entire process of holding productive conferences.

"New capabilities realized by integrating voice conferencing with common office and information systems, such as PCs, fax servers, e-mail systems and pagers have enticed long-time audioconference service bureau customers to bring their conferencing business and technology in-house," said Emil Wang, president, Latitude Communications. "With MeetingPlace WebPublishers integration into corporate intranet and Internet servers, we expect to see this trend accelerate even faster."

Schedule Conferences from Any Web Browser

MeetingPlace WebPublisher provides a familiar form from which users can set up voice conferences. From their Web browsers, users can schedule the date, time, length, password and number of locations for the meeting, as well as specify advanced recording options, arrival and departure announcements, and passwords.

This Web-based scheduling capability extends the suite of conference scheduling interfaces provided by MeetingPlace, which also provides touch-tone telephone, Windows, Macintosh and e-mail interfaces for conference scheduling.

Access Meeting Recordings and Materials on the Web

Allowing users to access a list of scheduled meetings as well as detailed pages for each conference, MeetingPlace WebPublisher automatically generates Web pages and publishes audio recordings and related meeting materials. Browser users simply click on an icon to listen to conference recordings via RealAudio or to access related meeting materials.

This Web-based access to meeting materials and conference recordings leverages the functionality of the MeetingPlace MeetingNotes option, which lets participants record their conferences and provides access to the recordings over any touch-tone phone or through client software interfaces. MeetingNotes also enables users to submit electronic meeting materials, such as word processor documents, spreadsheets and presentations and make them available via e-mail, fax or via client software interfaces.

"In many business applications, efficient capture and publishing of meeting content is more important than the actual meeting," said Stephen Pao, product manager, Latitude Communications. "With most existing intranet applications, content must be explicitly created and cataloged. MeetingPlace WebPublisher lets customers instantly create a `library' of meetings in an accessible, organized and browsable form."

"Through MeetingPlace WebPublisher, Latitude extends the reach of RealAudio to corporate intranets to deliver and catalog audio content created as a part of everyday business," said Bruce Jacobsen, president of Progressive Networks. "We are excited to work with Latitude to deliver new applications for both voice conferencing and streaming audio in areas such as financial industry morning calls."

Pricing and Availability

MeetingPlace WebPublisher is available immediately for Windows NT for $4,995 as a software component to the MeetingPlace conference server. To access voice files using RealAudio, customers must also obtain a RealAudio server. Pricing for the MeetingPlace conference server is dependent on system size and starts at $39,995 for an 8-port entry-level system. Other options, such as MeetingNotes, gateways to popular e-mail and fax systems, and client software are also available.

About Latitude Communications

Latitude Communications develops products that enable companies to conduct more productive business meetings with people in different locations. The company's flagship product, MeetingPlace, is the industry's first conference server -- a customer premises system that allows users to schedule, attend and manage conference calls from touch-tone phones or PCs.

Founded in 1993 and headquartered in Santa Clara, Calif., Latitude markets its products through direct sales and distributors. The company has offices throughout the United States. Latitude can be contacted at 800/999-7440, via e-mail at info@latitude.com and via the World Wide Web at http://www.latitude.com -0-

NOTE TO EDITORS: All prices and terms are for the United States only. MeetingPlace and MeetingNotes are trademarks of Latitude Communications. RealAudio is a trademark of Progressive Networks. All other product names are trademarks of their respective companies.

CONTACT: Schwartz Communications, Inc.

Shirley Macbeth or Jennifer Knapp, 415/512-0770