First Step in Strategic Relationship
MILPITAS, Calif., Nov. 2 /PRNewswire/ --
GRIC Communications, Inc. (Nasdaq: GRIC), the leading provider of multiple value-added Internet services for service providers and corporate enterprises, and NHancement Technologies Inc. (Nasdaq: NHAN), a leading provider of unified communications and unified information (UC/UI), today announced their plans to jointly provide service providers and corporate customers with what is believed to be the first globally accessible unified communications connectivity solution.
NHancement plans to integrate GRIC's global Internet remote access solution, GRICtraveler(TM), with its UC/UI portal. By integrating GRICtraveler (including a customized version of GRIC's dialer software) with NHancement's leading UC/UI portal, NHancement plans to deliver a new solution that enables corporate enterprise users to access their e-mail, voice mail, and fax messages easily, inexpensively and securely via the Internet, from more than 150 countries. This new integrated service offering is expected to be available initially for users in North America during the first quarter of 2001.
Unified communications is the convergence of telephony services, such as voice mail, telephony, and fax, and Internet services, such as e-mail. In a recent research report, U.S. Unified Messaging Markets, the research firm of Frost and Sullivan estimated the market for these types of services in the U.S. alone would grow to more than $5 billion by 2006 from less than $400 million in 1999.
The agreement recently concluded by the companies is the first step in a broader strategic relationship intended to leverage GRIC's other IP-enhanced service capabilities and NHancement's UC/UI portal to deliver global IP connectivity and communication solutions to corporations. The companies are exploring programs for jointly marketing these solutions to the GRIC Alliance of more than 400 service providers representing millions of subscribers and NHancement's existing base of more than 1,000 customer installations.
"The development of a strategic relationship with NHancement is a key element in our Value Added Services (VAS) strategy," said Dr. Hong Chen, chief executive officer of GRIC. "As the leading provider of multiple IP-based services, it is our goal to deliver best of class solutions to our customers, helping them to expand their own customer relationships and generate additional revenue streams. NHancement's decision to provide the GRICtraveler solution to its corporate customers further validates the strength of GRIC's value proposition."
"NHancement and GRIC have numerous synergies that can be utilized in the service provider and corporate marketplaces, including a strong relationship with Cisco," said Doug Zorn, NHancement Technologies' president and CEO. "The focus of our relationship is product integration and joint marketing. By integrating NHancement's and GRIC's systems, we plan to create a comprehensive offering to the ISP marketplace that is expected to create many opportunities to earn significant monthly recurring revenue streams for both companies."
"GRIC and NHancement are leading telephony application service providers, now working together to deliver value added services that will drive VoIP traffic over their Cisco powered networks," said Alistair Woodman, director of marketing, packet telephony division at Cisco. "We are extremely pleased to see NHancement and GRIC collaborate and take advantage of each other's strengths."
About NHancement Technologies Inc.:
NHancement Technologies Inc., a Cisco Powered Network applications provider, is a software applications and services company that specializes in unified communications and unified information (UC/UI) solutions. This includes facilitation of an enterprise's electronic business transactions and customer service interactions. Ranked 18 on Deloitte & Touche's "Fast 50" list of Silicon Valley's fastest growing technology companies, NHancement offers a range of computer telephony products and services that work in both Internet-enabled environments and over standard telephone lines.
NHancement's products facilitate client use of telephone, e-mail, faxing, paging and Web-based communications to keep in touch with customers and with one another. NHancement Technologies also provides customized software development to accommodate each client enterprise's individualized needs. For more information, please visit http://www.nhan.com .
About GRIC Communications, Inc.
GRIC Communications, Inc. is the worldwide leader in delivering multiple IP-based services on a single, open standards-based platform to service providers and corporate enterprises. Combining state-of-the-art technology with its managed global GRIC Alliance Network(TM) of more than 400 service providers, GRIC delivers access and termination for IP telephony (voice and prepaid), remote Internet access, PC-to-phone solutions, and corporate secure remote access around the world. Winner of Frost & Sullivan's 2000 Market Engineering Award Recipient for Customer Service Leadership in the global Internet roaming market, GRIC is headquartered in Milpitas, Calif., and has offices in the U.S., Asia and Europe. Visit GRIC at http://www.GRIC.com .
This news release may include "forward-looking" statements, including projections within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. For example, statements in the future tense are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are based on information available to GRIC and NHancement at the time of the release and neither company assumes any obligation to update any such forward-looking statements. The statements in this release are not guarantees of future performance and actual results could differ materially from the companies' current respective expectations as a result of many factors, including GRIC's limited operating history with corporate customers which makes it difficult to predict its performance, unpredictable difficulties in the parties' ability to establish and maintain a strategic relationship with one another, difficulties and delays that may be encountered by the parties in integrating each other's solutions, the unpredictability of the timing and extent of adoption of the companies' bundled solution by corporate customers, the risks that the markets in which the companies compete do not grow as expected and anticipated revenues will not be realized, and uncertainty whether compelling alternate UC/UI technologies will become available in the near future. These and other risks and uncertainties associated with GRIC's and NHancement's businesses are detailed in the companies' most recent respective reports on Form 10-K and Form 10-Q on file with the SEC and available through www.sec.gov.
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