Data Connection Announces DC-MeetingServer, Bringing Standards-Based Conferencing to the Web.

LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 23, 1999--

Data Connection Limited (DCL) today announced DC-MeetingServer, a high performance conference server software product.

DC-MeetingServer complements DCL's existing conferencing products to establish DCL as the industry's leading independent supplier of real-time data, audio and video conferencing software.

DC-MeetingServer is fully compatible with Microsoft Windows NetMeeting 3 and other products based on the T.120 and H.323 standards. To users of these applications, DC-MeetingServer adds high quality, low latency multipoint audio and video, ease of scheduling online meetings and high performance data-conferencing.

DC-MeetingServer also employs a web-based conferencing model, enabling users to participate in conferences from their web browser. A combination of Java servlets and applets enable viewing and controlling of applications shared by Windows NetMeeting and streaming of H.323 audio to the desktop -- without installing any software on the client computer. Web clients can also connect over multicast IP or HTTP connections, addressing two key issues of scalability and firewalls. Now, using Windows NetMeeting with DC-MeetingServer, an audio and data presentation can be broadcast to thousands of viewing clients, some of which may even separated by a firewall.

"The growing acceptance of standards-based conferencing, particularly among large corporate users, is driving the requirement for scalable servers providing ease of use and administration," noted John Lazar, director of DCL's Collaborative Software Group. "At the same time, we are seeing demand growing for a simpler, web-based conferencing model. With DC-MeetingServer, we are delivering a solution which bridges these two conferencing worlds."

Another feature making its debut in DC-MeetingServer is the ability to record conferences for later playback. Not only the audio, but also the data conference is archived, enabling complete presentations, training classes or collaboration sessions to be subsequently viewed by colleagues who missed the original meeting.

"Products like DC-MeetingServer that complement and enhance Windows NetMeeting clearly validate Microsoft's support for industry standards," said Mark Lee, product manager for Windows Communications at Microsoft Corp. "Many of our customers are looking for scalable, high-performance conference servers to facilitate large workgroup conferencing, and DC-MeetingServer is a welcome addition to the list of Windows NetMeeting 3 compatible solutions."

DC-MeetingServer version 1.0 is initially being made available to OEM customers and large end user organisations on a limited beta program starting September 1999, with product releases scheduled for October 1999 (Windows NT) and December 1999 (UNIX).

Further details about DC-MeetingServer can be found at http://www.meetingserver.com.

About DCL

Data Connection Limited (DCL) is the leading independent developer and supplier of ATM, Conferencing, Internet Telephony, Universal Messaging and Directory, SNA and SS7 portable products. Customers include 3Com, Cabletron, Cisco, Fujitsu, Hewlett-Packard, Hitachi, IBM Corp., Microsoft, Nortel Networks, NCR, SGI and Sun. Data Connection is headquartered in London UK, with US offices in Virginia. It was founded in 1981 and is privately held. During each of the past 18 years its profits have exceeded 20% of revenue. Last year sales exceeded $26M, of which 97% were outside the UK, mostly in the US, leading to the company's second Queen's Award for outstanding export performance.

Data Connection is a Trademark of Data Connection Limited (UK) and Data Connection Corporation (US). All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.