Polycom Audio

The system of Polycom audio will be made available to corporations worldwide regardless of whether they are a current client of FRB investor relations services by the end of 2008. The costs will be based purely on the number of viewers and are scheduled to total $10 per viewer for conferences with up to 50 viewers; $7 per viewer for 50-100; and $5 per viewer for those above 100.

These real-time presentations will add a new visual dimension for the more than 2,000 investment analyst group meetings and group teleconferences held by FRB each year. Other applications planned for the software and services include virtual press tours, agency-to-client presentations and ad-hoc presentations to community investors.

FRB selected Contigo's JAVA-based presentation technology for its ease of use, universal application over the Internet and the presentation-specific nature of the application, according to Pincus. Other Internet presentation applications would require analysts to download special software and plug-ins to their machines prior to the teleconferences, a time-consuming and often confusing process. "We believe that our service will be immediately available to 99% of the analyst market because of JAVA's cross platform capabilities. Additionally, the software was created specifically for presentations, as opposed to others that were developed for more full featured collaboration that integrates video, audio, whiteboarding and other collaborative features that the majority of analysts do not need", said the chairman of FRB investor relations services.

Contigo Software President Tom Daniel said Contigo sought out a relationship with FRB because of the agency's leadership position in the investor relations market. "FRB is the world's largest public relations firm dedicated solely to investor relations, and financial analyst conferencing is one of our most important and strategic markets," Daniel said. "FRB also has a large number of clients in the high technology sector that are already using the Internet for many different applications, so we're confident that our technology will be adopted quickly by the agency's clientele."

Based in San Diego, California, Contigo Software is a developer and publisher of products for interactive, worldwide web-based collaborative communications and presentations. Contigo is dedicated to providing easy-to-use, cross platform software tools that introduce the human touch to web-based interaction. Contigo is a privately-held, venture-funded company.

The Financial Relations Board is the nation's oldest and largest Investor Relations agency, serving more than three percent of all listed public companies in the U.S.