Companies taking advantage of these new capabilities can provide consumers with a host of customized tools, ranging from secure RSS feeds and targeted promotional widgets to secure, transactional widgets for managing accounts

December 17, 2008

4 Min Read

PRESS RELEASE

NEW YORK, US and PARIS, FRANCE " December 16, 2008 " WorkLight' Inc., the Secure Web 2.0 for Business Company, and Netvibes, the leading widget and personalized startpage platform, today announced a partnership to provide companies with a secure, enterprise-grade widget solution to do business with customers, partners, and employees. The partnership combines the power of universal distribution capabilities of Netvibes' Universal Widget API (UWA) and personalized startpage platform, with the enterprise-grade Web 2.0 security resources of WorkLight Server, enabling customers and businesses to search for and purchase products and services, track order shipments, share secure information, and conduct other secure actions using Netvibes widgets and startpages.

Companies taking advantage of these new capabilities can provide consumers with a host of customized tools, ranging from secure RSS feeds and targeted promotional widgets to secure, transactional widgets for managing accounts, and more. An apparel retailer could offer its customers a new to search inventory and buy items directly from a secure widget. Similarly, a bank customer could track credit card payments, transfer funds and respond to marketing offers using the WorkLight Server's ability to securely connect to business and enterprise systems behind the firewall, made available within Netvibes' robust startpage and widget platform.

The partnership echoes what several industry experts have called "a return to the personalized consumer online experience". "I believe that demand for a cost-effective, customisable, consumer experience within the enterprise is growing." said Richard Edwards, Information Management Practice Director at Butler Group. "It will be interesting to track the uptake of secure transactional widgets within the consumer and corporate market, and the impact it will have on how business is conducted online; because after all, every corporate employee is also a consumer." By engaging customers where they spend their time online, businesses will extend their business reach beyond their own website and benefit in the following ways:

* Generate new revenue by delivering innovative, transactional widgets that increase customer activities * Significantly cut costs of doing major business portal overhaul by leveraging a "drop in" robust personalized homepage architecture that is installed securely within the data center * Acquire new, and retain current customers by offering improved service in the places they are already spending their time online "Secure widget transactions with WorkLight will open up a tidal wave of new business and ecommerce opportunities with consumers," said Freddy Mini, Netvibes CEO. "With more than a thousand major media and brand partners, we've already proven that widgets are the best way to establish long-term engagement with users, with an average widget lifespan of several months. Now imagine conducting real, secure sales and transactions with consumers every day over that entire period. This revolutionizes the way businesses will view widgets and the way they do business online."

"By meeting consumers where they are spending their time online, we believe that companies will continue to introduce consumer Web tools into the organization, as part of their business toolbox," said Shahar Kaminitz, WorkLight CEO and Co-Founder. "Netvibes' secure homepage platform, coupled with our ability to securely interact with enterprise systems and corporate applications, provides companies with the capabilities to offer customers secure services, like buying products, via Web 2.0 gadgets running on their own branded homepage platform."

About WorkLight' WorkLight' Inc. develops server software products that help businesses reach customers, channels, employees, and partners securely in the places they frequent online, such as iGoogle, Windows Live, desktop widgets, RSS readers, Facebook, the Apple iPhone and more. Through WorkLight, people effortlessly get valuable information they desire, such as account status, product availability, or updates about their latest transactions. They can then take actions, for example order products or services, respond to promotions or offers, and consult with colleagues, without having to log into a portal or corporate web site. As such, WorkLight transforms consumer interfaces into enterprise-grade business tools that directly increase revenue.

WorkLight is a venture-backed company with offices in New York, London and Israel. WorkLight has received prestigious industry accolades including being named as one of the "Five Enterprise 2.0 Startups to Watch," by InformationWeek magazine, selected as part of CIO Magazine's Web 2.0 Product Suite, singled out with an honourable mention as one of Computerworld's "10 Cool Cutting-edge Technologies on the Horizon." For more information, visit www.myWorkLight.com.

About Netvibes (http://business.netvibes.com) Founded in 2005, Netvibes pioneered the personalized startpage as alternative to traditional web portals. Today, Netvibes is a global community of users who are taking control of their digital lives by personalizing their web experience. Netvibes lets individuals assemble all in one place their favorite widgets, websites, blogs, email accounts, social networks, search engines, instant messengers, photos, videos, podcasts, and everything else they enjoy on the Web.

Netvibes helps the world's top brands, marketing agencies and developers create cross-platform widgets, guarantee distribution and installation across a global audience of widget users on Netvibes.com, and deploy custom branded widget startpage portals within their own Web properties. Netvibes has offices in Paris, London and San Francisco.

Press Contacts WorkLight Europe: Darshna Kamani Eskenzi PR for WorkLight

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