World Education Market Conference Marks Official Launch Of InfoCast's e-Learning Solution 9:02 EST Wednesday, May 24, 2000
TORONTO, ONTARIO--
Best-of-Breed Content, Enhanced Learning Support, and e-Enabling Infrastructure-on-Demand Provide a One-stop e-Learning Solution
InfoCast Corporation (OTC BB: IFCC), North America's premier e-enabling Application Service Provider (ASP), today announced the launch of its total e-Learning solution at the World Education Market Conference (WEM) in Vancouver, Canada. The InfoCast e-Learning solution provides enterprises, educational institutions and virtual learning organizations with the integration of best-of-breed courseware, a hosted technology platform, learning management system, live online learning support, learning communities and portal development.
Learners are able to access up-to-the minute content anytime, anywhere.
The inaugural WEM event complements the launch of InfoCast's e-Learning strategy- to provide best-of-breed courseware and the most advanced learning support capabilities through a cost-effective infrastructure-on-demand delivery mechanism. By following this path, the company is positioning itself to take advantage of an emerging, highly fragmented online learning market predicted to be worth over $20 billion by 2005.
Customers using the InfoCast solution receive a secure, scalable, ready-for-operation e-learning infrastructure in the shortest time possible. This ASP e-Learning model eliminates the capital costs required to develop an in-house solution. InfoCast provides hosting, software, and technical support infrastructure on a pay-per-transaction basis.
Adding further to InfoCast's powerful e-Learning technology is the company's Virtual Call Center (VCC) system, which benchmarks a new level of learning support for online learners. Through advanced call-routing features, the application of this robust VCC technology allows calls from learners in the form of voice, e-mail and web chat to be routed to the support person most able to respond to the needs of the learner.
The VCC technology promises to open the floodgates for this market by overcoming the lack of real-time live interaction in the Web-based environment, one of the biggest barriers to wide acceptance of online learning to date.
"InfoCast is excited to be in the forefront of the exploding e-learning marketplace, offering a totally integrated Web-based solution that enriches the learning experience," said Jim Leech, president and CEO of InfoCast. "Our strategy of providing an end-to-end solution will place us at the forefront of the e-Learning market."
Currently, corporate training budgets in North America exceed $700 billion annually, and according to International Data Corporation projected growth in the e-Learning marketplace will represent $15 billion by year-end 2002.
InfoCast provides its clients with a customized e-Learning portal that integrates curriculum products and learning assessment tools. Flexible online learning components and collaborative tools allow educators to create a learning environment that best fits their needs.
This InfoCast approach gives schools and businesses the capability to provide access to a live instructor that is only an e-mail, e-chat or phone call away. In addition, enterprises now have the ability to set knowledge standards, monitor progress and update courseware.
InfoCast's recent merger with Tucson-based i360, a developer of customized Web-based portals, marked an important step in InfoCast's aggressive efforts to assemble the right expertise to make the e-Learning solution a success.
With i360's customized Web-based portals, online information centers offers personalized content enabling educators in all industries and sectors to provide students with a more compelling and interactive online learning experience.
The foundation of InfoCast's offerings is a networked infrastructure of Sun Microsystems servers called i-Hubs. Applications and information content are delivered from the i-Hubs to users in any format - data, voice or multimedia, through satellite, cable, wireless, private or public telecommunications networks, and the Internet.
About InfoCast
InfoCast Corporation is an e-Enabling Application Service Provider (ASP) for the new economy, providing a secure, scalable infrastructure-on-demand that allows enterprises to focus on building closer relationships with customers, partners, and employees. Core InfoCast offerings include virtual call center, telework, and e-Learning applications coupled with related best-of-breed offerings for customer care, data warehousing, and E-commerce. More information about InfoCast Corporation can be found on the Web at www.infocast-corp.com.
About the World Education Market
WEM was created to provide an international showcase of practical, effective and innovative approaches to the delivery of education, training and lifelong learning. Over
4000 participants are expected to attend WEM. 310 key companies/organisations from 32 countries have already signed up as exhibitors, and to date 50 participating countries will be represented. Top-level executives, educational and governmental decision-makers, international buyers and industry leaders will meet in a unique commercial forum for public and private sector players, to buy and sell educational resources, systems and expertise, to build partnerships and, together, create the solutions that will respond to the educational challenges of tomorrow. A comprehensive conference programme will complement the market.
www.wemex.com
This press release contains forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are dependent on a number of factors, which could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements.
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