SoftArc Showcases New FirstClass Collaborative Classroom; FCCC Groupware Links Classroom LAN and Global Internet.

MARKHAM, Ontario--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 26, 1998--SoftArc, Inc., a leading provider of e-mail systems in education, is now shipping its new FirstClass Collaborative Classroom (FCCC), a cross-platform Intranet groupware product based upon SoftArc's FirstClass Intranet Server. FCCC ties together administrators, teachers, students and parents using state-of-the-art groupware for both LAN and Internet connections. FCCC will be demonstrated at SoftArc's Booth 731 at the CUE '98 Show at Santa Clara Convention Center.

"First Class Collaborative Classroom is the most practical, powerful multi-platform application with e-mail and Intranet services in one package," said Henry Yip, General Manager of Business Development for SoftArc. "FCCC was designed for educators. It includes conferencing and collaboration areas, message history tracking, and real-time chatting for online collaboration. Teachers can control their own sub-conferences, and administrators can limit Web access if needed.

FirstClass groupware is also the technology behind the highly successful Writers in Electronic Residence (WIER) program, now in its tenth year at York University in Ontario. An estimated 300 schools and 20,000 Canadian students throughout the country have learned writing skills from 40 skilled writers who counsel aspiring writers.

"FirstClass groupware has given us the highly intuitive environment that we needed," said Trevor Owen, founder and director of WIER (www.wier.york.ca/WIERHome). "Teachers needn't be concerned with a steep learning curve of the technology. They can concentrate on the pedagogical aspects of the program rather than the technological ones." FirstClass cross-platform capabilities tie together the varied Mac and PC computers already in place at participating schools. Students and teachers alike praise the software's ease of use, letting them concentrate on developing their writing skills. WEIR is one of the outstanding success stories in Distance Learning.

For METNET, the Montana Educational Telecommunications Network, FirstClass groupware ties together 5,000 teachers, government employees and non-profit groups throughout the state's 145,000 square miles. Teachers use message forms ranging from course scheduling, monthly calendaring, and room booking to a lesson planner, inter-library loan transfers, course registration and more. Both Mac and Windows users easily post files to the World Wide Web without extensive knowledge of HyperText Markup Language. Teachers get private e-mail and create their own personal Web pages.

"Our technology is divergent -- some schools have one phone line, for example, while others are hardwired to the Internet," says METNET Administrator Steve Meredith. "FirstClass gives us one point to deposit data for both Web users and dialup users. It's easy to maintain, especially with the new administrative end for setting up accounts. It's blindingly fast coming through the Internet, and the Web is as fast as other applications. I see no delays." In the first seven months of this year, the server logged more than 348,000 requests and 129,000 visits. The site won the 1998 Governor's Excellence Award for achievement in communications and technology (www.metnet.mt.gov).

FirstClass groupware has proven to be a key factor in introducing K-12 students of the Webb School of Knoxville to the benefits of network-based learning and communication.

Every student at the Webb School (www.webbschool.org) has an account on the network. According to Jim Manikas, Webb School Technology Coordinator, "Our objective was to get every student on the system. So, using Microsoft Mail or a dedicated mail program like Eudora(R) just wasn't practical. It had to be easy for any user to access their account from any computer. FirstClass handled that and supported the chat functions we knew we wanted. Then, the fact that FirstClass came bundled with AppleTalk and was very affordable made it an easy decision."

A FirstClass server is used exclusively by teachers and administrators for communications and collaboration on everything from school activities and grades to discussions regarding individual students. Many teachers maintain their own home pages where, among other things, they post the assignments for their class. At the Webb School, all written assignments must be completed electronically.

Teachers have found that convening a class in the computer lab and initiating a topic discussion online, rather than verbally, has had some surprising results. Many students who would not contribute to a verbal discussion participate actively online. More than half the parents of students communicate with teachers using e-mail. This kind of parental involvement in the learning process is a prime objective of any educational institution. Manikas says, "Both the teachers and the parents love it. Parents even use the system to get messages to their children."

In St. Petersburg, Fla, Shorecrest Preparatory School (www.shorecrest.org) is using FirstClass groupware to eliminate paperwork for teachers and administrators. "It's very convenient to distribute Internet information," says Bob Clingman, who administers the system. "It's very secure, no software problems, and you get a lot of features. It has gotten our people interested, involved and productive." He adds that he especially likes features such as being able to resume downloads, have multiple downloads at the same time, and easy conferencing.

FCCC works with any network configuration, uses existing hardware, and is cost effective even with less than 20 users. Known as a reliable, easy-to-use-and-manage system, FCCC combines high performance with low cost for both software and the server. FCCC's total cost of ownership is low because it does not require a fulltime IT administrator, provides all components for intranet-Web connectivity and is highly scaleable. It supports all popular Internet protocols, including NNTP, POP3, SMTP, HTTP/HTML with CGI, FTP, LDAP and Java.

FCCC supports many older popular hardware configurations, including Windows 3.1, DOS, Mac, and Command line interface. With FCCC's thin client and client/server, several students can use the same workstation without leaving work behind.

With the addition of third-party extensions, even self-guided tutorials and quizzes can be administered automatically. FCCC supports all of these activities locally on a school's LAN or across the Internet in distance-learning environments. Because of its cross- platform capabilities, FCCC can be licensed for Macintosh, Windows, and DOS Client logins. Users connect to the same FCCC server from computer configurations widely available to educators, using SoftArc's FirstClass Client, a Web browser, or POP3 mail client.

FCCC also offers:

1. Dial-up SMTP Messaging, for dial-up collection of mail from a

remote Internet mail server. Multiple POP3 accounts are

supported, for combining several accounts into a single mailbox

at the server.

2. Large-Document Messaging from Web Browser, for direct posting of

messages from a HTTP/Web browser, using a HTML form to send an

authenticated, properly threaded message to users or conferences.

Browser users can also post very large document attachments, a

requested feature from our pre-press customers.

3. Java Chat provides access to the FirstClass real-time chat

feature of the core server. Users can use any Java-enabled

browser to participate in public or private chat.

4. Localization Improvements: FCCC Internet Services preserves the

character set of messages and supports Internet messages using

foreign character sets, including Japanese. FCCC also supports

rich multi-lingual capabilities.

5. FirstClass Rapid Application Developer (FCRAD), is included in

the new 5.5 install CD. FirstClass Rapid Application Developer is

a full-featured development tool set for creating Intranet

applications and powerful administrative database interfaces for

FirstClass. FCRAD is a third-party licensed product of 6 Degrees

Software and Consulting, Inc.

JCPenney retail stores currently use a custom FCRAD application to

centralize nationwide training. Seven to 9,000 users can

simultaneously receive instruction while being monitored from a

central database. According to Deborah Maston, Manager of Human

Resources Development for JCPenney, "Our FCRAD application for

distance learning makes SoftArc's FirstClass system one of the

most powerful training tools a Fortune 500 company can use. It

not only provides a structured text-based electronic manual, but

also allows students to interact with their instructors and peers

in a way unprecedented -- and they can do it asynchronously."

About SoftArc Inc.

SoftArc, Inc. is a leading developer and manufacturer of Internet and enterprisewide cross-platform groupware. SoftArc's software product family, FirstClass, FirstClass Intranet Server (FCIS) and FirstClass Collaborative Classroom (FCCC), has been enthusiastically accepted by businesses, educational institutions, governments and individuals at more than 20,000 sites in 55 countries. SoftArc is headquarted in Markham, Ontario, Canada.

For more information about SoftArc and FCCC, please visit at http://www.education.softarc.com.or call 800/SOFTARC.

Note to Editors: All rights reserved. FirstClass is a registered trademark of SoftArc, Inc. FirstClass Intranet Server, FirstClass Collaborative Classroom, SoftArc and the SoftArc logo are trademarks of SoftArc, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.