Trevose, PA — February 22, 2007 — WorldGate Communications, Inc.,(NASDAQ:WGAT), a leading provider of personal video phones, today announced that it is capable of interoperating with various video phones and soft clients using previous generation communications protocols and video and audio codecs. Specifically, Ojo, will now be able to communicate with video phones using H.263 and G729 video and audio codecs and will be able to utilize the H.323 communications protocol. This added functionality also provides the ability for video phone calls to be made between an Ojo and PC’s with web cam capabilities.
“We are confident that this interoperability will not only further the advancement of the video phone market, but also, Ojo’s market penetration and leadership position within that market,” said Hal Krisbergh, Chairman and CEO, WorldGate, “For WorldGate our highest priorities include getting video phones into as many homes as possible, and ensuring that the video phone of choice is an Ojo by providing consumers with the highest quality and competitively priced video telephony offering available.”
Through its implementation of the latest SIP communications protocol, as well as the H.264 video codec and iLBC audio codec, Ojo was able to demonstrate significantly improved levels of performance in video telephony. Previous generation video phones, however, typically used the H.323 communications protocol, the H.263 video codec, and the G729 audio codec, and were not capable of interoperability with the more advanced technologies used by Ojo.
Adding the ability for Ojo to make phone calls to these other video phones as well as the growing base of PC web cams further expands Ojo’s attractiveness as a video phone capable of communicating with a wide array of broadband devices on the market today. The superior Ojo quality will still be available in video calls from Ojo to Ojo.
This capability will be available to service providers that deploy Ojo as part of their overall service offerings. SNAP VRS, a subsidiary of Aequus technologies, will be the first company to implement the interoperability capability of the Ojo in March. This enables hearing impaired customers to use their existing video phones to call the SNAP VRS and allows rapid deployment of the Ojo videophone to this market. For the first time, Ojo customers will be able to directly call hearing impaired customers who use other video phones.
More information on WorldGate and Ojo personal video phones can be accessed at www.WGATE.com.
ABOUT WORLDGATE COMMUNICATIONS INC.
WorldGate Communications, Inc. designs, manufactures, and distributes the Ojo line of personal video phones. Ojo personal video phones offer high quality, real-time, two-way video communications with video messaging. The Ojo video phones are designed to conform to industry standard protocols and utilize enhancements to the latest technology for voice and video compression to achieve superior quality at data rates as low as 100 Kbps. WorldGate has been awarded a patent for its distinctive design and has other patents pending for its specialized technology. This unique combination of functional design, advanced technology and use of broadband networks provides real-time video communication experiences that bring families and friends closer together, and for the first time provides consumers with a high-quality, affordable video phone.
WorldGate is traded on NASDAQ under the symbol WGAT. WorldGate and Ojo are trademarks of WorldGate Service Inc. Any other trademarks used in this document are the property of their respective owners.
This press release may contain forward-looking statements that are made pursuant to the safe-harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Expressions of future goals and similar expressions including, without limitation, expressions using the terminology “may,” “will, “believes,” “plans,” “expects,” “anticipates” “predicts,” “forecasts,” and expressions which otherwise reflect something other than historical fact are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements involve a number of risks and uncertainties, including the timely development and market acceptance of products and technologies, the ability to fund operations or raise additional capital if needed and the other factors described in the Company’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The actual results may differ materially from any forward-looking statements due to such risks and uncertainties. No obligation is undertaken to revise or update any forward-looking statements in order to reflect events or circumstances that may arise after the date of this release.
Press Contact: Jay Morakis, jmorakis@23-31.com, 646-442-3363; WorldGate Contact: Jim McLaughlin, jmclaughlin@wgate.com, 215-354-5455}
