AudioTalk Launches Internet Voice Service for e-business; First Multi-Point Voice Service for Internet Applications with Universal Access via PC or Telephone.

Business Editors

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 24, 2000

AudioTalk Networks Inc., a leading provider of Internet voice services for e-business, Monday announced the availability of a full duplex Internet voice service for e-businesses looking to add live voice chat, moderated conferencing, or click-to-talk customer service applications to the web.

AudioTalk's Internet voice service can be seamlessly integrated into any web site to add voice communications for live chat, e-commerce, customer service, distance learning, e-mail, greeting cards, and many other web-based applications.

&uot;AudioTalk's Internet voice service will greatly enhance the interactive experience that we plan to offer our customers and business partners,&uot; said Craig McHugh, president of Creative Labs. (Nasdaq: CREAF), &uot;We are continually improving features and services for our web properties including Creative.com and HiFi.com and adding high quality voice to these sites is significant.

&uot;The click-to-talk feature is another way that our customers and partners can interact with our company that will enhance their experience and satisfaction with Creative Labs.&uot;

The addition of live voice communication to web sites enables e-businesses to significantly enhance customer satisfaction, improve customer retention and increase overall site traffic. e-businesses simply add a click-to-talk button to their web site to integrate the AudioTalk Internet voice service, which is powered by an advanced Voice over Internet infrastructure managed by AudioTalk Networks.

&uot;eBusiness and Internet communications will change dramatically in the year 2000, with business quality voice communication giving web sites tremendous opportunities to add value to their customer interaction -- extending their reach and reducing costs,&uot; said Frank Chu, president of AudioTalk Networks Inc.

&uot;The business world is changing rapidly with the convergence of traditional telephony and VoIP technologies. AudioTalk is at the forefront of these market changes, providing the services and infrastructure for e-businesses to aggressively take advantage of the revenue enhancing and cost saving opportunities.&uot;

With a simple click-to-talk action, web site users can begin voice communications in a chat room, with an e-tailer, a customer service agent, or any other application setup on a web site.

In addition to providing standard PC-to-PC communications, AudioTalk offers hybrid phone and PC access, so users are free to choose PC-to-PC, PC-to-phone, or phone-to-phone communications across the Internet. This flexibility greatly improves user access to voice services. It also provides web businesses the ability to route Internet voice calls to existing phone-based call centers.

Integrating voice communications into a web site using AudioTalk's Internet voice service requires no additional hardware or software. AudioTalk provides a turnkey service to e-businesses. Web site users access the AudioTalk service using a PC with speakers and a microphone or a telephone.

AudioTalk's thin-client application takes only moments to download and is automatically installed as an OCX/plug-in for Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator.

The AudioTalk Internet voice service is based on industry standard protocols including support of both SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) and H.323 for Internet voice call signaling.

AudioTalk's innovative voice services not only provide full duplex audio, but also offer high quality voice mixing, allowing large group conferencing with multiple speakers. The AudioTalk service is firewall friendly, allowing user access to voice services from dial-up connections or from corporate networks.

&uot;We are continually enhancing the interactive services we offer to our 2.3 million unique monthly visitors,&uot; said Mark Elderkin president of Online Partners, producers of Gay.com, the leading gay and lesbian affinity portal. &uot;AudioTalk's high quality voice service is a significant advance that will enable private conversations and group conferences to take place on the Gay.com network.&uot;

AudioTalk's technology and services are suited to a wide range of Internet applications. Current AudioTalk customers including Creative Labs, eInstruction, OnLine Partners, Sina.com and Vstream are providing distance learning, business conferencing, community chat, click-to-talk customer service and other solutions.

To hear the AudioTalk difference, go to http://www.audiotalk.com and click on the demonstration button for live Internet voice.

About AudioTalk

AudioTalk Networks Inc., privately held and based in Mountain View, provides high quality Internet voice services to e-business. AudioTalk creates the enabling technology and turnkey services and infrastructure to add Internet voice communications to web sites without installing additional hardware and software.

AudioTalk's e-business customers add Internet voice services to enhance online web communities, sell products, provide customer assistance and communicate in ways unique to the Internet.

AudioTalk Networks was founded in August 1998 by executives and engineers from leading Internet, networking and multimedia application vendors, including Cisco, Creative Labs, FVC.com, Polycom, ShareVision, Bay Networks, Netcom and Oracle. The AudioTalk team brings years of combined experience and expertise in the areas of voice and video over data networks.