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News & Press Release Archive
Leading Network Service Providers Line Up to Support White
Pine's MeetingPointTM Conference Server Technology
CompuServe, GTE Internetworking, Time Warner Cable, UUNet and Others Partner with
White Pine to Provide Group Conferencing Solutions
NASHUA, New Hampshire - October 15, 1997 - White Pine Software, Inc. (NASDAQ: WPNE), a
leading provider of group conferencing software solutions for the Internet and corporate
intranets, announced today that it has already received commitment from leading Network
Service
Providers (NSPs) to evaluate and roll out its new MeetingPoint product, the industry's
first H.323
multimedia conference server software.
White Pine's heavyweight list of partners includes Best Internet, ComTech Consolidation
Group, CompuServe, Concentric Network, Digex, GTE Internetworking, Time Warner Cable,
UUNet, and Warpdrive Networks. Each provider will roll out the MeetingPoint technology in
various ways, including pilot programs, evaluation communities and direct service
offerings to both corporate and consumer customers. MeetingPoint is also being backed by
significant international partners, including Pannet of Taiwan, and Tele2, Sweden's
largest ISP, which will offer group conferencing services by year end.
"We are pleased to have these Internet visionaries on board as charter
partners," said Killko Caballero, President of White Pine Software.
"MeetingPoint will revolutionize the videoconferencing industry by providing full
multi-point conferencing functionality capable of running on standard NT and Unix servers.
These NSP partners will help to accelerate the adoption of IP-based desktop
videoconferencing as a mainstream technology."
"With the likes of WorldCom's UUNet, Time Warner Cable ,and others embracing
MeetingPoint,White Pine has really hit the mark with this technology," said Greg
Howard, Director of NSP/ISP Programs at Infonetics Research. These partners recognize the
importance of the inevitable convergence of videoconferencing and the Internet.
MeetingPoint will act as the conduit for enabling H.323 conference users to interact with
one another in ways users may have never interacted before, while supporting the necessary
administrative functions and providing an additional revenue model that NSP/ISPs can take
advantage of."
MeetingPoint's standards-based technology is client agnostic, enabling any H.323 client to
connect. Now users of White Pine's CU-SeeMe, Microsoft's NetMeeting, Intel's VideoPhone
and others can all interact through the MeetingPoint server. A Web-based GUI gives
administrators an easy-to-use control point for defining conference and user parameters.
In addition, MeetingPoint intelligently optimizes the use of network bandwidth to minimize
the consumption of valuable network resources. Combining the MeetingPoint server and its
award-winning CU-SeeMe client, White Pine is the first to offer a complete client/server
solution to the
conferencing software market.
"This alliance with White Pine represents CompuServe's continued commitment to being
an industry leader in providing compelling applications for online computer users,"
said Beth Sibbring, CompuServe's Vice President of Commerce and Communication."
CU-SeeMe and MeetingPoint will give our members a value-added, next generation online tool
that will provide videoconferencing for both business and personal use."
"Time Warner is committed to incorporating the latest and most advanced
communications technologies into our client offering," said Steve Fry, President of
Time Warner Cable's Northeast Ohio Division. "MeetingPoint allows our clients to take
advantage of our high-speed network."
"MeetingPoint finally makes group video conferencing a positive experience for us as
a business and for our customers as an application," said Clint Heiden, Vice
President of Sales for UUNet.
"Today is the start of a progressive working relationship between our organizations
that will grow and mature over the next few months."
About White Pine Software
White Pine develops, markets and supports multi-platform
browser-based internetworking software that facilitates worldwide video and audio
communication and data collaboration across
the Internet, intranets, extranets and other networks that use the Internet Protocol.
White Pine's videoconferencing software products, CU-SeeMe® and MeetingPoint™,
create a client/server solution that allows users to participate in real-time, multi-point
video, audio and data conferences over the Internet and intranets.
About CompuServe
Founded in 1969, CompuServe Incorporated provides the world's most comprehensive
online/Internet access through its two brands, CSi and SPRYNET. Through CompuServe, its
Japanese licensee NIFTY SERVE and its affiliates around the world, more than 5 million
home and business users in more than 185 countries are connected online and to the
Internet.
CompuServe Network Services, a leading network integrator, provides more than 1,200
companies around the world with complete, fully integrated Internet, Intranet, and
Extranet
connectivity solutions. With world headquarters in Columbus, Ohio, the CompuServe
organization includes offices in the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Switzerland and the
Netherlands.
About GTE Internetworking
GTE Internetworking, a unit of GTE Corp. (NYSE: GTE), includes the recently acquired BBN
Corporation, which 28 years ago developed the ARPANET, the forerunner to today's Internet,
and GTE Intelligent Network Services, which provides Internet services to consumers and
small
businesses. GTE Internetworking offers customers, from consumers to Fortune 500 companies,
a full spectrum of Internet services using IP networking technologies. GTE Internetworking
delivers complete network solutions, including dial-up and dedicated Internet access,
high-performance worldwide Web hosting, managed security, network management, systems
integration and Web-based application development for integrating the Internet into
business operations. GTE Internetworking draws upon BBN's expertise in funded research and
development of advanced technologies, including satellites, digital radio, multigigabit
routers, security and speech, and GTE's strong existing telecommunications services,
including local and long distance, wireless, paging, video and Internet. The address for
the GTE Internetworking home page is http://www.bbn.com.
About Time Warner Cable
Time Warner Cable owns and manages the world's most advanced, best-clustered
cabletelevision operation, with 80% of its 12.4 million customers in systems of 100,000
subscribers or more. A division of Time Warner Entertainment, Time Inc. is the world's
preeminent magazine
publisher, a leading marketer of books, music and video, and a provider of content for the
new media environment.
About UUNet
Headquartered in Fairfax, Va., UUNet Technologies, Inc. is the world's largest Internet
service provider, offering a comprehensive range of access options, World Wide Web hosting
services, security products and consulting services to businesses, professionals, and
on-line service providers. The company's network is comprised of nearly 1,000 Points of
Presence (POPs) throughout the United States and in Canada, Europe and the Asia-Pacific
region, as well as connections to Internet service providers around the world. Founded in
1987, UUNet is recognized as the first commercial Internet service provider and is a
subsidiary of WorldCom, Inc. UUNet's World Wide Web address is http://www.uu.net.
This press release contains forward-looking statements. The
aforementioned partnerships are at various stages of implementation ranging from pilot to
commitment to full-service deployment.
Actual service is subject to timing dependent upon each individual partner's business
rollout. All trademarks are recognized.
Standard may boost corporate use of videoconferencing
By Gregory Dalton
Internet service
providers, eager to carve out a role for themselves as companies begin to use streaming
media technologies via IP networks, are adopting and evaluating server software that will
let them host videoconferences.
Time Warner and several other access providers are lining up behind White Pine
Software's MeetingPoint server software, which supports the ITU H.323 standard for
multimedia over IP networks. Conference participants can use any standard client such as
Microsoft's NetMeeting or Intel's Videophone.
Meanwhile, Concentric Network Corp. this month began offering videoconferencing for
corporate intranets in conjunction with PictureTel Corp. That service provides gateways
for linking IP networks with IS DN-based systems that have been the conventional conduit
for video gatherings facilitated by PictureTel and others.
"You're going to see a lot of business use" of IP-based videoconferencing,
says Michael Goulde, senior consultant with the Patricia Seybold Group in Boston. "I
think it will be a fairly quick uptake."
Time Warner's cable subsidiary in Akron, Ohio, purchased a MeetingPoint license for 100
simultaneous users of its RoadRunner Internet access service. Most of these slots will be
held for businesses to reserve a conference time, but some will be available for impromptu
conferences.
ComTech Consolidation Group, a Houston company that owns a number of small and
medium-sized ISPs, plans to use MeetingPoint for several customers. Although the software
makes the service itself feasible, ComTech president Richard Behlmann says ISPs still need
a sophisticated way of billing for videoconferencing on a per-conference or per-minute
basis.
Concentric is going with a flat-rate billing plan for $2,000 p er month per site,
including a T1 (1.544-Mbps) line that can also be used for general Net access. Time
Warner's ISP in Akron hasn't decided on pricing.
However it's billed, everyone agrees that the price of videoconferencing must fall
sharply before significant demand will materialize. GTE Internetworking, for example, has
tested White Pine's software, and offers periodic IP multicasting to about 100 corporate
customers, but is waiting for demand to develop before making MeetingPoint a standard
offering.
MeetingPoint from White Pine, in Nashua, N.H., starts at $35,000 for 100 concurrent
users.
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