1stWorks Announces Version 5.5 of its hotComm Real-Time Conferencing, Collaboration, Content Delivery Platform; Offers Enhanced Ease of Use, Decreased Bandwidth Needs, New Presenter's Controls.

BOSTON -- 1stWorks, a real-time interactive software communications company with solutions for secure collaboration, conferencing, and multimedia content delivery, incorporating its patent pending data compression technology, today announced the latest version of its hotComm on-demand desktop conferencing and collaboration platform. The new 5.5 version of hotComm delivers improved ease of use, optimizes network performance, and offers presenters an ability to protect their intellectual property rights.

"I am pleased to say that 1stWorks has produced a first class product that I would have no hesitation in recommending to other companies serious about multimedia presentations to a global audience," said Gavin Holmes, CEO of TradeGuider Systems Worldwide. "TradeGuider uses hotComm two or three times a week to broadcast live to traders all over the globe. We've been using hotComm for some time now, and find that the new version provides us with vastly improved connectivity. We continue to receive great support and service from 1stWorks."

"This latest version of hotComm represents our continuing commitment to listen to our customers and respond to their evolving needs," said Nigel Spicer, president of 1stWorks. "hotComm's rich feature set has been built to deliver the level of real-time multimedia communications, secure connections, scalability and instant accessibility necessary to users in today's high-velocity world. Improved real-time information sharing is increasingly critical to companies as they expand both nationally and globally. The need for cost-effective multimedia communications among far-flung employees and customers will only grow in coming years and 1stWorks will continue to support that growing market with solutions that deliver maximum value for the investment."

The hotComm solution is ideal for employee training and virtual yet interactive meetings, such as global presentations and sales support, because it offers rapid delivery and presentation of multimedia content, including chat, shared applications, data, voice over IP, and live and recorded video right from the desktop. hotComm's architecture combines desktop networking connectivity with server-assisted broadcasting and powerful new features that enhance speed, efficiency and convenience.

"Deploying web communications technologies effectively can help companies differentiate themselves and develop an important competitive advantage," said Paul Ritter, Vice President, Collaborative Research, for Interactive Media Strategies. "Through the intelligent integration of collaborative tools and rich-media technologies, organizations can develop new platforms for providing an engaging experience for their customers, partners, and web site visitors."

hotComm uses a VCR metaphor that allows users to record audio, chat transcripts, charts and video. A new feature enables users to fast forward and rewind so they can quickly locate specific segments they wish to review. Presenters can now insert pre-recorded content from subject matter experts as they wish, and also have the ability to disable recording at their discretion in order to protect the conference content from being copied.

This new version of hotComm gives event organizers the option of specifying a minimum tested connection speed for access to an event. This feature, coupled with more resilient connectivity in general, ensures that users will have a positive experience and see and hear everything presented online. More persistent and stable connections mean users are happier, and there are fewer disruptions and disconnections during online meetings.

A new optional fixed display panel for users puts the meeting content in specific locations on a single screen-size image for simplicity, which enables users to more easily relate each multimedia content element. With the expanded Virtual Event Manager questionnaire feature, event planners can ask additional "custom" questions in the automated user registration process. This is an advantage to marketers looking for specific data to analyze, and also can be used to ensure compliance with legal or industry norms.

The latest version of hotComm is available immediately for download from 1stWorks at http://www.hotcomm.com. Pricing is per user per month.

About 1stWorks Corp.

1stWorks Corporation is a real-time software communications company with solutions for secure collaboration, conferencing and multimedia content delivery, incorporating its patent pending data compression technology. 10,000 customers around the world in more than 70 countries already use its hotComm software platform. 1stWorks was founded in 2000 by executives from several earlier successful companies, including Alloy Computer Products, Microsystems Software, and Fast Engines. It is headquartered in the Boston area. More information can be found at http://www.1stworks.com.

1stWorks and hotComm are registered trademarks of 1stWorks. All other trademarks and registered trademarks mentioned herein are the property of their respective owners.