Web Conferencing Provider Predicts Increasing Demand for Patent-Pending Technology That Automatically Calculates Carbon Emissions Savings of Online Meetings

PHOENIX (Business Wire EON) April 16, 2008 -- These days having a carbon savings “calculator” on your Web site is as ubiquitous as calling your company green because you recycle paper, but Phoenix-based Web conferencing firm iLinc (AMEX:ILC) has taken the guesswork out of CO₂ savings measurement by providing its customers with the industry’s first automatic IP address-based CO₂ savings application, built inside its Web conferencing software.

Web conferencing has the potential to significantly improve state employee productivity, reduce carbon emissions, avoid transportation costs, and increase collaboration between state and local officials in disparate parts of the state

The Web conferencing company’s Green Meter^TM uses a mathematical algorithm to detect the locations of the people that are attending a Web conference via IP address and measures the distance between the meeting participants and the meeting leader – calculating the exact amount of travel that is eliminated and measuring the amount of CO₂ saved by meeting via Web conference rather than traveling. The program recognizes what means of travel would commonly be used for the distance (such as car, small aircraft, large aircraft, etc.) and keeps a running tab of the CO₂ savings and its associated environmental and financial costs.

“It was during a lunch meeting some time ago with former Vice President Al Gore, a family friend from Tennessee, that I had what you might call an ‘aha’ moment,” said James M. Powers, Jr., iLinc’s President and Chief Executive Officer. “I then immediately went back to the office to get our product team working to develop the Green Meter inside the iLinc Web conferencing suite to make it a reality.”

Continued Powers, “We know there is a direct connection between Web conferencing software and environmental sustainability, so in an effort to help customers and support the worldwide movement to counteract global warming, we developed this tool to quantify the benefits of meeting online. A lot of Web sites have basic carbon calculators, but the iLinc Green Meter is a much more advanced application for measuring carbon emission savings.”

One organization seeing the benefits of the iLinc Green Meter is the State of Arizona. Across its 14 agencies currently using iLinc, the State of Arizona has saved 300,000 pounds of carbon emissions in the first quarter of 2008 alone.

“Web conferencing has the potential to significantly improve state employee productivity, reduce carbon emissions, avoid transportation costs, and increase collaboration between state and local officials in disparate parts of the state,” said Chris Cummiskey, Chief Information Officer for the State of Arizona and Director of the Government Information Technology Agency.

Increasing Demand

More organizations are increasing their awareness around environmental concerns, especially when it comes to travel. In a recent survey by the Association of Corporate Travel Executives:

• 35 percent of respondents said their company's travel department now is responsible for providing carbon emissions information, up from 20 percent in 2006,
• 36 percent reported reduced company travel as a measure for supporting sustainability, up from 23 percent a year earlier.

According to the American Express Global Business Travel Forecast released in late 2007, companies are expected to increase the focus on responsible business travel practices related to the environment.

iLinc’s Green Meter comes standard with iLinc version 9.0 and includes a variety of tools to help companies monitor and report their carbon savings. iLinc customers have saved a combined one billion pounds of CO₂ so far and that number is expected to grow exponentially as more and more customers upgrade to the latest iLinc version.

To view and download a hi-res screen shot of the iLinc Green Meter visit http://www.ilinc.com/images/product/ilinc9/green-meter-in-session.jpg.

Blog: iLinc Blog

Multimedia: iLinc ‘Web Conferencing Smock’ Video, iLinc flickr page

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About iLinc

iLinc is a leading provider of Web conferencing software and audio conferencing solutions for highly secure and cost-effective online meetings, presentations, and training sessions. The Company's technology allows people in diverse locations to communicate and collaborate online while avoiding the expense, environmental damage, and productivity losses associated with travel. iLinc provides an award-winning, enterprise-wide suite of Web, audio and video conferencing solutions that can be scaled up or down to meet the needs of any size organization. Offering the industry's most flexible pricing models, iLinc gives organizations the power to choose an on-premise installed, on-demand hosted, or hybrid solution—whichever model delivers the highest ROI for the customer. iLinc is headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona, with offices in Troy, New York and Salt Lake City, Utah.

iLinc, iLinc Communications, iLinc Suite, MeetingLinc, LearnLinc, ConferenceLinc, SupportLinc, EventPlus, and their respective logos are trademarks of iLinc Communications, Inc. All other company names and products may be trademarks of their respective companies.

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