Business Services Industry

Macromedia Positioned in the Visionary Quadrant in Web Conferencing Magic Quadrant; Breeze Delivers First Rich Web Communication System

Business Wire, May 25, 2004

Business Editors & High-Tech Writers

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 25, 2004

Macromedia (Nasdaq: MACR) today announced that Macromedia Breeze is positioned in the "visionary" quadrant in Gartner's 2004 Magic Quadrant report on web conferencing. With Breeze, Macromedia is delivering the first rich web communication system, allowing organizations to communicate, collaborate, and train via a single, easy-to-use, integrated solution that includes everything from live meetings to on-demand presentations.

"We're very pleased to be recognized by Gartner after being on the market for only one year," said Tom Hale, general manager, Macromedia. "Breeze is redefining web conferencing by offering a breadth of capabilities for live and on-demand presentations, customizability, and extensibility. Customers are adopting Breeze because it provides a unique and useful solution for online communication."

Breeze uses the ubiquitous Macromedia Flash Player, already installed on more than 98 percent of browsers, to deliver instant web meetings without requiring special plug-ins or media players. Other capabilities unique to Breeze are the searchable content library, which enables users to immediately locate stored presentation assets and recorded meetings through keyword search, and the "always available" nature of Breeze Live meeting rooms. Because Breeze Live meeting rooms retain assets and notes between sessions, users can quickly restart recurring meetings, increasing convenience and ease-of-use.

Breeze was evaluated based on the "completeness of vision." According to Gartner, enterprises "who desire more than a slide-sharing event should look to visionaries who provide more advanced capabilities." Gartner defines vendors listed in the visionary quadrant as having a clear vision of market direction and are focused on preparing for that, but they can still improve in terms of optimizing service delivery.

"We selected Breeze specifically for the breadth of its offering, as opposed to a more narrow solution that we might eventually grow out of," said Steve Nelson, director, information technology, Arizona Hospital & Healthcare Association. "Breeze has enriched the way our company communicates, making us more efficient, but also more connected. That other industry segments are finding value in this solution is not surprising."

Macromedia Breeze leverages the Macromedia Flash Player to deliver voice over IP, video, application and screen sharing, and rich content to anyone with a web browser. For more information, or to sign up for a trial account, visit http://www.macromedia.com/go/breeze/.> The Magic Quadrant is a graphical representation of a marketplace at and for a specific time period. It depicts Gartner's analysis of how certain vendors measure against criteria for that marketplace, as defined by Gartner. Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product, or service depicted in the Magic Quadrant, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors placed in the "Leaders" quadrant. The Magic Quadrant is intended solely as a research tool, and is not meant to be a specific guide to action. Gartner disclaims all warranties, express or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

ABOUT MACROMEDIA

Experience matters. Macromedia is motivated by the belief that great experiences build great businesses. Our software empowers millions of business users, developers, and designers to create and deliver effective, compelling, and memorable experiences -- on the Internet, on fixed media, on wireless, and on digital devices.

Copyright 2004 Macromedia, Inc. All rights reserved. Macromedia, the Macromedia logo, and Macromedia Breeze are trademarks or registered trademarks of Macromedia, Inc., which may be registered in the United States and internationally. The Magic Quadrant is copyrighted by Gartner, Inc. and is reused with permission. Other product or service names mentioned herein are the trademarks of their respective owners.