MACROMEDIA FLASH PLATFORM ENABLES NEXT-GENERATION COMMUNICATIONS EXPERIENCES
Macromedia announces new initiative to serve telecommunications providers
San Francisco, CA - June 6, 2005 - Following its success with mobile operators, Macromedia, Inc. (Nasdaq: MACR) today unveiled a new initiative to help broadband telecommunications providers deliver solutions on the Macromedia Flash Platform (announced today, see separate release). The Flash Platform provides the solutions that make great digital experiences possible. By combining telecommunications market knowledge and development expertise with the power of the Flash Platform, Macromedia will enable next-generation communications experiences that unify voice, video, and data within an integrated user interface that anyone can access instantly. The new solutions initiative will target telecommunications providers that aim to deliver rich web conferencing and collaboration offerings, unified communications portals, and broadband entertainment services that leverage the Flash Platform. One of the first deliverables of this initiative will be a new edition of the Macromedia Breeze web conferencing solution designed to be hosted by telecommunications operators and integrated by network equipment providers and OEMs into their offerings.
The reach of the Flash Platform across nearly 600 million Internet-connected desktops and mobile devices creates an instant "network effect" that increases the value of a telecommunications network or service by enabling more people to use it. The ubiquitous Macromedia Flash Player removes the hassle of installing and configuring software for end users, reduces distribution and support costs for service providers and network equipment providers, and accelerates the time to market for new, highly differentiated and branded services that generate new revenues.
Telecommunications providers that deploy solutions based on the Flash Platform benefit immediately from the ubiquity of Flash Player. Macromedia Breeze leverages the VoIP and Video over IP technologies already deployed in the current version of Flash Player to enable web conferencing without the frustrating downloads associated with other web conferencing services. Macromedia Flash Communication Server and Macromedia Flex enable telecommunications providers to rapidly develop and deploy richly branded communications offerings — including voice, video, and chat — that provide users with a great experience on a wide variety of browsers and platforms.
"We are excited to expand our offerings to telecommunications providers that want to build solutions on the Macromedia Flash Platform or deploy communications applications that we have developed, such as Macromedia Breeze," said Eric Weiss, vice president of telecommunications solutions, Macromedia.
Integration between the Flash Platform and telecommunications service offerings is a reality today. For example, in conjunction with Premiere Global Services, Breeze provides a rich user interface that controls the functions of an audio conference, such as initiating a call, dialing out to participants, and controlling the mute and gain for the lines connecting to the call.
"By integrating our conferencing solutions with the Flash-based Breeze application, we created a user interface that allows customers to take control of their entire conferencing experience," said David Guthrie, executive vice president and CTO, Premiere Global Services. "The ubiquity of Flash Player combined with the growing use of IP-based communications services like VoIP and Video over IP provides tremendous opportunities to develop the next generation of communications solutions."
"Macromedia has made great progress with Macromedia Breeze as a conferencing and communications solution based on Flash," said Paul Ritter, research director, Wainhouse Research. "The Macromedia Flash Platform is well positioned to enable a wide range of companies to develop communications applications and services that will enable them to effectively leverage the ubiquity of Flash Player."
Innovative telecommunications companies have already deployed broadband services built on the Flash Platform. Telecom Italia, the largest operator in Italy, built a broad range of video and communications experiences using Flash Communication Server. In addition to a rich user interface featuring streaming video and audio, Telecom Italia deployed a video chat application called Rosso Alice Live (www.rossoalice.it) where subscribers participate in live video chats with sports stars and other celebrities.
"We built the Rosso Alice user interface in Macromedia Flash because it's ideal for communicating our market positioning while presenting an innovative alternative to other web portals," said Stefano Smareglia, CTO Matrix, Telecom Italia. "Rosso Alice competes with other entertainment channels and platforms. Flash enables us to satisfy the needs of our very wide target audience, not just expert web surfers."
The Macromedia strategy is to partner with network operators, equipment providers, ISVs, and system integrators so they can deploy communications solutions based on the Flash Platform and enable great communications experiences. With this telecommunications solutions initiative, Macromedia is broadening its offerings for telecommunications providers and complementing the solutions that Macromedia already provides for mobile operators and handset vendors. For more information about Macromedia telecommunications solutions, please visit http://www.macromedia.com/go/telecom.
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