IDT's Net2Phone To Open Internet Portal 01/20/99
Newsbytes, Wednesday, January 20, 1999 at 12:51
HACKENSACK, NEW JERSEY, U.S.A., 1999 JAN 20 (NB) -- By Steve Gold,
Newsbytes. IDT's [NASDAQ:IDTC] Net2Phone operation has announced
plans to open, what the company claims is, the first Web portal
powered by Internet telephony.
According to the firm, the new EZSurf portal, which will be located
at ezsurf.com , aims to integrate voice, graphics and, in
time, video and Internet "push" technology.
The bottom line to these features, Net2Phone officials say, is that
the portal will allow international users of the Web to enjoy access
to e-commerce facilities, including the ability to talk to companies
selling goods and services, without the cost of calling
internationally.
Plans call for the Web portal to officially go live on February 1, and
the service will be marketed directly at the one million-plus
Net2Phone users, as well as through online advertisers.
Net2Phone, of course, is hoping for extra revenue from its subscribers
and retailers routing their voice calls across the portal IP (Internet
Protocol) telephony connection, as well as extra exposure for its
service in the mainstream, as well as international, marketplace,
Newsbytes notes.
David Greenblatt, the firm's chief executive officer (CEO), said that
it's clear that Net2Phone customers have been spending more time
online, but the company wants to ensure that they actually make
their purchases online as well.
"Surfers can spend up to an hour just looking for critical information
such as e-mail addresses, phone numbers and international shipping
possibilities, and EZSurf gives users value-added content combined
with Internet telephony services to make the user's experience online
significantly easier and faster," he said.
According to Greenblatt, the company is aiming to turn many of those
online window shoppers into actual buyers.
One of the most interesting aspects of the Web portal will be that the
Net2Phone and Click2Talk services will be accessible via the Web site,
including to retailers, who will pick up the tab for the call, just as
if they would via a 1-800 number calls in the US
"The advantage here is that, using the EZSurf site, Net2Phone users
can gain access to these retailers and talk to them free of charge,
almost regardless of where they are calling from in US," said Sarah
Hofstetter, a spokesperson for Net2Phone.
According to Hofstetter, Net2Phone has found a significant number of
its non-US callers placing calls to retailers already.
"We discovered that one of our company subscribers, China Airlines,
received more than 5,000 calls via the Net2Phone service," she told
Newsbytes.
According to Hofstetter, while US and Canadian phone users can call
the airline via its 1-800 number, the Net2Phone service effectively
extended the 1-800 number's reach worldwide.
"More and more companies are realizing what the Net2Phone service is
capable of, and it is these companies which we are allowing to set up
on our EZSurf service," she explained.
According to Net2Phone, several other informational portals, such as
Yahoo! and Excite have already integrated the Net2Phone and Click2Talk
services into their directories. The EZSurf Web portal, the firm says,
gives users an additional element of comfort by letting the users
contact retailers directly from the Web without having to visit their
sites while already online.
To advertise the EZSurf facility, Net2Phone plans to integrate an
EZSurf icon in with its next release of the Net2Phone client software,
which will be bundled into more than 30 million packages through
relationships with IBM, Creative Labs, Packard Bell/NEC Europe and
others.
Net2Phone's Web site is at net2phone.com .
Reported by Newsbytes News Network, newsbytes.com .
(19990120/Press Contact: Sarah Hofstetter, IDT Net2Phone
201-928-2882/WIRES ONLINE, BUSINESS, TELECOM/) |
