NEW YORK,NY- January 10, 2012-Arkadin, a leading global provider of collaboration solutions and TeleSpan Publishing Corporation - www.telespan.com - today announced that Arkadin will host the TeleSpan Publishing Corporation web conference on Friday, January 20, 2012 at 1:00 PM EST to deliver TeleSpan's 2012 predictions for the conferencing industry.
]]> The web conference event will occur prior to their release in the annual Predictions Edition of Electronic TeleSpan the industry's foremost newsletter. Predictions will be made by Elliot M. Gold, President of TeleSpan, and will cover trends in voice, video, and web conferencing, as well as TeleSpan's pick of companies that will "hit the wall" or be picked up in consolidations in the next 24-36 months.Gold has had unparalleled accuracy in making predictions. Since 1996, Gold has made 160 predictions (10 each year) with a running accuracy score of 70% (112 accurate predictions out of 160). This achievement gives him perhaps the highest batting average in the industry (other analyst groups and Wall Street firms typically have accuracies well below 50%). As a result, many analysts on Wall Street have considered TeleSpan "the authoritative source in teleconferencing" for more than a quarter of a century.
Gold will also review his predictions from 2011, giving them a thumbs-up or down. Attendees to the web conference will be invited to raise questions about TeleSpan's forecasts as well as other questions they have about the conferencing market overall.
Attendees can register for the live event using Arkadin at http://bit.ly/u4Bd66
Attendance to the event will be limited, but an archived version will be available after January 20, 2012.
About TeleSpan
TeleSpan was founded in 1981 as an industry analysis firm covering the field of teleconferencing. TeleSpan publishes annual reports covering trends in the industry and a 40-times-yearly newsletter called Electronic TeleSpan. TeleSpan is the most widely quoted source in the field of teleconferencing, famous for its accuracy and for its "Here's what I think" commentaries.
About Arkadin
Arkadin is a global Collaboration Service Provider, offering audio, web and video conferencing solutions. Arkadin enables organizations to communicate and collaborate using customizable, cost-efficient, user-friendly solutions. Founded in 2001, Arkadin has 49operating centres in 28 countries throughout Asia, Europe, Middle East, Africa, Latin America and North America, offering a full suite of remote collaboration solutions to more than 26,000 clients. To find out more about Arkadin please visit www.arkadin.com.
]]>NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwire - Dec 21, 2011) - Arkadin, a leading global provider of collaboration solutions, has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire ConferencePlus, Inc., a conferencing services provider and a subsidiary of Westell Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: WSTL). The acquisition enables Arkadin to significantly increase its market share by becoming the third largest independent collaboration service provider in North America and by consolidating its number two position in Europe and Asia. The transaction is expected to close on December 31, 2011.
]]> ConferencePlus provides Arkadin with a complementary set of services, an expanded presence in North America and Europe, and a company with a shared vision for a best-in-class customer experience. This vision is central to Arkadin's growth since it was founded in 2001. With the market for conferencing services expected to increase significantly to $9 Billion in 2015, Arkadin is well positioned to accelerate its already strong growth globally."This is a strategic acquisition of a company that shares our vision. Together with ConferencePlus, we will continue to execute on our strategy for global expansion and growth by delivering a complete suite of collaboration services with the best local customer experience," said Olivier de Puymorin, CEO and founder, Arkadin. "And as the collaboration market matures into unified communications, we will be uniquely positioned as customers seek a strong and experienced partner."
Founded in 1988, ConferencePlus has built an impressive installed base of customers, from global Fortune 1000 companies to small- and medium-sized enterprises as a result of a dedicated focus on a superior customer experience. With the addition of ConferencePlus, Arkadin will have more than 26,000 clients globally.
Mark Alexander, President, Arkadin North America, added: "Arkadin's clients have embraced our best-in-class collaboration services resulting in the fastest growth in the industry. ConferencePlus will instantly expand our North American presence and will be the right addition to accelerate our growth."
About Arkadin Arkadin is a global Collaboration Service Provider, offering audio, web and video conferencing solutions. Arkadin enables organizations to communicate and collaborate using customizable, cost-efficient, user-friendly solutions. Founded in 2001, Arkadin has 47 operating centres in 28 countries throughout Asia, Europe, Middle East, Africa, Latin America and North America, offering a full suite of remote collaboration solutions to more than 14,000 clients. To find out more about Arkadin please visit www.arkadin.com.
Q Advisors, a Denver and San Francisco based investment banking boutique, acted as the exclusive financial advisor to Arkadin, in connection with the transaction.
About ConferencePlus, Westell Technologies, Inc., headquartered in Aurora, Illinois, is a holding company for Westell, Inc. and Conference Plus, Inc. Westell, Inc. designs, distributes, markets and services a broad range of broadband networking equipment, digital transmission products, remote monitoring tools, power distribution equipment, industrial-grade edge switches and demarcation products used by telecommunications service providers, utilities and other enterprises. Additional information can be obtained by visiting www.westell.com.
]]>Scheduled for Thursday, May 19th, 2011 at 10:00 am (PDT)/12:00 noon (CDT)/1:00 pm (EDT), "Social Media in Healthcare Marketing" is targeted to healthcare and pharma marketers and is available to the public through ConferencePlus' Event Services. The live webcast will address questions from healthcare marketers on best practices for using social media while avoiding warning letters from the FDA.
]]> This informative event comes at a time when healthcare and pharmaceutical marketers are awaiting FDA guidelines surrounding the use of digital marketing in the healthcare industry. The FDA's twice-delayed announcement of new guidelines for online and social media marketing leaves healthcare marketing professionals with no defined clarity on possible FDA constraints.To address the current uncertainty in the industry, ConferencePlus will host two expert speakers to cover best practices for healthcare marketers. The main speaker, Tyler Pennock, Senior Vice President, Digital Media, Cohn & Wolfe, specializes in creating online strategies for healthcare clients that generate buzz and build relationships with patients, professionals and advocates. Tyler is joined by guest speaker and healthcare marketing leader Elizabeth Cermak, Executive Vice President, Chief Commercial Officer, POZEN Inc. Ms. Cermak will share her perspective on the evolution to "Pharma 3.0" and how her company is developing a commercial model that leverages digital platforms to engage key healthcare decision makers.
"While healthcare professionals await the FDA's new guidelines on digital marketing, it is important for the industry to innovate new ways of using web 2.0 technologies and social media to reach out to their audiences," said Dan Papa, Senior Vice President, Global Sales for ConferencePlus. "As companies evolve their marketing programs in the digital arena, our specialized Healthcare and Pharmaceutical Services team can help them reach their audience. We understand the medical industry and specialize in developing and delivering communication solutions to meet their needs," Mr. Papa added.
Join ConferencePlus' Healthcare & Pharmaceutical Services team for this live webcast on Thursday, May 19th, 2011, 10:00 am (PDT)/12:00 noon (CDT)/1:00 pm (EDT), "Social Media in Healthcare Marketing".
Use the following link to register for this complimentary live webcast event: http://goo.gl/Y6mR2
]]>SCHAUMBURG, IL, February 9, 2011 - Conference Plus, Inc. (ConferencePlus®), a subsidiary of Westell Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: WSTL), and a leading provider of global conferencing solutions, announced today the expansion of their global Managed Bridge Services. This expansion makes its audio and video bridge network in New York, Los Angeles, London and Hong Kong available for direct connection to customers' networks.
]]> ConferencePlus' Managed Bridge Services enable customers to achieve all the cost benefits of a hardware/software solution while retaining all the advantages of traditional fully managed conferencing service offerings. With this expansion, ConferencePlus now offers customers numerous choices to minimize their transport expense and maximize their network utilization. In addition, ConferencePlus also offers access to both dedicated and shared audio and video bridge platforms, along with the ability to manage existing customer-owned bridge platforms. Customers can connect to the ConferencePlus network using any carrier that has a presence in our commercial location facilities.All ConferencePlus Managed Bridge deployments benefit from integration with My Account Dashboard, ConferencePlus' industry leading web portal, which includes full integration with WebEx™ , Microsoft® Live Meeting and IBM LotusLive™ . Customers can also benefit from robust end-point and room management systems and the ability to securely connect across disparate networks.
Since the initial deployments began, service volume has more than quadrupled, along with a significant expansion in the number of implemented carrier interconnects for those services. "We're seeing substantial interest from customers of all sizes that can realize significant reductions in conferencing cost with these solutions," said Greg Doerr, Chief Operating Officer of ConferencePlus. "Customers have been implementing Voice and Video over Internet Protocol (IP) networks for many years, and bringing their conferencing services on-net represents the next logical step. By expanding our Managed Bridge Service options, we are making it possible for a wider range of potential customers to take that next step. These service options also offer greater pricing flexibility through both fixed price and more traditional usage-based models, depending on the options selected," Mr. Doerr added.
ConferencePlus is hosting an "Ask the Expert" live webinar on March 3rd, 2011, at 12N CT, which will be presented by Greg Doerr. Mr. Doerr will review ConferencePlus' expanded Managed Bridge Services offerings in detail. This event is intended to inform and assist IT and Telecommunications decision-makers in determining whether Managed Bridge Services are a fit for their organization. Use the following link to register for this complimentary live online event: http://bit.ly/idNT2t
]]>Gold has had unparalleled accuracy in making predictions. Since 1996, Gold has made 150 predictions (10 each year) with a running accuracy score of 71% (106 accurate predictions out of 150). This achievement gives him perhaps the highest batting average in the industry (other analyst groups and Wall Street firms typically have accuracies well below 50%). As a result, many analysts on Wall Street have considered TeleSpan "the authoritative source in teleconferencing" for more than a quarter of a century.
Gold will also review his predictions from 2010, giving them a thumbs-up or down. Attendees to the web conference will be invited to raise questions about TeleSpan's forecasts as well as other questions they have about the conferencing market overall.
Attendees can register for the live event using ConferencePlus at http://tinyurl.com/3x4buz9 Attendance to the event will be limited, but an archived version will be available after January 14, 2011.
For further information, please contact Shirley Gold, Vice President of Production, TeleSpan Publishing Corporation, +1 626 797 5482, shirley@telespan.com, or Roger Rosenquist, Director of Marketing, ConferencePlus +1 847 413 3431, rrosenquist@conferenceplus.com.
]]>"As we expanded our continuing education program at ASCE, we saw a need for a user friendly, content management system to organize and share our training content," said John Casazza, Managing Director Continuing Education, ASCE. Conferenceplus provided us with a solution in Share Portal. Share Portal gives us a central location where we can provide members with on-demand, online access to ASCE's archived webinars. It is a great tool," Mr. Casazza added.
Share Portal offers on-demand access for audio conferences, web conferencing archives, webinars, and other multimedia files. ConferencePlus' customers can also use Share Portal to upload and store a wide range of additional files including training documents, sales presentations and videos. Once uploaded, customers can then publish their files to secure web pages to be shared and redistributed as they see fit.
"We have seen a growing trend from our customers who are now using Share Portal," said Tim Reedy, President and CEO, ConferencePlus. "As customers continue to invest in various media to educate and inform their respective audiences, they are also seeking to extend the life of their investments. Share Portal gives them a secure tool to do just that, helping to extend the life of their content and expand their reach," Mr. Reedy added.
To find out more about Share Portal please visit www.conferenceplus.com.
]]>"We constantly solicit feedback from our customer base to ensure the online tools we offer are on target," said Greg Doerr, COO, ConferencePlus. "Repeatedly we see positive feedback on how essential our Account Dashboard console has become to our customers' day-to-day operations. This assessment helped spur the development of the new Mobile Connect application, where we made it a top priority to most closely replicate the Account Dashboard user experience for our customers," Mr. Doerr added.
In addition to moderating their teleconferencing accounts and calls, customers can also launch audio conference calls from the Mobile Connect application. This functionality includes the ability to dial out directly to anyone in their iPhone address book.
"Our goal as a conferencing services provider is to give our customers the conferencing tools they need to be more productive and flexible in their daily communications," said Greg Doerr. "In today's business environment, more customers have a need to easily and safely conduct meetings from their mobile phones. We believe our new Mobile Connect application helps to fill that need," Mr. Doerr added.
For more information about ConferencePlus Mobile Connect visit ConferencePlus mobile audio teleconferencing. To learn more about ConferencePlus' products and services visit www.conferenceplus.com.
]]>SCHAUMBURG, IL JANUARY 7, 2010 - Conference Plus, Inc. (ConferencePlus™), a subsidiary of Westell Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: WSTL) and a leading global provider of audio, web, webcasting and video conferencing services, and TeleSpan Publishing Corporation (www.telespan.com) today announced that ConferencePlus will host the TeleSpan Publishing Corporation web conference on Friday, January 15, 2010 at 1:00 PM EST to deliver TeleSpan's 2010 predictions for the conferencing industry.
]]> The web conference event will occur prior to their release in the annual Predictions Edition of Electronic TeleSpan the industry's foremost newsletter. Predictions will be made by Elliot M. Gold, President of TeleSpan, and will cover trends in voice, video, and web conferencing, as well as TeleSpan's pick of companies that will "hit the wall" or be picked up in consolidations in the next 24-36 months.Gold has had unparalleled accuracy in making predictions. Since 1996, Gold has made 140 predictions (10 each year) with a running accuracy score of 72% (101 accurate predictions out of 140). This achievement gives him perhaps the highest batting average in the industry (other analyst groups and Wall Street firms typically have accuracies well below 50%). As a result, many analysts on Wall Street have considered TeleSpan "the authoritative source in teleconferencing" for more than a quarter of a century.
Gold will also review his predictions from 2009, giving them a thumbs-up or -down. Attendees to the web conference will be invited to raise questions about TeleSpan's forecasts as well as other questions they have about the conferencing market overall.
Hosted by ConferencePlus, attendance to the event will be limited, but an archived version will be available after January 18, 2010.
Attendees can register for the web conference through ConferencePlus at https://www.conferenceplus.com/confcenter/PinCode/Pin_Code.aspx?100046&o=70542602486226
For further information, please contact Shirley Gold, Vice President of Production, TeleSpan Publishing Corporation, +1 626 797 5482, shirley@telespan.com, or Roger Rosenquist, Director of Marketing, ConferencePlus +1 847 413 3431, rrosenquist@conferenceplus.com.
About TeleSpan - TeleSpan was founded in 1981 as an industry analysis firm covering the field of teleconferencing. TeleSpan publishes annual reports covering trends in the industry and a 40-times-yearly newsletter called Electronic TeleSpan. TeleSpan is the most widely quoted source in the field of teleconferencing, famous for its accuracy and for its "Here's what I think" commentaries.
]]>SCHAUMBURG, IL, December 16, 2009 - Conference Plus, Inc. (ConferencePlus™), a subsidiary of Westell Technologies, Inc. and a leading global provider of audio, web, webcasting and video conferencing services, today announced the official launch of its Managed Audio Bridge Service. This service is an enterprise-wide audio conferencing solution for bridge installations over 500 ports that connect to customer's existing VoIP or TDM networks.
]]> High-volume corporate conferencing users can gain significant optimization and security benefits with audio bridge equipment installed on-site. However, those who purchase their own conferencing bridge encounter significant service delivery and support costs that often swamp the benefits. ConferencePlus' Managed Audio Bridge Service gives customers the benefits of on-site equipment along with the advantages of being a Conferencing Service Provider (CSP) customer. This offering provides full remote management and maintenance of the on-site bridge and conferencing service by ConferencePlus' support team with multiple service integration options and dedicated account team support."Large conferencing customers traditionally receive their conferencing services from either a Conference Service Provider (CSP) like ConferencePlus, or through purchasing and managing their own conference bridge", said Greg Doerr, Chief Operating Officer for ConferencePlus. "Our Managed Audio Bridge Service provides a 'best of both worlds' solution for large enterprises who want their own on-site bridging equipment without the issues of self installation and management. With over 21 years of expertise in this area, ConferencePlus can eliminate these issues for a customer while offering a full portfolio of additional conferencing services and options," Mr. Doerr added.
All installations are available with the full integration of Microsoft® Office Live Meeting, WebEx™ Meeting Center and IBM® LotusLive™ Meeting. These integrations include provisioning, audio control, roster integration and automatic archive management. Customers also have access to their own fully branded Account Dashboard web portal. This Dashboard allows end users, Executive Administrators and Site Administrators full control over their subscriptions, scheduled conferences, usage summary and archives. Single Sign On (SSO) integration with the customers' IT infrastructure further simplifies deployment and improves adoption.
"ConferencePlus has recently completed a multiple site installation of our Managed Audio Bridge Service for a major international telecommunications equipment and services company," said Mr. Doerr. "The combined level of security and cost savings this solution offered made it a great fit for this customer. As these numerous benefits would apply to many large organizations, we foresee this segment of our business continuing to grow within this market." Mr. Doerr added.
ConferencePlus Managed Audio Bridge Service can typically be purchased for less than the total cost of ownership of a purchased bridge. ConferencePlus provides all project management and installation services as part of the package with no required up-front installation costs. ConferencePlus is Personal Card Security certified and complies with the applicable sections of ISO 7001.
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