Asia PR News

CAMPBELL, Calif., Dec. 22 /PRNewswire-AsiaNet/ –

Festoon Unity Enables Users of Different Messaging Services to Talk to and See
Each Other

Today Santa Cruz Networks launched Festoon Unity, a new feature to its
wildly popular Festoon plug-in, uniting the world’s 453 million IM users. With
more than 3.7 million downloads and over 52 million video call user minutes,
Festoon is the first plug-in bringing users of different messaging services
together in group voice and video calls where they can talk to and see each
other. Users can also share content and engage in personalized video
experiences. Face-to-face communication in one-to-one calls or in large groups
of hundreds is better and more fun with Festoon.

"People don’t need to have the same email program or the same phone
service to send each other emails or call each other," says Itzik Cohen, CEO
of Santa Cruz Networks. "We believe it should be just as simple with voice and
video communications. Festoon Unity connects different Instant Messaging
services so that users can call each other across services as simply as
sending an instant message or email."

IM users all over the world use Festoon each day to see each other while
chatting, playing games, sharing pictures, or conducting business. All without
having to install another messaging service.

"We are pleased to be the first to connect Skype and Google Talk users,"
said Cohen. "With ubiquitous voice and video calls as the goal, in early 2006
we’ll be adding Festoon Unity support for AOL Instant Messenger (AIM), Yahoo!
Messenger and MSN Messenger. In addition we’ll be providing a series of web
services that anyone can use to quickly and easily add video communication to
their site."

With Festoon IM users can securely conduct voice and video calls in groups
up to the hundreds while sharing photos, spreadsheets, presentations, or
applications with others in the call. In future releases users will be able to
download additional video effects and personalized experiences, access our
library of camera personalities, wallpapers, and more. In addition to Festoon
Unity other new features in this product upgrade include significantly
improved video speed, voice and video synchronization, enhanced group audio,
automatic proxy support, and a number of new EyeCandy personalizations to name
a few.

Festoon is available at www.festooninc.com for free. Download it and join
the Sweetest EyeCandy Contest where the top entries win iPods for the best
EyeCandy pictures! A quick video showcasing Festoon’s EyeCandy effects can be
viewed at: http://www.festooninc.com/festoon_qt.asp . Festoon works on any
Windows 2000/XP PC with an 800 Mhz processor or greater running Skype
(www.skype.com) or Google Talk (www.google.com/talk).

About Santa Cruz Networks
Santa Cruz Networks is a California-based web application company focused
on developing the best possible real-time, on demand communications services
through its worldwide network. Its communication extensions have been embedded
in award-winning products and are used worldwide, serving hundreds of
thousands of users, and delivering billions of user minutes. Our Investors
include Draper Fisher Jurvetson (DFJ), Geneva Venture Partners and a number of
experienced Silicon Valley angel investors. For more information, visit
www.santacruznetworks.com or www.festooninc.com.

SOURCE Santa Cruz Networks Festoon

/CONTACT: Max Montgomery of Santa Cruz Networks, +1-831-239-9835, or
tothemax@santacruznetworks.com/
/Web site: http://www.festooninc.com/
/Web site: http://www.santacruznetworks.com/