PlaceWare Secures Firewall Patent

PlaceWare, which specializes in Web conferencing services for Internet-based business communications, Monday says it has secured a patent for one of its protocol technologies.

The Mountain View, Calif.-based company says the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office granted it U.S. Patent No. 6,289,461. The copyright is for PlaceWare’s bi-directional byte stream protocol and covers the method of traversing the corporate firewall, without compromising the security it provides.

“Patent registration is an important component of the company’s business plan,” says PlaceWare president and CEO Barry James Folsom. “Not only do patents serve as valuable corporate assets, but they also allow the company to maintain its competitive advantage in the industry.”

The Web conferencing industry as a whole has seen usage surge since the September 11 attacks as businesses look for alternatives to travel.

But PlaceWare has been around for a while. The company delivered its first Web based service in June, 1997 and the algorithm used for providing a high-speed method of traversing firewalls stands as a core component of the PlaceWare technology offering.

The company offers a suite of Web conferencing services that can accommodate business needs for small collaborative meetings to large online events with up to 2,500 participants.

“Our technology is built for business to business communication which requires speed, security and reliability,” says PlaceWare, Chief Internet Officer Gary O’Neall. “Our patented protocol provides for such requirements and is a key component in delivering reliable, scalable, and high performance web conferencing service.”