Accessline Communications Raises Venture Money, Launches Services in Bay Area, Other Cities to Follow.BELLEVUE, WA.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 26, 1999-- AccessLine's Portal Provides Enhanced Communication Services for Corporate, SOHO Soho (sōhō`, sə–), district of Westminster, London, England, known for its continental restaurants. Once a fashionable quarter, it became popular among writers and artists in the 19th cent. and Individual Users AccessLine Communications Corporation, the industry leader in unified communications The real time redirection of a voice, text or e-mail message to the device closest to the intended recipient at any given time. For example, voice calls to desk phones could be routed to the user's cellphone when required. and the first to provide comprehensive communication asset management, today announced that it has closed a round of financing through new investors led by Venrock Associates and Gabriel Venture Partners. New York Life Insurance Company The New York Life Insurance Company (NYLIC) is the largest mutual life-insurance company in the United States, and one of the largest life insurers in the world.[3] has also invested in this round which was oversubscribed Refers to connecting more users to a system than can be fully supported if all of them were using it at the same time. Networks and servers are almost always designed with some amount of oversubscription, counting on the fact that everybody does not need the service simultaneously. . Tony Sun, Managing General Partner of Venrock, has been named to the AccessLine Board of Directors. The new financing will fuel the company's rapid growth by funding new sales and marketing programs, expanding its services and infrastructure and accelerating on-going research and development. "As the first company to deliver unified communications to corporate, small business and individual users, AccessLine is poised to capitalize on Cap´i`tal`ize on` v. t. 1. To turn (an opportunity) to one's advantage; to take advantage of (a situation); to profit from; as, to capitalize on an opponent's mistakes s>. a large unmet customer demand for solutions to today's confusing and inefficient communication and device-intensive environment. This financing enables us to continue our aggressive growth plan for marketing our telecommunication asset management tools - and to do it in web time," stated Ian Widger, president and CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. of AccessLine. The funding places AccessLine at the forefront of an emerging market space, the intersection of telephony and the Internet. "AccessLine has recognized a paradigm shift A dramatic change in methodology or practice. It often refers to a major change in thinking and planning, which ultimately changes the way projects are implemented. For example, accessing applications and data from the Web instead of from local servers is a paradigm shift. See paradigm. and created one of the most ubiquitous tools that people will ever use to facilitate communication," observed Rick Bolander, non-executive Chairman of the Board and Managing Director of Gabriel. AccessLine provides both small businesses and large corporations with a communications portal that offers access, control and management of all communication services and suppliers. AccessLine's customers include Adaptive Broadband, AT&T Wireless, Chicago Mercantile Exchange Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) is the largest futures exchange in the United States and the second largest exchange in the world for the trading of futures and options on futures. , Microsoft and PeopleSoft. UNIFIED COMMUNICATIONS: A HIGH GROWTH MARKET AccessLine offers customers a communications portal that combines enhanced communications services, telephony carriage and Web functionality through a simple interface that enables customers to customize and control their own communication environments. For mobile professionals, AccessLine's portal provides complete accessibility wherever they travel - making the task of managing their communications and communication devices (cell phones, office phones, home phones, pagers, emails, voicemails and faxes) simple and frictionless. "Our investment in AccessLine demonstrates our belief that the company is on the right track- and that its unified communications strategy, front end and back end technology hold the potential to dramatically improve the effectiveness of communications worldwide," commented Tony Sun, Managing General Partner at Venrock. "I see AccessLine as the clear leader in this space because their technology is robust, proven and scalable," added Phil Samper, Managing Director, Gabriel Venture Partners. AccessLine launched its full range of services, the SMART Communications Smart Communications, Inc. commonly known as "SMART", is the wholly-owned mobile phone subsidiary of PLDT. With over 25 million subscribers on its GSM network as of end-February 2007, equivalent to approximately 58 percent market share. (TM) Services, in San Francisco San Francisco (săn frănsĭs`kō), city (1990 pop. 723,959), coextensive with San Francisco co., W Calif., on the tip of a peninsula between the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco Bay, which are connected by the strait known as the Golden and the Bay Area in mid-July. The company has initiated an innovative campaign on radio, in print and on transit busses, that focuses on its portal and demonstrates how it integrates the range of communications devices into one seamless system, accessible from the Internet or the nearest telephone. "We have the ability to give individuals the information they need from any device - whether through a browser, their cell phone, a pay phone, any land line phone or a fax machine," observed Widger. The company offers its SMART Communications Services, long distance services, toll free numbers (800,877, 888 etc.) on fully redundant commercial grade telephony and web systems. Its unified communications provide companies - and individuals - with one single number for all messages, whether voice or data, giving them a competitive edge over less capable communicators. In addition, AccessLine offers a free suite of voicemail and fax services called SMART Mail to qualified individuals and businesses that familiarizes them with basic AccessLine benefits until they are prepared to gain the benefits of being a SMART services subscriber. "We talked to a lot of AccessLine customers. They confirmed that they depend on AccessLine for instantaneous access to the information they need in the format they want," stated Philip A. Smith, Director of Venture Capital, New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of Life Insurance. A SUITE OF SMART PRODUCTS AccessLine's easy-to-use web interface enables customers to access a full suite of services, the SMART Communication Services. A robust communication environment, integrated Internet applications and support of next generation Internet See Internet2. voice services form the foundation of the system. SMART Communications services address today's increased use and dependency on multiple telecommunications devices and Internet technology, while improving user productivity, accessibility and control. The suite of SMART Communications Services are lead by the flagship product A primary product of a company, which is typically why the company was founded and/or what made it well known. For example, MS-DOS, Windows and the Microsoft Office suite have been flagship products of Microsoft. CorelDRAW is a flagship product of Corel Corporation. SMART Number, a powerful personal number service that provides management for all communications devices and services. It's a personal number through which AccessLine users can control where when and how to be reached. The service integrates call forwarding call forwarding n. A telephone service that enables a customer to have an incoming call automatically rerouted to another extension. Noun 1. , screening, paging, voicemail, fax, conference calling, calling card, and offers Internet-based services and configuration support - all accessible through a single number or the Internet. Rounding out the SMART suite of Communication Services are SMART Pager A two-way pager that lets you send short messages using a small keyboard. Units typically contain a built-in address book and other messaging features. The Motorola PageWriter and Research in Motion (RIM) pagers provide platforms for third-party software and services. and SMART Message. Both incorporate AccessLine's Internet- enabled voicemail and fax service that allows users to listen to messages and view faxes from any computer. Users can even forward voicemail and faxes to any e-mail address See Internet address. e-mail address - electronic mail address . SMART Pager takes any pager and turns it into a 2-way communications device. Rather than using a pager to tell that a call was missed, SMART Pager places the caller on hold and pages the user, who then calls into SMART Pager to connect to the caller. SMART Message is a telephone and Internet-based center for voicemail and faxes. AccessLine now also offers SMART Mail, the Internet's premier free voicemail and fax service. SMART Mail is a personal voicemail number that acts like a virtual fax machine for receiving and storing faxes. Callers simply send faxes or leave voicemail on the SMART Mail number. Users then listen to voicemail and view faxes online from any computer. SMART Mail users can even forward voicemail and faxes to any e-mail address. At anytime, SMART Mail users may upgrade their SMART Mail numbers to incorporate any other SMART Communications Service such as call forwarding, call screening or conference calling. AccessLine's innovative technologies produce services for today's demanding and sophisticated users who need to simplify and make more effective their communication access, increase productivity and gain a clear competitive edge. Pricing for the services range from $8.95/month to $18.95/month for SMART Number. The full suite of SMART Communications Services can be configured in less than 30 seconds to meet subscriber requirements - and is available today. About Venrock Venrock Associates was founded as the venture capital arm of the Rockefeller Family The Rockefeller family, the family of John D. Rockefeller (1839-1937) ("Senior") and his brother William Rockefeller (1841-1922), is an American industrial, banking, philanthropic, and political family of German American origin that made the world's largest private fortune in the and continues a tradition of funding entrepreneurs that now spans more than six decades. Venrock activities have focused on early stage companies in Information Technology with investments in Intel, Apple, Spyglass, CheckPoint Software, Visual Networks and DoubleClick; its healthcare/ lifesciences investments include Genetics Institute, Athena Neurosciences, Vical and Triangle Pharmaceuticals. The company's investment record has placed it among the leaders in the venture industry. Venrock has offices in New York City New York City: see New York, city. New York City City (pop., 2000: 8,008,278), southeastern New York, at the mouth of the Hudson River. The largest city in the U.S. , Boston and Menlo Park, California Menlo Park is a city in San Mateo County, California in the United States of America. It is located at latitude 37°29' North, longitude 122°9' East. Menlo Park had 30,785 inhabitants as of the 2000 U.S. Census. and can also be contacted at www.venrock.com. About Gabriel Venture Partners Gabriel Venture Partners is a venture capital firm established in January 1999. The company works closely with entrepreneurs in Internet, information technology and communication companies to become market leaders. Gabriel's principals have invested in leaders such as Concord Communications, Exodus Communications Exodus Communications was a high-flying internet hosting and service provider to dot-com businesses that went broke along with their customers. Exodus inception Exodus was founded in 1992 as Fouress, Inc., and reincorporated in 1994 to Exodus Communications. and Tut Systems. Rick Bolander and Phil Samper are the principals and Managing Directors. Bolander has more than 11 years of investing experience including, most recently, as a general partner at Apex Investment Partners and has been involved in over 30 venture deals in the areas of telecommunications, information technology and the Internet. Samper has been active in venture funding for the past four years and has previously served as Chairman and CEO of Cray Research See Cray. , president of Sun Microsystems Sun Microsystems, Inc. (NASDAQ: JAVA[3]) is an American vendor of computers, computer components, computer software, and information-technology services, founded on 24 February 1982. Computer Corporation, vice chairman and executive officer of Kodak as well as CEO of two start up companies. Gabriel is headquartered in Redwood Shores, CA and can be contacted at 877-442-9900 or on the web at www. GabrielVP.com About New York Life Insurance Company New York Life Insurance Company, a Fortune 100 company, is one of the largest insurance and financial services The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view of the subject. Please [ improve this article] or discuss the issue on the talk page. companies in the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. and the world. Founded in 1845 and headquartered in New York City, New York Life and its affiliates offer traditional life insurance and annuities. On the investment side, New York Life and its affiliates provide institutional asset management and trust services and, through a subsidiary, NYLIFE Distributors Inc., provide an array of securities products and services such as institutional and retail mutual funds, including 401(k) products. New York Life's home page on the Internet is located at http://www.newyorklife.com. About AccessLine AccessLine Communications is the industry leader in unified communications and the developer of SMART Communication(TM) Services. Headquartered in Bellevue, Washington, the company is the originator of One Number, One Person Services(TM) and the first company to provide integrated communication asset management. AccessLine provides a comprehensive portfolio of business and consumer services for managing today's complex environment of communications devices and suppliers. AccessLine services include SMART Number, SMART Pager, SMART Message, SMART800 Follow Me and SMART Office plus free SMART Mail fax and voicemail services as well as traditional, local, long distance and international calling. The company is privately held and can be reached at 877-800-0999 or on the Web at www.accessline.com. |
|
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion