Companies want audio, video and Web services from a single source

CHICAGO (December 02, 2002) –

InterCall, the world’s largest independent conferencing services provider, announced today the merger of InView, one of the nation’s top providers of video conferencing and a former subsidiary of InterCall, with its Mshow and MeetingCenter web conferencing services creating the firm’s new Visual Conferencing Services department. The arrangement strengthens InterCall’s presence in the web and video conferencing markets, retains the assets of the InView brand and offers the company’s 30,000 customers seamless access to its complete menu of meeting alternatives.

“Our customers are telling us that they’re increasingly looking for Web, video, and audio from a single rovider,” said Benjamin Yomtoob, vice president of Web and video sales and services for InterCall. “Bringing together our Web and video businesses into a single organization makes it easier for us to meet their needs.”

The merger is indicative of the larger trend in the business community towards more frequent usage of audio, video and Web conferencing to conduct meetings. Recently released statistics from Wainhouse Research shows that virtual meetings are more prevalent today than traditional face-to-face meetings.

The research also shows why more companies are asking their employees to pick up the phone, step in front of the camera or log onto a Web presentation to take care of their business. More than 75 percent of respondents believed that converting their in-person meetings to conferencing would help (more) InterCall/InView Consolidation Page 2 them get more work done. Almost two-thirds of the respondents said that choosing conferencing over travel would make them more competitive.

Companies that turn to conferencing on a consistent basis need a menu of services that are easy to access. The simple solution is to provide audio, video and Web conferencing from a single source to better tailor a program to each client’s individual needs.

“We’ve created the ideal service structure for our customers, InterCall and InView,” said Raymond Britt, vice president and chief marketing officer for InterCall.

InView, now part of InterCall’s Visual Conferencing Services department, remains committed to driving the use of video and Web-based visual collaboration tools throughout all realms of the public and private business sector.InView is dedicated to providing businesses with the information and training necessary to adopt front-to-end communication solutions that boost productivity levels and increase bottom lines.

InterCall (http://www.intercall.com/) is the largest privately held conference services provider in the world, offering audio, video and Web conferencing to more than 200,000 individual conference leaders in more than 30,000 organizations. InterCall is headquartered in Chicago and operates more than 25 sales offices throughout the United States. The company has offices in the U.K., France, Germany, Ireland, Canada, Australia, Hong Kong and Singapore.
About InterCall

InterCall, a subsidiary of West Corporation, is the largest service provider in the world specializing in conference communications. Founded in 1991, InterCall helps people and companies be more productive by providing advanced audio, event, Web and video conferencing solutions that are easy-to-use and save them time and money. Along with a team of over 500 Meeting Consultants, the company employs more than 1,500 operators, customer service representatives, call supervisors, accounting, marketing and IT professionals. InterCall’s strong U.S. presence, which includes four call centers and 26 sales offices, is bolstered by a global reach that extends to Canada, Mexico, Latin America, the Caribbean, the United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, China, India, Hong Kong, Singapore and Japan. For more information, please visit www.intercall.com.

Source: InterCall