Online Real-time Communication Gets Real
With Solid Service Uses by Business and Educational Clients of The Palace Inc.
With Solid Service Uses by Business and Educational Clients of The Palace Inc.
Multimedia Communications Software Provides New Business Solutions
Beaverton, OR October 27, 1997: Spearheading the evolution of online many-to-many communications from social to business applications, The Palace Inc. announced this week two new service orientated applications of the multimedia tool. The growth of this aspect of the communication software market is confirmed by the results released this week in the Jupiter Communications study, 'Revenue Prospects for Online Chat.'Egghead Computing has launched the first online retail store complete with virtual sales people providing customer service and FORE Technologies is launching a new Multimedia Intranet that uses The Palace software for training purposes. In the educational realm, Georgia Tech, is requiring participation in their Palaces for a percentage of their Freshman English students.
"Businesses need for The Palace's need to enhance their internets and intranets with multimedia graphical chat software is one of the strongest points the Jupiter Study brings to light," said Mike Maerz, President & CEO of The Palace Inc. The study concluded that "service-related chat" affects the competitive positioning of commerce sites and online marketers. Effective Palaces have been developed for online customer support, distance learning/training, online events, and online stores.
The Palace Inc. creates a defined physical presence in cyberspace, complete with customizable graphical backgrounds which look like physical rooms. Participants are represented by graphical images of their choosing named Avatars. They communicate through captioned text and can collaborate on projects, discuss ideas, hold virtual meetings, watch video simultaneously, and listen to audio from their computers. Recent upgrades and development of enhanced Palace products, such as PalacePresents (the auditorium feature) and InstantPalace (Java version) have enabled expanded solution development for business and educational institutions.
Organizations deploying The Palace software for their Intranet and/or Internets needs include: Georgia Tech, 3Com; NEC; Comedy Central, Merrill Lynch; Sony Music; Kent State University. Egghead Computers and FORE Technology are two recent examples of business applications with the software.
Regarding Egghead�s virtual store Maerz states, "Egghead is responding to the fact that 63% of all online shoppers want personal assistance before purchasing. Using The Palace to create real-time interaction in a multimedia environment means that Egghead can give their online customers timely answers to questions using textual, graphical, and audio communications."
FORE Systems is the leader in networking products based on ATM (asynchronous transfer mode) technology, is using The Palace on its interactive multimedia Intranet site to disseminate technical product information to its non-technical employees. Many of the rooms graphically represent different FORE products.
"This breaks new ground," said Maerz, "market leaders recognize the opportunity to expand their Intranet sites from information repositories to compelling and efficient interactive sites. A full database backend, automated 'bots', video feed, graphical backgrounds, and live guides all contribute to making the site efficient, immersive, and effective in meeting training goals."
The Palace Inc.
The Palace Inc. is the leader in multimedia real-time communication software best known for its graphical icons and pictorial backgrounds. Among the 1000 Web sites with Palace communities are ComedyCentral, Georgia Tech University, Sony Pictures, House of Blues, and Egghead Computers. More information about The Palace can be found at http://www.thepalace.com for consumers or http://www.thepalace.com/commercial/home for organizations.
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The Palace Inc., The Palace, the Palace logo, PalacePresents, PalaceEvents and PalaceServer are trademarks and The Palace logo is a registered trademark of The Palace Inc. All rights reserved. Other brands or products are trademarks or registered trademarks
