WebEvent's Newest Version of Publish Extends Reach of Web Calendaring to New Users; New Hosted Version Enables Rapid Installation At Low Cost

Business Wire, Feb 3, 2003

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

ANDOVER, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 3, 2003

WebEvent, Inc. (www.webevent.com) today announced enhancements to its WebEvent Publish Web-based event calendaring solution that extend the reach of online event calendars to the most popular personal calendars and mobile devices. New WebEvent Publish 2.7 allows users to download any event into a personal desktop calendar application, such as Microsoft Outlook, Palm Desktop or Apple iCal, and then also to Palm and Windows CE handheld organizers.

WebEvent Publish is also now available as a hosted application, offering an attractive, lower-cost and maintenance-free option for organizations with IT and budget constraints. For example, an interdepartmental group within a large organization can purchase and begin using WebEvent Publish in less than 24 hours, without the worries of installation or extensive training. For an annual subscription fee, hosted users have full administrative control, can customize the application and receive automatic software upgrades.

"A large calendar system that relies on multiple publishers can be an uphill battle, especially for a university like ours that has eight campuses serving roughly 100,000 students, 400,000 alumni and thousands of staff members and IU community users," said Nick McCammon, event calendar administrator for Indiana University. "We needed a scalable solution to centralize and organize all of our calendar listings to provide Web users easier access to campus events and activities. Today, with WebEvent, our campus calendars are in one online location, helping us increase awareness of, and drive traffic to, important university events."

"Many online calendaring products have emerged over the years, but few have survived in the market," said Simon Hayward, vice president and research director at Gartner. "However, Web-based calendaring for events still has an important role in areas such as education, where there is a great need to publicize a complex universe of events to a large, distributed audience. This type of calendaring is well suited for Web publishing and is, in fact, a specialized form of content management critical to event-driven organizations."

WebEvent Publish allows educational institutions, government organizations, nonprofits and corporations -- virtually any event-driven organization -- to publish event calendars on a Web site and reach discrete audiences with tailored event information, increasing event attendance and general awareness. It also simplifies the administrator's task of keeping hundreds of events up-to-date.

"Since the early days of the Internet, online event calendaring and scheduling has been one of the most widely used and cost-effective forms of collaboration. As the industry pioneer, we have seen this product evolve from prototype shareware and free online services to a robust, enterprise application serving millions of users," said Andy Sherman, WebEvent president and CEO. "The accessibility through WebEvent's hosted version extends Web calendaring to a larger audience by eliminating barriers to entry, ensuring all organizations can use this critical tool."

WebEvent's founder, James Cameron, developed the world's first Web-based, interactive calendar at Boston University in 1994. Now, in its tenth year, WebEvent's event calendaring solution is one of the most widely used Web applications. The company has more than 2,700 installations at educational institutions, nonprofit organizations, government agencies and corporations generating more than 120,000 interactive calendars accessed by millions of users every day. WebEvent Publish runs on all major operating systems and offers the added flexibility of creating custom event fields, filtering events by custom category and supporting multiple time zones to accommodate worldwide audiences.

Pricing and Availability

WebEvent Publish is available for purchase as either licensed or hosted software. The licensed version starts at $1,600 for 10 calendars; the hosted version starts at $975 per year for 10 calendars.

About WebEvent, Inc.

WebEvent is a pioneering developer and leading provider of Web-based calendaring solutions with a focus on higher education, including installations at the nation's largest universities. The company has more than 2,700 installations at educational institutions, nonprofit organizations, government agencies, and corporations generating more than 120,000 interactive calendars accessed by millions of users every day. Its flagship product, WebEvent Publish, centralizes and automates the process of capturing, organizing, and updating dynamic event information from diverse sources for multiple event calendars. For more information visit www.webevent.com or call 978-975-3344.