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Near-Time, a leading vendor of integrated, on-demand Enterprise 2.0 collaboration solutions, announced immediate availability of its community widget, Connection, for Webex Connect. The Near-Time Connection widget provides full enterprise 2.0 capabilities to the WebEx Connect collaboration environment. WebEx, now a part of Cisco, is working with Near-Time to bring together real-time and near-time collaboration as well as text based and rich-media interaction, so that customers can enjoy comprehensive collaboration with their customers, partners, suppliers and employees. 

Near-Time integrates Web forums, weblogs, wikis and file sharing in an easily customizable on-demand platform. By combining a roles and permissions model with the ability to create public, semi-private and private communities, Near-Time empowers a new generation of interactive Web publishing. As an on-demand platform, Near-Time provides common ground for companies to collaborate in their markets. An intuitive word processing environment ensures everyone can participate. Near-Time's patent pending, turnkey Premium service enables customers to monetize their communities, quickly creating high margin revenues. 

The Near-Time Connection widget enables users to access new information in their communities, create wiki and weblog posts, make comments to forums, as well as receive and play podcasts. In addition to running in WebEx Connect, the Near-Time Connection widget runs on mobile devices running Safari or Opera browsers and iGoogle Web pages. Near-Time's support for rich media in its wikis and blogs makes it easy for customers to save and publish their WebEx Connect sessions and conferences privately or to the Web. The combination of WebEx Connect and Near-Time means users can span client, on-demand and mobile Web collaboration. 

"Cisco WebEx is the leader of on-demand real-time collaboration," said Near-Time CEO Reid Conrad. "Near-Time is the perfect complement for organizations to continue and extend the conversation with our comprehensive Web standards platform. From group collaboration to Web wide, our partnership scales." 

Near-Time Connection is one of the many applications users will be able to access through the WebEx Connect unified communications client. WebEx Connect will enable users to integrate data from multiple applications into collaborative workspaces, custom designed for their particular workflows and business processes. WebEx Connect works seamlessly across firewalls and across platforms and, unlike traditional transactional applications, is designed to improve productivity by enhancing collaboration and interaction between individuals and provide contextual collaboration within a business process. By taking advantage of open, Web 2.0 protocols and collaborative WebEx applications programming interfaces (APIs), WebEx Connect will help to make it easy to adapt on-demand, desktop, and enterprise applications to create composite, "mashup" applications. 

"Near-Time's widget extends WebEx Connect to the Web and mobile platforms seamlessly. The combination helps make real-time and near-time collaboration more comprehensive for customers," said Shankar Iyer, vice president, strategic initiatives, Cisco. 

WebEx Connect partner marketing services can help partners create and execute go-to-market strategies, promotions and even generate leads. To learn more about the WebEx Connect ecosystem, go to, community.webex.com/connect.

About Near-Time 

Near-Time is a leading on-demand, Enterprise 2.0 platform for cross organization collaboration. Business professionals can quickly create rich interaction with their prospects, customers, partners and suppliers. Near-Time integrates wikis, weblogs and forums to enable groups to work together more effectively in a secure, hosted environment. Thousands of organizations in over fifty nations use Near-Time to maximize internal and external collaboration and publishing. Near-Time's patent pending Premium service leverages the Near-Time platform to enable organizations to monetize their communities and content. For more information, go to www.near-time.com/. 

WebEx and MediaTone are registered trademarks or trademarks of Cisco Systems, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and certain other countries. Other brands and products are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders. 

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. These forward-looking statements may be identified by use of the terms anticipates, believes, continue, could, estimates, expects, intends, may, plans, potential, predicts, should or will, or the negative of those terms or similar expressions. These forward-looking statements are subject to significant risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from those described in such statements as a result of these risks and uncertainties. 

This release includes:

• Members can send a message to selected users in the Members tab. 
  
• Space managers can export members to a CSV list for use with other applications
• Upgrade to TinyMCE 3.0.7 WYSIWYG editor
• Fixed images not showing up on join pages
• Fixed a few places where custom email banners were not being shown properly
• Prototype/Scriptaculous upgrade (should improve Javascript performance for Internet Explorer).

The Triangle Business Journal spoke to Near-Time CEO Reid Conrad about the future of web 2.0 mobile applications.
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Entrepreneur Magazine includes Near-Time in its roundup of web applications that help your business collaborate.

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CIO.com interviews Near-Time CEO Reid Conrad about Near-Time's mobile strategy.
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Read about how NetScout Systems used Near-Time to improve their customers' experiences.
Read the full article now >

We released an improved version of the Near-Time editor last night.  You'll notice a few changes in functionality and performance.   Selecting fonts, headings, and sizes now gives you a preview of how they will appear on the page.   Choose from more options in the "Font" and "Size" drop down.  If you make a mistake, use the new undo and redo buttons to correct your mistakes.

Most notably, the improved speed and responsiveness should feel more like working on the desktop.   Enjoy!

Fixes:

• Flash Uploader works correctly in Internet Explorer 6 and 7
• Linking to pages with special characters
  

Today Near-Time announced a partnership with the Purdue Center for Regional Development to launch the first nationwide community of regions focused on innovation and economic development. This partnership is a spinoff of the U.S. Labor Department's WIRED Initiative. The new nationwide community is accessible at www.wired-nation.net.

The Workforce Innovation in Regional Economic Development (WIRED) Initiative has seeded 39 regions across the country to focus on talent development to drive economic transformation in local regional economies. WIRED is the result of an initiative sponsored by the U.S. Labor Department, Employment and Training Administration. These regions have created hundreds of programs integrating education, workforce and economic development

The Purdue Center for Regional Development (PCRD) and Near-Time are jointly guiding the development of the WIRED-Nation community. PCRD chose Near-Time as its partner because of the ease-of-use, flexibility, and integrated resources of the Near-Time platform. The goal now is to accelerate innovation across the regions by sharing insights, information, and cross-regional collaboration on a national level.

"We are excited to partner with Purdue's Center for Regional Development to help take the WIRED initiative to the next level. Our partnership will result in regional and industry based communities that accelerate innovation for businesses of all sizes," said Reid Conrad, CEO of Near-Time. "Near-Time's monetization services are enabling a whole new business model for self sustaining communities."

Near-Time is a hosted Web 2.0 collaboration and community platform that integrates wikis, weblogs, file sharing, forum and widget capabilities. Near-Time's intuitive interface is ideally suited for business professionals engaging in cross organizational interaction. Near-Time's monetization services enable community and content owners flexible business models that include support for paid membership and advertising.

"We have 39 regions across the country that are collaborating on very important programs to develop the 21st century skills required to compete effectively. Today, we are launching the first of a series of national 'innovation communities' designed to accelerate regional innovation," according to Ed Morrison, Economic Policy Advisor at PCRD. " Near-Time's unique monetization services will ensure that these vibrant communities will be able to create self-sustaining business models," said Morrison.

About Near-Time
Near-Time is an award winning, on-demand enterprise 2.0 platform for cross organization collaboration. Business professionals can quickly create rich interaction with their prospects, customers, partners and suppliers. Near-Time integrates wikis, weblogs and forums to enable groups to work together more effectively in a secure, hosted environment. Near-Time users can securely share information, files and create group calendars. Near-Time is in use in over 40 nations by thousands of businesses, academic institutions, government agencies, and non-profit organizations, to maximize internal and external collaboration. Near-Time patent pending Premium service leverages the Near-Time platform to enable organizations to monetize their communities and content. For more information, go to www.near-time.com .

About Purdue Center for Regional Development

In February 2005, The Purdue Center for Regional Development was launched with the intent to engage in applied research, policy analysis, and technical assistance that addresses high-priority regional needs and policy issues; foster and broker networks and partnerships; and assist with strategic planning on a regional basis. For more information, go to www.purdue.edu/dp/pcrd.

WIRED-Nation, a New Community Initiative to Integrate Education,
Workforce Development and Economic Development Programs
 

AltSearchEngines launches Premium-based Forums for the search engine market

CHAPEL HILL, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Today Near-Time announced a partnership with AltSearchEngines to extend its leading web property with subscription based forums. CEOs of search engine companies, AltSearchEngine readers, and internationally based advisors can participate in private user-driven communities, enabling interaction among peers in the search engine community. Unlike current AltSearchEngine offerings, these new communities require membership access, and focus on high value content and conversation.

As a member of the ReadWriteWeb network, AltSearchEngines publishes a weblog with coverage of nearly every alternative and niche search engine - daily and globally. Their mission is to reveal "the most wonderful search engines you've never seen."

ReadWriteWeb is ranked among the top 20 blogs worldwide according to Technorati. "We hope to become a one-stop shop for those interested in alternative search engines," said Charles Knight,editor of AltSearchEngines. "Currently, visitors to AltSearchEngines can only read our posts, but for 2008, we want to take it to the next level. The goal is to provide search engine CEOs with a secure place where they can communicate and interact with each other. I made a diligent search of the forum products available, and Near-Time was the clear winner,” continued Knight.

"The new, extended AltSearchEngines forum brings together two critical components of Near-Time online communities, paid content and collaboration. We're pleased to enable new business models and revenue sources for AltSearchEngines," said Reid Conrad, CEO of Near-Time. Powered by Near-Time, the interactive forums will allow members to further engage in discussion and questions related to alternative search engines.

At launch, two separate forums will leverage Near-Time Premium to charge for varying levels of subscription access. AltSearchEngine forum memberships will begin at $5.99/month for readers - or a special introductory rate of $49 per year and an equally appealing introductory rate of $49/year for Search industry authorship. Forum memberships are available immediately at http://members.altsearchengines.com

Built on the Near-Time platform, Premium is the only turn-key web 2.0 solution that makes it possible to create, publish, and monetize content. Authors, publishers, consultants, trade associations, and membership-based organizations use Near-Time Premium to publish content, strengthen their communities and create high-margin revenue.

About AltSearchEngines
Alternative Search Engines (AltSearchEngines) covers the cutting-edge of alternative and niche search engines, and is edited by Charles Knight, an industry analyst. The unique approach of AltSearchEngines is to expand coverage of search engines to include the hundreds of alternative and niche search engines. AltSearchEngines is a member of the ReadWriteWeb blog network. ReadWriteWeb is a popular weblog that provides Web Technology news, reviews and analysis. It is ranked among Technorati's Top 20 blogs globally.

About Near-Time
Near-Time is an award winning, on-demand enterprise 2.0 platform for cross organization collaboration. Business professionals can quickly create rich interaction with their prospects, customers, partners and suppliers. Near-Time integrates wikis, weblogs and forums to enable groups to work together more effectively in a secure, hosted environment. Near-Time users can securely share information, files and create group calendars. Near-Time is in use in over 40 nations by thousands of businesses, academic institutions, government agencies, and non-profit organizations, to maximize internal and external collaboration. Near-Time patent pending Premium service leverages the Near-Time platform to enable organizations to monetize their communities and content. For more information, go to http://www.near-time.com/.


Contact:
Fusion Public Relations
Kathy Archer, 202-898-2000 x108
kathy.archer@fusionpr.com