SightSpeed Logs 1 Billion Video Minutes!
It’s kind of funny. When I see these press releases that say “such and such voice over IP service now passes X million minutes a month,” which it seems I see fairly regularly, I basically ignore it. There are hundred and hundreds of VoIP companies out there. They all pass lots and lots of traffic. So what?
I do not believe I have ever seen any of the video over IP network services in SightSpeed’s realm say they’ve passed any amount of video traffic. It would therefore be difficult for me (or anyone else) to say that SightSpeed is passing more video traffic than anyone else. That being said, a billion minutes is still quite a substantial number for a relatively small company like SightSpeed. It speaks volumes to the fact SightSpeed has got this video calling thing nailed. I hope their next billion minutes comes real soon.
Press release follows.
2006 “BEST OF” ACCOLADES CAP YEAR OF EXPONENTIAL GROWTH AS USAGE SURPASSES 1 BILLION MINUTES
Personal Video Communications Services Leader’s Awards Validate Claims of Highest Quality Service and Impressive Growth in 2006
Media Contact: Sue Huss Comunicano, Inc. 619-379-4396 [email protected]
Berkeley, Calif. (Dec. 19, 2006) – SightSpeed, the leading provider of personal video services over the Internet, made its mark on the video conferencing space in 2006 with awards, accolades and unprecedented year over year growth.
“2006 was a pivotal year for SightSpeed in every respect,” said Peter Csathy, SightSpeed’s CEO. “Our user base tripled and overall usage quintupled, with users logging in over 1 billion minutes. We also added important new global distribution partnerships and made significant enhancements to our services.”
SightSpeed introduced the industry’s first complete suite of Personal Video Services allowing the company to establish partnerships with blue chip companies such as AMD and Sonic Solutions, both of which expanded the company’s reach globally. SightSpeed’s innovative industry first features ranged from significantly enhanced video clarity and quality, to expanded one-step and one-click video creation and publishing tools that meet the needs of 2.0 era web publishers.
“In what is a very rewarding growth year on the consumer side, we’re pleased to see how the small business market also has embraced SightSpeed’s services to cost-effectively enhance collaboration and overall efficiency,” said Csathy. “We are also very pleased with the revolutionary new uses of our real-time video conferencing services by some of the largest media companies in the world, as those innovative uses by the television networks underscore the cutting-edge nature and quality of our industry-leading suite of video communications services.”
This year, SightSpeed was recognized by PC Magazine-Best of 2006, PC World, Frost & Sullivan and MacWorld, among others:
PC Magazine, Editors’ Choice Award, Davis Janowski wrote, “Hands down the best free Internet video calls offered by any Web service. You’ll be amazed at the video quality and tight synchronization of audio and video when using a broadband connection and 30-frames-per-second webcam.” In 2006 PC Magazine and PC Mag.com singled SightSpeed out four times, including with the coveted Editors’ Choice award and ending the year as one of PC Magazine’s “Best of Services” of 2006 (and importantly as representing a “Best Trend” for the year). Frost & Sullivan, 2007 North American IP Communication Services Company of the Year Award, Analyst Lynda Starr said, “SightSpeed has helped to bring the human element to communication. While some VoIP providers position their services as TDM dial tone replacement, SightSpeed has created a full range of video-based features that matter to consumers. The company’s growth has been phenomenal with little marketing, but with leveraging industry accolades … SightSpeed has its finger on the pulse of future communications.”
PC World wrote that “”For live video calls, it’s hard to beat SightSpeed, which is simple to set up, neatly synchronizes lip movements and audio, and provides easy in-call controls” when they named SightSpeed one of the top 101 Fabulous Freebies. Macworld in its review by Ted Wallingford said, “SightSpeed offers a unique combination of cross-platform voice and video features. If you’re looking for a video-chat tool that has stronger community features than iChat, give SightSpeed a try.”
With a banner year of growth and progress in 2006 SightSpeed plans to announce even more upgrades and improvements in 2007 with its upcoming major release, SightSpeed 6.0.
For more information visit www.sightspeed.com.
About SightSpeed
SightSpeed offers consumers and small businesses the most complete and compelling suite of personal video services over the Internet. SightSpeed’s award winning free and premium services include best-in-class video and voice over IP (VVoIP), voice over IP (VoIP), and text messaging (IM). SightSpeed offers advanced community features, including a public directory and an easy to use video creation platform that gives users the ability to record and publish original user generated content to blogs, websites and emails. SightSpeed also offers SightSpeedTV place shifting features, as well as support for mobile personal video. SightSpeed’s suite of industry-leading video services offers unique opportunities for video-enabled advertising and e-commerce, in addition to communications, content creation and publishing.
Founded in 2001 and based in Berkeley, California, SightSpeed is a privately held company funded by The Roda Group, best known for launching the company Ask Jeeves. For more information about SightSpeed, visit www.sightspeed.com .
