Con Edison Expands Distance Learning Initiative with ONE TOUCH Systems' Front Row

Business Wire, August 7, 1998

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 7, 1998--ONE TOUCH Systems, Inc., a privately held Silicon Valley company and the world's leading provider of Interactive Distance Learning (IDL) solutions, announced that Consolidated Edison Company of New York, Inc. (Con Edison), one of the nation's largest utility companies, has chosen ONE TOUCH's Front Row(TM) desktop solution to expand its employee distance learning initiative.

Con Edison installed the ONE TOUCH IDL solution in its state-of-the-art Learning Center in New York City and has completed a successful pilot program using Front Row(TM) to broadcast live, interactive web-based OSHA compliance training to employees working at their PCs, at other locations across the city.

Front Row(TM) is a web-based multimedia IDL application that delivers live, interactive training and corporate communications to students at PC desktops. By combining real-time video, voice, and data, and live web pages, Front Row(TM) provides the same instructor-learner interaction as ONE TOUCH's patented classroom solution.

The ONE TOUCH classroom solution employs a unique site controller and response keypads that, in Front Row(TM), are incorporated into a frame-based web browser interface. With Front Row(TM), a single instructor or content expert using the ONE TOUCH Presentation Server can simultaneously train students in classrooms as well as at desktop PCs.

Both desktop and classroom students are able to interact with the presenter and other participants by responding to questions and conversing in real time.

Con Edison, which first deployed the ONE TOUCH classroom IDL solution two years ago, is one of the first companies in the country to expand their ONE TOUCH IDL network with the addition of Front Row(TM), following the March 1998 purchase by telecommunications giant SBC.

Con Edison is one of the nation's largest utility companies, with more than $7 billion in annual revenues and approximately $15 billion in assets. The company, a subsidiary of Consolidated Edison, Inc., provides electric, gas, and steam service to more than three million customers in New York City and Westchester County, New York.

As part of its strategy to deal with competition under energy deregulation, the utility continues its strong investment in employee training and development. The focus of this effort is Con Edison's innovative Learning Center, located in Queens, which offers 450 courses ranging from leadership development to construction management.

With the addition of ONE TOUCH's Front Row(TM) solution, employees can now participate in Learning Center training on PCs at their own work location, eliminating travel time and helping the utility avoid lost productivity costs.

Con Edison conducted an initial Front Row(TM) distance learning pilot program earlier this year, which Charlie Speed, Con Edison Environmental Health and Safety Instructor, characterized as "highly successful."

An independent consultant, Vantage International, Inc., was hired to evaluate overall student satisfaction with the pilot. According to Vantage's report, "Students were overwhelmingly and unequivocally positive about the (Front Row(TM)) distance learning experience.

"Among the factors Vantage identified as contributing to the high level of student satisfaction was a strong 'personal connection' that remote students felt with the instructor, which motivated them to pay closer attention, and which resulted in increased learning.

"Vantage also commented that eliminating the commute to the Learning Center, through the use of Front Row(TM), was a significant 'morale booster.'" In addition, according to Vantage, employees with little PC experience felt "enhanced self-esteem" as they found the Front Row(TM) system easy to use and an effective way to learn.

Vantage also noted that a key Front Row(TM) benefit was a "better learning experience (that) translates into better compliance." Vantage concluded by stating, "Students strongly recommend that Con Edison continue its investment in distance learning."

Based in part on the results of its pilot, Con Edison is considering building a network within the company to link additional remote offices and expand the use of web-based distance learning solutions, including ONE TOUCH's Front Row(TM).

Speed commented, "Employee Environmental Health and Safety training and development has always been a high priority at Con Edison. And now, with industry deregulation, we have entered an era in which employee skills are crucial to long-term success.

"While we anticipate additional short-term benefits from our investment in Front Row(TM), such as improved test scores and additional cost savings, we look forward to enhancing our long-term investment in well trained, more competitive organization."

Speed added, "We were surprised to find that students perceive the ONE TOUCH Front Row(TM) learning experience as if they were getting individual training. This is an unexpected benefit, because when people feel this way, they naturally learn better."