COMPUSEVE Getting into the VON act.
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[All, Regarding the VoIP Consortioum last week in post #:
Message 5545009 ,
...I asked: "Tell me... Did anyone not see this coming? The next step is for one of the larger (AOL/CSERVE) providers to announce all out participation for their memberships. Let's see how long that will take."
Well, it's starting. See the following press release concerning Compuserve (CSERVE) below. OK, so it's not phone to phone capable. Yet. But does it have to be at these prices, and in an international setting? Regards, Frank C.]
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CompuServe/Europe Dials MediaRing Talk For Worldwide Internet Calling Service
DANDERYD, Sweden--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 24, 1998--Affordable worldwide phone service is coming to almost 850,000 CompuServe subscribers in Europe through a distribution agreement with MediaRing, Inc.
CompuServe is Europe's second largest Internet service provider. CompuServe will make MediaRing Talk software available free on its World Wide Web site. Using the MediaRing Talk, CompuServe subscribers or anyone else with an Internet access account, can call anyone, anywhere, talk as long as they like, as frequently as they like for U.S.$4.95 per month. The caller or person called does not have to be logged on to the Internet to make or receive a call.
"MediaRing offers a practical and complete software for Internet telephony," says Markus Krieg, business development manager for CompuServe Central Europe. "They are an ideal partner for Europe's leading Internet service provider because they offer a very cost effective telephony solution for our customers."
For its part, MediaRing will give CompuServe/Europe subscribers two months' free calling service.
MediaRing will also bundle CompuServe software in its MediaRing Talk software packages distributed with magazines and through retail outlets. The CompuServe/Europe software will include an offer for 30 days of unlimited free Internet access.
"We are pleased to be associated with CompuServe/Europe, the company that brought easy Internet access to Europe," says Lars Andersson, MediaRing's vice president for Europe, based in Danderyd, Sweden. "MediaRing's bargain-priced, PC-to-PC voice communications service will be an outstanding value for CompuServe's subscribers."
Running silently in the background, MediaRing Talk software detects a signal sent by the caller over a standard telephone line and automatically logs the recipient onto the Internet. The patent-pending application then searches for the calling party on the Internet and establishes a connection for voice communication. Callers and call recipients can work on other programs while awaiting calls or talking.
According to Krieg, CompuServe/Europe is offering MediaRing Talk through its German Communication Web site. Subsequently the offerwill roll out through the United Kingdom, France, Netherlands and the balance of Europe.
The MediaRing Talk and CompuServe software offer will be carried in a dozen leading European computer magazines. MediaRing's Andersson says he expects the magazines to distribute between 500,000 and 700,000 CD-ROMs with the two software packages.
MediaRing, Inc., with offices in Los Angeles, Boston, Singapore and Sweden, is a pioneering developer of computer-to-computer voice communications. For more information, visit the company's Web site at mediaring.com.
About MediaRing, Inc.
Founded in 1993, MediaRing, Inc. (originally Mediacom Technologies) holds several patents in collaborative computing and implementations of various communications protocols. MediaRing has offices in Los Angeles, Boston, Singapore and Sweden.
The company is privately held. Company investors and board members include United Overseas Bank Group; the chairman of Singapore Telecom; the co-founders of Creative Labs and Vital Technologies and the founder of Conner Peripherals Singapore. For further information, visit MediaRing at mediaring.com. Press information is at patmeier.com.
About CompuServe/Europe
AOL Bertelsmann Online Europa GmbH is a joint venture of America Online, Inc., the world's leading Internet Online service with more than 12 million members worldwide, and Bertelsmann AG, the third largest media company worldwide with close to 60,000 employees in more than 50 countries. With its two brands, AOL and CompuServe, the joint venture, based in Baar, Switzerland, is the leading pan-European Internet online business. AOL is the service for the whole family, providing its members with interactive entertainment, information and education services while giving access to a global online community. CompuServe offers specialized information, large-scale databases, matchless forums and professional communication tools that help the more discerning audience to meet challenges in their personal and professional lives.
OL Bertelsmann Online Europe GmbH with its two brands AOL and CompuServe has over two million members across Europe.
CONTACT: MediaRing Inc., Danderyd, Sweden
Lars Andersson, +46 8 753 59 10
lars-andersson@mediaring.com
or
Pat Meier Associates P.R., San Francisco
Rad Dewey, 415/392-4200 or 415/253-1443 (pgr.)
radewey@patmeier.com
KEYWORD: CALIFORNIA MASSACHUSETTS
INDUSTRY KEYWORD: COMPUTERS/ELECTRONICS COMED TELECOMMUNICATIONS
INTERACTIVE/MULTIMEDIA/INTERNET PRODUCT
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