Near-Time Launches New Hosted Service

Near-Time, Inc. has officially launched the beta version of its namesake hosted collaboration service. With Near-Time, users can quickly launch workspaces that tap into the power of Weblogs, Wikis and group scheduling, giving groups an easy and secure way to share ideas, information and files over the Web. Near-Time was recognized in a recent industry report as one of the most promising Web 2.0 applications for 2006.

Near-Time combines the non-linear, ad hoc collaboration of Wikis with the time sensitive, broadcast nature of blogs, bringing these two distinct but important types of collaboration together. It gives small and mid-size businesses an easy and low cost way to collaborate via familiar metaphors that require no IT "care and feeding" or infrastructure investment. Larger enterprises can take advantage of Near-Time's standards-driven architecture to integrate with other collaborative tools and build interdepartmental and inter-enterprise collaboration hubs in a loosely coupled, agile way.

Users of Near-Time can create a collaborative community within seconds. Members of a workspace can privately collaborate and make some or all of their content publicly available. Approachability is ensured with an intuitive interface and a standards-based architecture. Users can access Near-Time via any modern browser, making it easy for organizations to collaborate externally and internally within existing environments.

Near-Time's support for standard Web organization schemes, including hypertext links, categories, and tags, gives users an easy way to discover, reuse and remix group content. Near-Time also leverages existing technologies such as Weblog APIs, email, RSS and Atom feeds, and XML to provide interoperability with existing applications and systems. For example, in addition to an internal notification system, email notifications and RSS feeds give teams a way to stay in synch on the latest developments.

"We are believers in the power of the new Web to transcend email and give groups a better way to work together," said Near-Time CEO Reid Conrad. "Our hosted model enables us to integrate powerful Web collaboration tools like Weblogs and Wikis in an approachable way, providing a better platform for organizations to share ideas, files and information. By creating a more interactive community that integrates content and context, we are giving people the tools they need to improve and accelerate service delivery, product development, information tracking and idea generation."

Near-Time has received positive feedback from early users of the service. These users were from 40 countries, and market segments spanning business, academic, governmental and non-profit.

For example, Doug Hudiburg is a Louisville, Colo.-based marketing consultant who uses Near-Time. Doug said in a recent email to the Near-Time staff: "I wanted to take a moment to tell you how happy I am with Near-Time as a communication and collaboration tool. I started with just one project and am rapidly making Near-Time a required component of all of my projects. It allows me to efficiently manage projects and helps me keep all of the information on a specific project in one central, accessible location. Since using Near-Time I have found that my personal productivity is enhanced, but more importantly, my clients are much more responsive in doing their part of projects. I no longer have to worry about my messages, updates, and requests getting lost in their overflowing email inboxes!"

Barbara K. Iverson, a professor of journalism at Columbia College in Chicago, uses Near-Time to enhance communications with students and other teachers. "Near-time is a critical hub for several of my classes," she said recently. "I use it to post assignments, answer questions from students and give them a forum to publish their stories online. Teachers use Near-Time to create shared resources and assignments. As someone who works online all the time, I like the fact that Near-Time lets me manage a number of spaces under a single framework and easily move from one space to another. Its free trial, low price point and ease-of-use are real wins for time and cost-constrained academic environments." Iverson is a specialist and recognized authority in blogging and online publishing.

About Near-Time
Near-Time is an innovator in advanced collaboration solutions. Near-Time leverages existing and emerging standards to deliver best of class collaboration services. Near-Time is in use in over 40 nations by hundreds of businesses, academic institutions, government agencies and non-profit organizations to maximize internal and external collaboration. www.near-time.com