MADISON, Wis., Jan. 22 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Sonic Foundry, Inc. (NASDAQ: SOFO), the recognized market leader for rich media webcasting and knowledge management, today announced the company and its product, Mediasite, have been recognized by Wainhouse Research as a market leader in streaming and lecture capture solutions for distance education and e-Learning markets.

The WR study series, The Distance Education and e-Learning Landscape, provides a broad overview of today's state of the distance education and e-Learning markets. It focuses on those companies that offer some type of strategic differentiation or go-to-market messaging unique to one of three major markets: corporate training, higher education or K-12. Volume 2 of the study assesses videoconferencing, streaming, and lecture capture solutions in educational and training environments, describing capabilities, applications, benefits, market size, and major players. Among the criteria used for evaluation are innovation, market understanding, overall viability, product strategy, and customer experience.

According to the report, Sonic Foundry ranks highest from the perspective of depth of overall blend of products and among the leaders in ability to execute. The report goes on to list distinct reasons for Sonic Foundry's strength in education, including:

    --  It has a mature product that "benefits from lengthy development
        time and multiple enhancements.
    --  Mediasite is focused on on-demand access, which supports any combination
        of blended learning, e-Learning, or distance learning, while balancing
        the needs of in-room or local students. The value of that balance cannot
        be overstated, as it makes it versatile for both distance learning as
        well as everyday, local campus use."
    --  The company has been "savvy in product design and direction."

"Sonic Foundry has secured its position as a market leader with Mediasite, a strong and mature product that puts content at the instructor's and learner's fingertips. With the release of Mediasite 5.0, the company delivered new features desired by the market at the right point in time to encourage adoption," said report author Alan Greenberg, Senior Analyst & Partner at Wainhouse Research. "Learners now have the flexibility to control when, where, and how they access training and course material. These tools are receiving overwhelmingly high marks for their effectiveness and their ability to enable interactions between educators and learners in new ways. Mediasite should be on anyone's short list of a full-featured, rich media platform."

"We appreciate being recognized as a market leader in this Wainhouse report. Over the years we've worked hard to deliver the webcasting solutions that help our customers bridge time and distance," said Rimas Buinevicius, chairman and CEO of Sonic Foundry. "To be represented in this influential industry report is validation of Sonic Foundry's strengths in the emerging e-Learning market. We look forward to continuing to enhance Mediasite in ways that enable enterprise-wide adoption as well as allow entry-level users to experience the benefits of real-time web collaboration."

To view an excerpt of the report, please visit www.sonicfoundry.com/wainhouse.

About Wainhouse Research

Wainhouse Research provides insight and intelligence into the global markets for audio, web (data), and video conferencing, real-time Unified Communications, enterprise streaming and webcasting, and enterprise social networking. The company publishes public and private studies, speaks at industry events and private company events, and provides strategic consulting to both industry vendors and end user organizations. Wainhouse Research conferences in the US and Europe provide a forum for the industry to discuss critical issues for industry growth. For more information please visit www.wainhouse.com.

About Sonic Foundry(R), Inc.

Sonic Foundry (NASDAQ: SOFO) is the global leader for rich media webcasting and knowledge management, providing enterprise communication solutions for more than 1,200 customers in education, business and government. Powered by Mediasite, the patented webcasting platform which automates the capture, management, delivery and search of lectures, online training and briefings, Sonic Foundry empowers people to transform the way they communicate. Through the Mediasite platform and its Events Services group, the company helps customers connect a dynamic, evolving world of shared knowledge and envisions a future where learners and workers around the globe use webcasting to bridge time and distance, accelerate research and improve performance.

Certain statements contained in this news release regarding matters that are not historical facts may be forward-looking statements. Because such forward-looking statements include risks and uncertainties, actual results may differ materially from those expressed in or implied by such forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially include, but are not limited to, uncertainties pertaining to continued market acceptance for Sonic Foundry's products, its ability to succeed in capturing significant revenues from media services and/or systems, the effect of new competitors in its market, integration of acquired business and other risk factors identified from time to time in its filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Web site: http://www.sonicfoundry.com/
http://www.wainhouse.com//