CosmoCom and IHS Helpdesk Partner to Introduce Live Help Desk Support Via the Internet

Team to Showcase CosmoCall at Support Services Conference & Expo in San Francisco

SAN FRANCISCO, CA, SEPTEMBER 8, 1998 -- CosmoCom (http://www.cosmocom.com) and IHS Helpdesk Service (http://www.ihshelpdesk.com) announced today the formation of a strategic partnership under which IHS plans to bring the benefits of CosmoCom’s new live contact-enabling technology, CosmoCall, to many of its help desk operations. Using CosmoCall, IHS customers will be able to break through the limits of traditional telephone-only communication and create help desks with not only telephone, but also live IP network-based communication and desktop sharing between users and help desk analysts.

IHS, which provides help desk insourcing and outsourcing to more than a hundred of the Fortune 1000, often provides all or part of the help desk software infrastructure as well. "Since we operate in so many different environments, we’ve seen and worked with just about every help desk and call center technology out there," said Eric Rabinowitz, President of IHS, "so we can definitely recognize a new technology that’s worth getting excited about. CosmoCall is a revolutionary, software-based IP call center technology that works as either a complete alternative or a seamless adjunct to traditional telephone call centers. We are confident that many of our customers can use CosmoCall to improve the efficiency and productivity of their help desks," Rabinowitz continued.

"This is a very exciting partnership for us," said Ari Sonesh, President of CosmoCom. "IHS brings its tremendous knowledge and experience in the help desk arena, and its large and prestigious customer base. CosmoCom brings a new technology that can reduce the total volume of live calls, give analysts the means to solve problems faster, and significantly lower the cost of communication, especially for distributed operations," Sonesh continued. "IHS and CosmoCom make an ideal team to introduce and popularize this technology in the help desk arena. It’s a natural fit that I am sure will bring great benefits to both partners."

IHS and CosmoCom will be showcasing their partnership and demonstrating CosmoCall in IHS’s Booth (1035) at the Support Services Conference and Expo at the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco, September 8-11.

About CosmoCom
CosmoCom was formed in 1995 to address a market opportunity within the Internet and Web revolution -- to provide a cost effective, enterprise-class technology to restore the human touch that might be lost as more consumers and businesses replaced traditional sales and service with Internet-based electronic commerce. As one of the first companies to recognize and respond to the need for a new generation of Internet-friendly call center technology, CosmoCom is both a technology and market leader in its field. Its patent-pending product CosmoCall™ is revolutionizing electronic commerce and electronic customer care by integrating live multimedia communication with Web and other network-based applications while also supporting traditional telephone-based access. CosmoCom was founded by former senior executives from Comverse Technology, a leading telecommunications equipment manufacture with over $600 million in global sales.

About IHS Helpdesk Service
IHS Helpdesk Service, Inc. is headquartered in New York City with offices in Atlanta, GA, Chicago, IL, Woodbridge, NJ and Toronto, Canada. Started in 1989, the company generated $16 million in revenue in fiscal 1998 handling insourcing and outsourcing of help desk agents for Fortune 1000 clients.