British Telecom Offers Web Conferencing Tools Powered by Data Connection
Conferencing division of Europe's largest telecommunications company partners with web conferencing leader to offer BT MeetMeTM Web Tools
London, UK: April 23, 2003. Data Connection Limited (DCL), the world leader in carrier-grade web and T.120 conferencing solutions, and BT Conferencing, a division of British Telecommunications plc (BT), announced today the conclusion of a successful product launch of BT MeetMe's Web Tools for online collaboration, using technology licensed from Data Connection.
Nigel Stagg, Director of BT Conferencing, said: "BT has always believed that the future of reservation-less conferencing must include an almost seamless link between the audio and web collaboration components of a conference call."
"There is an increasing demand for simple, ad-hoc meeting tools with integrated audio-web conference capabilities. Our partnership with Data Connection will continue to evolve to provide state-of-the-art web conferencing services that offer the functionality and reliability our customers have come to expect. In the six months since we launched BT MeetMe Web Tools, we have seen a steady increase in both their usage and the number of integrated calls. By all measures, the product has been a great success."
BT MeetMe's web collaboration tools are powered by DC-MeetingServerTM, Data Connection's complete web conferencing solution. Data Connection has been a pioneer in the development of data conferencing technology, having assisted in the development of Microsoft's NetMeetingTM and Sun Microsystems' SunForumTM products, and has since leveraged this expertise in the development of its best-of-breed web conferencing applications.
Vice President of Data Connection's Internet Applications Group, Graeme MacArthur, said: "We are pleased to partner with such a forward-thinking player as BT Conferencing. Services like BT MeetMe, which offer tightly-coupled audio and data conferencing solutions today, are strongly positioning themselves to continue leading the industry's growth."
"The benefits for business are obvious - faster, more efficient communications and decision making. Businesses will really begin to see the productivity benefits as more and more conference calls feature a data component. We estimate that within the next three years up to 20 percent of teleconferences will have both audio and data."
About Data Connection Limited
Data Connection Limited is the leading independent developer and supplier of Conferencing and next-generation messaging platforms, including voicemail, email, and unified messaging solutions. The Company is also the leader in portable protocol stacks such as IP Routing, MPLS, ATM, SIP, MGCP/Megaco, SCTP, and SNA. Customers include SBC, Verizon, Colt, Microsoft, IBM, CIENA, Cisco, Fujitsu, Hewlett-Packard, Hitachi, Lucent, Nortel Networks, SGI, Siemens, and Sun. Data Connection is headquartered in London UK, with US offices in Reston, VA, Alameda, CA and Dallas, TX.
It was founded in 1981 and is privately held. For the financial year to August 31, 2002, earnings were $11M on revenues of $35M, representing the company's 21st straight year of strong profitability supplying telecoms technology to carrier and OEM customers. In 1999 the company received its second Queen's Award for outstanding export performance. For more information, please visit our Web site at www.dataconnection.com.
About BT Conferencing
BT Conferencing is a leading business in the area of conferencing solutions. Part of BT, one of the world's leading providers of telecommunications services, BT Conferencing is also a global business, working with partners across the world to provide local conferencing services. As experts in finding "better ways to bring people together," our conferencing solutions offer a new way of communicating when a face-to-face meeting isn't necessary, possible or could be done more cost effectively or efficiently. We offer a wide range of phoneconferencing, videoconferencing and webconferencing solutions.
Offering a range of exciting technologies to its customers, with a commitment to excellent service, is the cornerstone to how BT Conferencing does business across the globe. Focusing and developing key applications ensures that we continue to offer our customers advanced and reliable products and services worldwide.
For more information, contact:
| Graeme MacArthur Vice President, Internet Applications Group Data Connection Ltd. +44 20 8366 1177 |
Mike Berry Head of Strategy and Planning BT Conferencing +44 7860 545982 |
Data Connection is a trademark of Data Connection Limited and Data Connection Corporation. All other trademarks and registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners.