MADISON, Wis., -- July 26, 2005 -- Sonic Foundry Inc. (Nasdaq: SOFO), the worldwide leader in automated rich media solutions, today announced a new strategic initiative to begin offering managed hosting, content management and delivery services coupled to its line of Mediasite(TM) Rich Media Recorders. The hosting services, the first part of the company's new services portfolio roll-out, will enable organizations to quickly and easily take advantage of the Mediasite rich media communications platform, without having to wade through the complexities associated with their IT or network infrastructure issues.
With their simple "one-button" recording design, Mediasite Rich Media Recorders are the leading content capture appliances for customers looking for a simple yet powerful way to capture and deliver their enterprise communications, Web-based education, online training, product marketing and related applications. Mediasite's automated workflow eliminates the complicated and time-consuming authoring or post-production requirements of competing products, and delivers the unmatched speed and versatility people have come to expect from Sonic Foundry technology.
"Sonic Foundry's new support offerings come in response to organizations who recognize the anytime/anywhere benefits of Mediasite's Web-based rich media communications, but simply do not want the hassle of dealing with internal infrastructure issues," said Rimas Buinevicius, chairman and CEO of Sonic Foundry. "By eliminating all the complexities associated with setting up and managing internal servers, content storage, backup and distribution networks needed for live Webcasting and Web publishing, we're making it even easier to deploy and use a Mediasite recorder."
As a complete, turnkey offering, these services will help organizations of all sizes get their rich media communications initiatives up and running quickly and effortlessly. It can serve as a hassle-free long-term solution, as well as a low-risk way to test drive rich media before bringing hosting requirements in-house. Indeed, in a 2004 study, Webcast Services Come of Age, research firm Interactive Media Strategies predicted that service providers will expand their role in helping to accelerate the enterprise-wide adoption of online multimedia.
"The Johns Hopkins Center for Clinical Global Health Education deployed a Mediasite solution with Sonic Foundry's backend hosting earlier this year, enabling us to immediately conduct live, interactive rich media presentations to health care workers in areas of the world with limited resources," said Alexander Nason, project administrator of Johns Hopkins Medicine Interactive, and director, Johns Hopkins Office of Telemedicine. "As a new Mediasite customer, the hosting service was critical in helping us get started fast and has proven extremely reliable for our mission here at Johns Hopkins."
About Sonic FoundryŽ, Inc.
Founded in 1991, Sonic Foundry (Nasdaq: SOFO - News) is a provider of automated rich media communications technology for the enterprise. The company's high-performance rich media presentation systems are trusted by Fortune 500 companies, education institutions and government agencies for a variety of critical communication needs. Sonic Foundry is based in Madison, Wis. For more information about Sonic Foundry, visit the company's Web site at www.sonicfoundry.com.
