First Virtual Communications Expands Its Commitment to Educators
New Orleans, La. – National Educational Computing Conference (NECC) 2004 – Booth #2256 – June 21, 2004 – First Virtual Communications, Inc. (Nasdaq:
FVCXE), a premier provider of infrastructure software solutions for real-time, rich media communications, today announced it is expanding its commitment to its education customers and the educational technology consortia that serve them. Drawing on 10 years of experience in the market,
the Company is delivering greater customization options for its Click to Meet(tm) integrated communications platform, implementing new programs for educators and actively participating in industry-leading educational technology associations that foster partnership among academia, industry and government. The Company believes that through this new initiative, educators will be better able to integrate real-time online interaction into their learning blends to create classrooms without boundaries.
With the growing adoption of blended learning, where instructional material is delivered using a combination of technologies and media to create a
better or more widely available learning experience, programs are being enriched with a combination of online and traditional classroom components. Click to Meet combines high-quality multipoint voice and video with web collaboration tools within a single web browser interface to allow educators to enhance their offline learning modules with real-time communications. This provides a range of delivery vehicles appropriate to the lesson, instructor and students and interoperable with the existing network infrastructure. Using Click to Meet, educational institutions at the primary, secondary and university levels are offering direct instruction, participating in electronic field trips, interacting with remote guest lecturers and conducting instructor, faculty and researcher meetings.
At St. Petersburg College in Florida, professors are using Click to Meet to conduct public speaking and project management classes over the Web. These courses are part of the school’s online-only associate’s and bachelor’s degree programs. Dr. James Olliver, Seminole/eCampus Provost at the College, said, “Click to Meet is essential in helping us meet and exceed our tough standards for quality online educational programs. It provides us with multi-person, real-time, interactive conferencing capabilities that mimic the actual classroom experience. With Click to Meet, we can remain a leader at integrating technology into education while our students gain the flexible learning solutions they want and need.”
First Virtual Communications recently introduced Click to Meet 4.0 with improved functionality, scalability and integration capabilities. Once it is installed on a campus network, Click to Meet offers educators:
- Ease of use – easy for instructors and students to create, join and participate in online classrooms
- Security and privacy – premised-based software and encryption give control to administrators
- Flexibility – any institution can customize Click to Meet to add specific functionality to its learning blend
- Scalability – grow deployments to up to 500 concurrent users in conferences worldwide, statewide or regionally, or simply extend the reach
of currently deployed videoconferencing systems - Cost control – A software-based server and freely distributed desktop client provide low total cost of ownership metrics, and a concurrent user license model means no individual usage fees
- Interoperability – Click to Meet supports industry-wide standards, allowing it to work with and enhance existing investments in telephones, videoconferencing and directory systems
- Integration – Click to Meet’s Software Development Kit enables integration with educational technology applications, as well as the
ability to create new applications on an open communications platform
“Educators have long been an integral part of First Virtual’s installed base and have been leaders in the adoption of rich media technologies. This new initiative will help us serve these customers better, so they may continue to drive the delivery of innovative blended learning models,” said
Gary Dietz, education marketing manager, First Virtual Communications. “By participating in leading industry groups and offering more education-focused options for Click to Meet, we believe we are helping educational institutions reach more students, increase access to remote
faculty, meet government requirements to provide equal education opportunities and encourage communication and collaboration across geographic regions.”
First Virtual will be demonstrating Click to Meet 4.0 in New Orleans, La., June 21-23 at the National Educational Computing Conference (NECC) 2004 in Booth #2256.
About First Virtual Communications
First Virtual Communications is a premier provider of infrastructure and solutions for real-time, rich media communications. The Company’s award-winning Click to Meet(tm) product line is enterprise-class software that enables corporate, education, healthcare and government customers worldwide to present, share, sell, train and collaborate. Click to Meet integrates the user’s choice of data, audio and multipoint interactive video into existing work environments and into everyday communication
tools, such as instant messaging, web browsing and e-mail. Click to Meet software solutions are widely deployed in more than 1,500 customer locations and excel in challenging environments, such as military intelligence, emergency response, disaster recovery, corporate training and geographically dispersed tele-working locations, among others.
Headquartered in Redwood City, California, First Virtual Communications has operations in France, United Kingdom, Japan and China. More information
about First Virtual Communications can be found at www.fvc.com or by calling 1-800-728-6337 or +1-650-801-6500 outside North America.
Cautionary Statement:
Except for the historical information contained herein, this news release contains forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, statements containing the words, “believes,” “anticipates,” “expects”
and words of similar import. Such forward-looking statements have known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of First Virtual Communications, or industry results, to be materially different from any future results,
performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors include, among others: the aggregate value of and
impact on the Company of the investigation described in the Company’s press release dated April 30, 2004, including any possible expansion of the investigation and any possible restatement of previously announced
financial results; any adverse impact arising from the delay in filing
required periodic reports; any delisting from the Nasdaq Smallcap market; the risk that sales of the Company’s Click to Meet(tm) and Conference
Server products will not increase or that new versions will not be released on a timely basis; the Company’s variability of operating results; market acceptance of web conferencing technology; potential inability to maintain business relationships with integrators, distributors and suppliers; rapid
technological changes; competition and consolidation in the web conferencing industry; the importance of attracting and retaining
personnel; and other risk factors referenced in First Virtual Communications’ public filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the Company’s report on form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2003.
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