HAMBURG, Germany, June 13, 2005 (PRIMEZONE) -- Since the launch of the openBC.com platform in November 2003, there has been an extremely enthusiastic uptake of the service by business people and networking professionals alike, leading to rapid growth in membership numbers in more than 200 countries. Recently the total number of openBC members decisively broke through 500,000 users and future growth is forecasted to accelerate as more and more business professionals find out just how effective openBC is in gaining them new business opportunities.
openBC's target is clear--the business networking platform has set its sights on having 10 million global members using openBC technology by 2007.
Ongoing development and the internationalisation of the openBC platform for global markets are financed internally and, thanks to the company's profitable business model, openBC is certainly here to stay. A key indicator of openBC's success is the steady growth of paying premium customers which continues to increase in line with the overall growth in the global openBC membership figures.
"Each month we are seeing continued double-digit growth in new member enrollments. In order to achieve our ambitious goals, we are now looking to grow more quickly in America as well as many Asian countries. We are also developing the full potential of our Private Club service -- which is an ASP, licensed, white label version of openBC," says Lars Hinrichs, founder and CEO of openBC.
By expanding the openBC product line from the original business networking platform to embrace "Private Clubs", openBC has gained access to many new and exclusive user groups. Such groups are seeking to provide enhanced benefits for their users thereby improving their service delivery and customer knowledge base. The white label strategy sets openBC clearly apart from other social software providers, who only offer closed user group networking as an add-on to their primary platform, which does not permit the user group to preserve its own unique brand identity.
openBC is designed for use across all industry sectors as well as internationally. The 16 languages currently available on openBC allow members to network and conduct business development on a local and international basis and our research tells us that most business deals are concluded locally and currently more than 71% of openBC's users communicate in their primary local language.
openBC also employs a unique SSL encrypted messaging system for member communication. Therefore there is no need to give out your email address when using openBC. In addition to the advanced openBC messaging system providing a range of user specified privacy settings, not revealing your email address has the side benefit of protecting members from any unwanted email such as spam, advertising and marketing campaigns.
openBC's business model is driven by revenues from a monthly Euro 5.95 membership fee giving premium members a comprehensive range of networking features to allow you to leverage your crucial 2nd degree of contacts. Free membership is also offered with a reduced set of features.