The web conferencing and collaboration tools will also be part of Smart Online's next-generation service, OneBiz Conductor, which will be introduced in mid-February at DEMO, a conference that introduces products and services that ignite new technology markets and challenge the status quo.

"Smart Online customers are demanding cost-effective, productive conferencing and collaboration tools that allow users to share documents and work collaboratively on their Smart Online Applications," said Michael Nouri, chief executive officer and president of Smart Online. "Convoq provides a rich feature set and flat fee pricing, making it an attractive alternative to costly pay-as-you-go Web conferencing systems."

The partnership combines instant messaging, application-sharing, video conferencing, VoIP and other online conferencing and collaboration tools from Convoq with Web-native software from Smart Online for starting, running and growing a small business.

"Smart Online is a great vehicle for small business owners who may not have the resources for full-scale implementations of the technology they need to run their businesses," said Chuck Digate, chief executive officer and president of Convoq. "The partnership perfectly complements Convoq's strategy of delivering collaboration services to customers that fit their work habits and usage needs."

With flat fee monthly subscriptions for unlimited use, Smart Online customers will be able to:

- Sell prospects and collaborate with customers using video, audio, instant messaging and PowerPoint presentations;

- Reduce travel costs by holding sales meetings online to review forecasts and provide updates;

- Launch and demonstrate products and services, stage events and make corporate announcements with integrated video and VoIP;

- Train customers and employees by sharing applications and screens, complete with integrated annotation capabilities.

According to Tom Eid, a principal analyst with market researcher Gartner, more gains in the worldwide enterprise collaboration market are likely in 2005, with a 17.1 percent annual growth rate forecasted until 2008. This translates into more than $1 billion in new license revenue over the next four years.

Convoq is an innovative provider of communication and collaboration services. The company's flagship product, ASAP Pro, is the Web conferencing service for everyday meetings. Through its unique combination of presence detection and communication technologies, ASAP Pro empowers people to collaborate in a scheduled or ad hoc manner. ASAP Pro enables applications for instant messaging, instant access, video conferencing, presentations, product demonstrations and Webinars, that in turn provide solutions for sales, marketing, eLearning and project management/team collaboration.

Smart Online Inc., http://www.smartonline.com , is one of the pioneers of Web native applications and is the first vendor to offer a private label syndicated online business platform that enables Web delivery of critical applications and services for small-to-medium businesses. Smart Online led the industry by converting to Software-as-Service (SaS) Web delivery in 1999. Today, the company markets Web-based applications to customers via Smart Online's Web site and by private labeling its syndicated software services for use on large corporate Web sites in the financial services, media, manufacturing and telco industries.