Yesterday, SightSpeed Inc., the leading provider of Internet video communications, annouced at CES that it is developing a new addition to its award-winning portfolio of services: an easy-to-use, no-download version of its video chat service, called "SightSpeed Light," that will run on a variety of online social networks, including those based on Google's forthcoming OpenSocial platform.

One of the biggest reasons for me to be at CES was to spend some time with my friend Peter Csathy. I knew he was going to be making some significant announcements. For those of us actively involved in social networking tools, the ability to include real-time video chat is a huge step forward. Driven by all the hard work at SightSpeed, we're now seeing video tools integrated into the browser using Flash. That's convergence in action. It's the integration of services, video services in this case, right into the application.

In the press release they talk about the ability to now couple with community sites like MySpace, LinkedIn and Salesforce.com. Those are a strong start. And they do enable business in new ways. That's a big announcement. But I have to say I want more. There are clearly some major players who still don't get it. When will we see the likes of Oracle and SAP announcing they've bundled SightSpeed into their web-based enterprise management solutions? That's the power of integration taken straight to the core of business.

SIGHTSPEED INTRODUCES VIDEO-CHAT WIDGET FOR OPENSOCIAL WEB SITES

"SightSpeed Light" Will Provide Simple, No-Download Version Entry Point to Award-Winning SightSpeed Services
Will Run on OpenSocial Sites Like MySpace, Salesforce.com, Hi5, LinkedIn, etc.

BERKELEY, Calif. - Jan. 7, 2008 - SightSpeed Inc., the leading provider of Internet video communications, has announced it is developing a new addition to its award-winning portfolio of services: an easy-to-use, no-download version of its video chat service, called "SightSpeed Light," that will run on a variety of online social networks, including those based on Google's forthcoming OpenSocial platform.

SightSpeed developers are creating the application using Adobe Flash, one of the most widely adopted multimedia viewing and creation tools, making SightSpeed Light simple to integrate on a variety of platforms and enhancing its accessibility and usability.

Furthermore, in anticipation of greater opportunities for cross-application collaboration through OpenSocial, SightSpeed is inviting other developers who are building new applications with Google's APIs to work with SightSpeed to create a fully immersed video experience within the applications they are developing.

SightSpeed Light will offer free video chat and integrated video mail between members of the same social network or anywhere on the Web.

Because it's built entirely using Flash, SightSpeed Light will work on any computer through any standards-based Web browser, with no downloads or installation required. Chatting with friends using video-and recording and sending them video messages-will literally be one click away.

SightSpeed plans to implement SightSpeed Light on MySpace, LinkedIn, Salesforce.com, Plaxo, Orkut, Hi5 and many other OpenSocial social networking sites.

According to Google, OpenSocial is currently being developed in conjunction with members of the Web community. The project's ultimate goal is for any social Web site to be able to implement common APIs and host third-party social applications. As those APIs are released, SightSpeed Light will add them, as appropriate, to provide benefit to users.

"With SightSpeed Light, we're expanding our portfolio to make it easier than ever for people to get started with video chat or to send and receive video messages," said SightSpeed CEO Peter Csathy. "As growing numbers of people participate in online social-network sites, and with the proliferation of embedded webcams in PCs, Macs, mobile phones and other devices, video communications is quickly moving to the forefront of the social-networking experience. And because no one understands or delivers Internet-based video communications better than SightSpeed, you can expect that our widget-just like our other services-will raise the bar in terms of ease of use and overall performance."

SightSpeed Light joins the full range of video communication services from industry leader SightSpeed. Offering additional capabilities, the full-featured SightSpeed 6.0 delivers consumers best-in-class 30-frames-per-second video calling and high-quality video mail with a virtual inbox. Also available are VoIP-based phone service with phone-in and phone-out capability, custom click-to-call-me buttons, video community access with privacy features, unlimited text messaging and up to four-party video conferencing.

For the business user, SightSpeed now offers SightSpeed Business-the company's first business-focused videoconferencing service, providing a full suite of administrative and call-management options and collaboration tools that are essential for the business user.

SightSpeed Business is the first high-quality, cost-effective and hardware-free videoconferencing solution accessible to every business.

All SightSpeed's award-winning services, including SightSpeed Light, are fully SIP-based and standards-compliant, which is essential for interoperability, security, stability and overall user flexibility and utility.

About SightSpeed
SightSpeed Inc. is the award-winning provider of Internet video communications for both the business user and consumer. The company offers the broadest portfolio of industry-leading Internet video communications services, including SightSpeed Light, SightSpeed Free and SightSpeed PLUS, the most widely praised consumer-focused video chat services, which turn a PC or Mac into an easy-to-use video phone to communicate with friends and family around the world; and SightSpeed Business, the world's first high-quality, cost-effective and hardware-free videoconferencing service for all businesses (including SMBs). SightSpeed's services are SIP-based and standards-compliant. The company's revolutionary human perception-based technology is patented and based on more than ten years of research and development originating out of Cornell University.

Founded in 2001 and based in Berkeley, Calif., SightSpeed is a privately held company funded by The Roda Group, best known for launching Ask Jeeves and PolyServe. For more information about SightSpeed, visit www.sightspeed.com.

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