Latitude Receives Frost & Sullivan Award; MeetingPlace Provider Touted for Competitive Strategy Innovation, Market Share Growth, and Penetration into New Web Conferencing Markets

Business Wire, April 22, 2002

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 22, 2002

Latitude Communications Inc. (Nasdaq:LATD), the leading provider of secure, integrated voice and web conferencing solutions, today announced that the company has received the "2002 Competitive Strategy Award" from market research firm Frost & Sullivan. The recognition stems from 600 hours of market analysis conducted by Frost & Sullivan, which recently published a study, "Web Conferencing Market." Latitude received the award based on competitive strategy innovation, growth in market share and penetration in new web conferencing markets.

The annual award goes to the company whose competitive strategy has yielded significant gains in market share. The recognized company must have either taken advantage of recent market changes to solidify market presence, or executed an innovative strategy within the existing competitive landscape. The research process includes interviews with industry experts, industry participants and end-users, as well as extensive secondary data research.

"While there are few fully converged audio and data conferencing solutions, Latitude has gone a step further by also offering MeetingPlace as a hosted service," said David Alexander, the industry analyst at Frost & Sullivan who conducted the research for the report and award. "Latitude's MeetingPlace is a highly robust converged audio and data conferencing platform, however, the company's ability to increase the services sector of its business is a true measure of its strategic know-how. Such innovations will produce lasting, precedent-setting trends in the industry."

Alexander's report noted that Latitude has developed a "unique and competitively distinct product strategy" that has enabled the company to emerge as a leading provider of not only web and audio conferencing bridges, but also in web and audio conferencing services.

"We are pleased that Frost & Sullivan, as a result of its thorough analysis of the web conferencing marketplace and technology, has recognized us for our competitive strategy," said Emil Wang, chief executive officer and founder of Latitude. "We expect to further expand our market penetration as companies increasingly use web conferencing for business efficiency -- and recognize the value of our strong web and voice integration."

Today, Latitude introduced MeetingPlace Web 3.0, the next generation of its tightly integrated voice and web conferencing solution, and MeetingPlace.Net, an immediately accessible single flat rate voice and web conferencing service. These new offerings further advance the technology and competitive leadership recognized by the Frost & Sullivan award.

MeetingPlace Web 3.0 is the most highly integrated voice and web conferencing solution available -- and the only one that allows attendees to see who is speaking. Through their browsers, MeetingPlace users can determine who is attending on voice and web interfaces, control speaking privileges, "step out" for breakout sessions, record meetings, share applications or show slides. The product offers advanced security and diverse deployment options to meet enterprise security requirements. Many of the tightly integrated voice and web innovations of MeetingPlace Web 3.0 are based on the patent awarded to Latitude that makes such capabilities as "Who's Speaking" and "Who's Attending" possible.

"I'm a firm believer in MeetingPlace's tight integration of audio and web," said Frost's David Alexander. "The single interface makes the web conferencing experience easier. The new MeetingPlace Web 3.0 has a remarkable feature in 'Who's speaking.' This is important for calls with five or more people, especially when some of them don't know each other. You no longer need to wonder, 'Who was that? Was it the CEO?' People will demand this critical capability."

MeetingPlace.Net, a cost-effective voice and web conferencing service, runs on the new Web 3.0 technology. For immediate access, the service is available for purchase online, for a monthly flat-rate fee for both voice and web conferencing.

"We've experienced significant growth," continued Wang. "With today's introduction of MeetingPlace Web 3.0 and MeetingPlace.Net, Latitude is ripe for moving to the forefront of the web conferencing market."

About MeetingPlace

MeetingPlace, the leading integrated, secure voice and web conferencing solution, helps organizations to work better through real-time collaboration. MeetingPlace integrates with standard communications infrastructures enabling people to share and edit live documents to work together productively from any location. The result: Faster sales, reduced costs and improved communications. To simplify meeting scheduling, MeetingPlace integrates with standard groupware applications such as Microsoft Outlook and Lotus Notes. MeetingPlace, available as a hosted service or on-premises conferencing platform, is provided by Latitude Communications (Nasdaq:LATD). For more information, visit at www.meetingplace.net or call 800/999-7440.