WASHINGTON, D.C.– August 11, 2003 – Bantu Inc., the premier provider of secure enterprise instant messaging (EIM) solutions, announced today that the International Broadcasting Bureau (IBB), which provides the engineering support for U.S. government-funded non-military international broadcast services, is rolling out Bantu EIM to its worldwide group of broadcast engineers. The Bantu Platform’s secure IM, Alerts and Presence capabilities will enable IBB engineers to instantly collaborate on emergency developments and resolve issues that could compromise broadcast reliability.

Because people around the world depend on IBB for ‘round-the-clock news, IBB needs to ensure its programs are continually available. A comprehensive IM system can help make this possible by enabling IBB broadcast engineers to immediately communicate about critical events, while providing the security, reliability and easy access needed for 24x7 collaboration. The Bantu Platform gives IBB engineers an emergency path for collaboration from any personal computer.

IBB chose to deploy Bantu as an application service hosted and provided by Bantu. This subscription service is a highly secure, reliable and low-overhead deployment option that appeals to government agencies that want the benefits of EIM without having to apply resources to managing it.

IBB broadcasts, including Voice of America, Worldnet Television and Film Service, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Radio Free Asia, Radio and Television Marti, Radio Sawa and Radio Farda, are translated into 53 languages and relayed around the world. To help ensure broadcasts reach all intended audiences, engineers responsible for ensuring transmission of the programs will use Bantu Alert (instant notifications) and Presence (see who is online by viewing names or job functions) to immediately become aware of and respond to problems, thereby enabling the highest levels of broadcast reliability.

For example, an engineer at a Middle East relay station that isn’t receiving a key broadcast may click on the Master Control/Washington, D.C. contact, who is responsible for transmitting broadcasts from their origination point to all relay stations around the world. The Master Control engineer can then initiate a private, secure conference room with all people necessary to quickly troubleshoot the problem. Bantu’s web-based architecture enables users to access the EIM and participate in collaborative sessions any time, anywhere—a critical benefit for IBB. Equally important in emergency situations where people make rapid decisions, engineers can refer back to their conference room transcripts saved through Bantu’s message logging capabilities, to confirm action items and responsibilities.

“Bantu EIM provides tremendous operational benefits to organizations like IBB, which must resolve system issues as fast as possible,” said Larry Schlang, president and CEO of Bantu. “By providing maximum security and reliability, the Bantu Platform ensures IBB broadcast engineers can always access the real-time collaboration tools needed to maintain the high service levels upon which IBB audiences depend.”

IBB joins Bantu’s growing list of U.S. government customers including the Army, Navy, Air Force, Department of Commerce and Federal Emergency Management Agency.

About Bantu, Inc.: Headquartered in Washington, D.C., Bantu is a pioneer in Enterprise Instant Messaging and leading provider of EIM solutions to the government and commercial markets. The Bantu IM, Presence & Alerting Platform enhances real-time communication and collaboration, resulting in greater productivity and operational effectiveness. Bantu is highly secure and scalable, platform-independent, interoperable, and easily integrates into any application or service. Bantu's customers and partners include the U.S. Army, U.S. Navy, U.S. Air Force, Federal Emergency Management Agency, Sprint, Strong Financial, The George Washington University, Johns Hopkins University, Lockheed Martin, SAIC, Booz Allen Hamilton, Citrix and Blackboard.
(www.bantu.com)