SANTA CLARA - On-demand collaboration applications and services leader WebEx, now part of Cisco, today launched a new version of its Web meeting service for individual professionals, MeetMeNow. The new version adds personal video conferencing capabilities and one-click Web meetings from within the Microsoft Office productivity suite.

Priced at $49 per month, MeetMeNow (http://meetmenow.webex.com) is a cost-effective, easy-to-use solution for holding meetings on the Web. MeetMeNow integrates data, voice and video, allowing users to instantly launch highly interactive online meetings from the desktop, Microsoft Outlook and Office, and multiple instant messaging services. Delivered on the WebEx MediaTone Network, a global network specifically designed for the highly secure delivery of on-demand applications, MeetMeNow provides seamless video and desktop sharing without the net congestion or reliability problems frequently found in other Web meeting offerings.

With MeetMeNow, the user can:

• Share the entire desktop in real time, complete with rich annotation tools

• View Web meeting participants via integrated video conferencing

• Launch meetings directly from the Windows system tray, Microsoft Outlook and Office, Yahoo, MSN Messenger or AIM

• Access all of the features necessary to host effective online meetings from an always-available meeting control panel

• Invite attendees to join a conference call

• Pass control of documents or applications to any attendee in real time

"MeetMeNow puts the award-winning Web collaboration power of WebEx into the hands of the individual," said Ilan Kasan, director of product management, Cisco WebEx. "With the increasing prevalence of video hardware in entry-level personal computers, MeetMeNow can make face-to-face video meetings a reality for businesspeople in a company of any size. By adding tight integration with a productivity suite, WebEx allows users to launch meetings from within the context of their work."

New video capabilities help create a compelling face-to-face Web meeting experience. MeetMeNow automatically finds and configures a user's camera, making it an effortless process to begin using video. A meeting host can even switch between any of the meeting participants' video streams to create a virtual roundtable video experience. In addition, the MeetMeNow toolbar now integrates with the Microsoft Office suite, allowing users to launch a Web meeting while working on a document, spread sheet or presentation.