Granicus Press Releases

Granicus, Inc. Ranked Number 185 Fastest Growing Company on Deloitte's 2009 Technology Fast 500T

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Attributes its 736% Revenue Growth to Government Transparency Initiatives

San Francisco, CA, October 26, 2009 - Granicus, Inc., the leading provider of government webcasting and public meeting software, ranked 185 on the Technology Fast 500T, Deloitte LLP's ranking of 500 of the fastest growing technology, media, telecommunication, life sciences and clean technology companies in North America. Rankings are based on percentage of fiscal year revenue growth during the five year period from 2004-2008. Granicus grew 736% during this period and brought more than 400 public agencies meetings online.

Granicus CEO and co-founder, Tom Spengler, credits employee efforts and dedication, client retention and an increased interest in government transparency with the company's revenue growth over the past five years. "As the industry leader, we have a reliable and referable solution built on client feedback. Government agencies still turn to us to provide streaming media and tools for a more successful meeting environment while improving citizen participation. We are honored to once again receive this recognition and I want to recognize our clients for bringing government transparency to the forefront and our team for their hard work in making Granicus the trusted name it is today," Spengler said. Granicus previously ranked 97 as a Deloitte Technology Fast 500T award winner in 2008.

Granicus' technology allows citizens to watch live and on-demand, keyword searchable government meetings from any location with internet access. Increasing government transparency through streaming media technologies, citizen engagement, and participation is inherent to the Granicus mission. The company serves over 550 government agencies, hosting more government meetings than any other company. The company's client statistics page provides details on the number of webcast views per day and the most popular webcasts from the past 10 days. On average, Granicus streams 200,000 public webcasts a day.

Technology Fast 500T Selection and Qualifying Criteria
Technology Fast 500T award winners for 2009 are selected based on percentage fiscal year revenue growth from 2004 to 2008 with base-year operating revenues of at least $50,000 USD or CD, and current-year operating revenues of at least $5 million USD or CD. These revenues must have more than doubled between 2004 and 2008. Companies must own proprietary intellectual property or proprietary technology that contributes to a significant portion of the company's operating revenues. Additionally, companies must be in business for a minimum of five years, and be headquartered within North America.

About Granicus
Granicus, Inc. is the leading provider of comprehensive government solutions that improve transparency, public participation, and collaboration over the Web. Granicus offers a platform for public agencies to create, manage, and distribute live and on-demand streaming media content. The technology was built to support and enhance public meeting communications, internal trainings, citizen engagement, and public education programs while reducing staff time and costs.

About Deloitte
As used in this document, "Deloitte" means Deloitte LLP. Please see www.deloitte.com/about for a detailed description of the legal structure of Deloitte LLP and its subsidiaries.

PR Contact: Aileen Horgan, Granicus, Inc, 415-357-3618 x1753 aileenh@grancius.com

Tennessee's General Assembly's website is honored as the best in the country

Fri, 24 Jul 2009 00:00:00 GMT

PHILADELPHIA - The Tennessee General Assembly took home the award for the nation's top legislative website this week during the National Conference of State Legislatures' 2009 Legislative Summit in Philadelphia.

NCSL's Online Democracy Award is given each year to a legislature, legislative chamber or caucus whose website stands out for making democracy user-friendly.

"We are thrilled with the recognition that this award brings. This a special honor because of the type of award that it is, and coming from the organization presenting it," said Steve Krigish, director of Office of Legislative Information Services." Our new website is a culmination of the efforts of many people-a team effort."

The Tennessee website, www.capitol.tn.gov, stood out for its ease of navigation, depth of content and openness, and availability of information to the public. Key features of Tennessee's website that contributed to this year's award include:

Prominent educational resources;
Well-organized information;
A simple, fresh design;
Integration of archived streaming video clips with agendas and bill information.

The Online Democracy Award is sponsored by two of NCSL's staff organizations-the National Association of Legislative Information Technology (NALIT) and the Legislative Information and Communications Staff (LINCS). Previous winners of the NCSL Online Democracy award include the legislatures in Utah, Minnesota and Texas.

King County Council Among National Leaders in Providing Online Access to its Meetings

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Top 10 ranking in number of webcasts posted demonstrates government transparency

In connection with National Sunshine Week, an initiative to promote open government, the Metropolitan King County Council has been recognized for being among the top 10 governments in the nation in posting public meetings and other webcasts online via the Granicus system.

"Making government more transparent and accessible is one of our highest priorities as a council," said Council Chair Dow Constantine. "The more meaningful information we can put online, the more we can encourage citizen involvement and participation."

"Use of this technology makes it easier for citizens to jump to particular agenda items in our meeting videos, so they can see just what they want without having to search through an entire meeting," said Councilmember Jane Hague, Vice Chair for Administration and Finance.

All King County Council and Committee meetings held in chambers are streamed live online through the Council's Web site and archived videos of past meetings are available on demand. The videos are posted through the Granicus system, which integrates with the Council's online Legisearch database so that citizens who call up an online agenda can click on automated bookmarks in archived video streams to see the discussion of specific items.

The King County Council ranks among the Top 10 on a national list that aggregates and tracks webcasting data from more than 500 government agencies affiliated with Granicus. The Council posted 517 webcasts of its meetings and other public policy programming in 2008, the first year that the Council has been webcasting with Granicus. Since inception the number of videos viewed monthly has grown to more than 2,220 unique views, with the most popular program being the recent Video Voters Guide for the new King County Director of Elections.

"King County's use of this technology allows constituents to access county information with the click of a button, furthering the goal of transparent governance," said Councilmember Bob Ferguson.

"It is amazing how many people tell me in the grocery store, at the bus stop and around the county that they watched the Council online or on KCTV and saw various issues being discussed," said Councilmember Kathy Lambert. "King County provides some of the most basic of all government functions, from buses to courts and jails, and it is wonderful to enable citizens to participate in our democracy by watching from the comfort of their homes at all hours of the day and night and seeing for themselves how we are working for them."

The project was developed and implemented by King County TV, the Clerk of the Council, and the Council's offices of Administration, Information Technology, and Communications.

King County Council meetings are also carried live and replayed regularly on King County TV, the County's government access channel on Cable Channel 22 throughout the county.

"I am very impressed with the work the King County Council has done to increase government transparency," says Tom Spengler, co-founder and CEO of San Francisco-based Granicus, Inc, which combines webcasting with public meeting management technology into a single workflow that decreases administrative costs and simplifies public recordkeeping. "The quantity, depth, and accessibility of streaming media content on its Web site truly displays its leadership in creating an environment in which citizens feel more connected to their government. We look forward to working with the Council to put even more public meetings, hearings, and other content online."

The company is in the midst of its "Drive to a Million" initiative, an effort to bring one million public meetings online in support of the Obama Administration's goal of creating an unprecedented level of openness in government.

National Sunshine Week is a broad initiative to open a dialogue about the importance of open government and freedom of information. Participants include print, broadcast and online news media, civic groups, libraries, non-profits, schools and others interested in the public's right to know. Sunshine Week is led by the American Society of Newspaper Editors and is funded primarily by a challenge grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation of Miami.

To see the Council's webcasts in action, visit:
www.kingcounty.gov/council

To learn more about National Sunshine Week, visit:
www.sunshineweek.org

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Dallas City Meetings Now Online and On Demand

Mon, 13 Oct 2008 00:00:00 GMT

For more information contact:
Frank Librio - PIO
(214) 670-3322

For Immediate Release
October 13, 2008

Dallas, TX - Dallas residents are now able to watch local City meetings broadcast live on the Internet. Users can also instantly replay of all or part of those meetings at their convenience through a link on their city's web site (www.dallascityhall.com).

"The City of Dallas has made open government a priority," said City Manager Mary K. Suhm. "We are excited about this new web site feature as further example of our ongoing efforts to increase public input and involvement in government."

The new on-line service is powered by San Francisco-based Granicus, Inc., the premier provider of government webcasting and public meeting management solutions to over 450 government agencies spanning 43 states across the nation.

Deployment of the system will be in stages over the next several months. The Granicus solution includes streaming software to capture, manage, store and distribute online video recordings. In addition, the video webpage will eventually include an agenda keyword search so users can simply search for an issue they are interested in watching. Also, the video player window will include the meeting agenda with direct links to access specific agenda item discussions within the archived meeting. Archived meetings will generally be available for viewing by the morning after the meeting takes place. Meetings will be archived and available for viewing for one year.

"This is a landmark installation for us in the state of Texas," said Michael Osuna, Southcentral Regional Director. "Despite today's challenging economy, Dallas is among the leaders in a larger local government movement towards improved transparency and accountability. We are proud of this partnership and what it means for the open availability of government information," Osuna added.

City meetings that are currently cablecast on the Dallas City Channel (Time Warner Cable Channel 16 and Verizon Cable Channel 47) will still be seen live on those channels and replayed at their regular times.

About Granicus
Founded in 1999, San Francisco-based Granicus, Inc. helps government reach staff and constituents without barriers. Public agencies trust our webcasting solutions to enable vital improvements to public access, staff efficiency, and government accountability. In addition, the combination of webcasting with public meeting management technology into a single workflow decreases administrative costs and simplifies public recordkeeping tasks. Granicus provides the most comprehensive online public records retention system available and manages the world's largest government webcasting network, securely and reliably bringing vital government information closer to the people.

Contact
Lauren Alexander, Corporate Communications Manager, Granicus, Inc.,
415-357-3618 x1788

###

Another City Discovers the Cost Benefits of the Granicus Legislative Management Solutions

Fri, 05 Nov 2004 00:00:00 GMT

Streaming Video of Public Meetings

As cities and counties use the Granicus Legislative Management Solution for streaming public meetings, they discover a return-on-investment from multiple sources. For example, in a recent recommendation to the City Council, City Manager, Phil Kamlarz stated, "The Council video-streaming initiative has decreased the costs of responding to incoming requests for City Council meeting information by up to 75%". He went on to indicate how this has also increased resident participation in the government and community decision-making process.

The link to the full Recommendation to the Berkeley City Council is available here as a PDF.

Local government agencies chose the Granicus solution because it is designed specifically for city and county governments and meets specific public sector needs. Particularly beneficial is a group of unique features that automates the creation of a searchable index with "jump points" based on agenda items for navigating a video archive. The resulting searchable index has proven beneficial for public meetings, workshops, public safety information, and other training programs. The searchable index of public meetings is a benefit to community members and city staff who refer to meeting archives for clarification of City issues.

About Granicus
Founded in 1999, San Francisco-based Granicus, Inc. helps government reach staff and constituents without barriers. Public agencies trust our webcasting solutions to enable vital improvements to public access, staff efficiency, and government accountability. In addition, the combination of webcasting with public meeting management technology into a single workflow decreases administrative costs and simplifies public recordkeeping tasks. Granicus serves more than 400 governing bodies in 44 states, building close connections with more than 30% of the American population.

Contact
Lauren Alexander
Corporate Communications Manager
415-357-3618 x1788

Granicus Uses ISV to Boost Government Accountability with Software-plus-Services Solution

Mon, 12 Oct 2009 00:00:00 GMT

The Internet is a powerful tool for government agencies that wish to provide timely, accurate information to constituents. However, constraints such as costs, limited resources for IT administration, and connectivity issues sometimes hamper the ability of public organizations to use the Web to its fullest potential. Granicus, a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner, tackled the problem by creating a suite of solutions using a software-plus-services approach based on Microsoft technologies. The resulting products provide government agencies with the speed and flexibility of locally installed software and the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of hosted solutions.

Situation

Information is the lifeblood of effective public government. In the past decade, government agencies of every size have adopted Internet-based technology and content to keep the public informed about their activities. The ongoing challenge has been balancing the need to efficiently deliver information without overwhelming the IT capabilities of agencies that typically operate under tight budgets and have limited administrative staff.

Granicus is a San Francisco-based company that helps nearly 600 local and state government agencies tackle this challenge. Founded in 1999, the company has achieved steady growth over the years by providing comprehensive streaming media and public meeting management solutions. These combine software, hardware, IT infrastructure components, and Granicus expertise to help government agencies create, manage, and distribute live and on-demand media content over the Internet.

Granicus customers, including major cities such as Miami and Los Angeles, agencies such as the Port of Oakland, California, and the New York State Liquor Authority, and urban counties use the company's solutions to increase transparency and staff efficiency.

Granicus has developed an Internet-based platform and software solution to integrate with the legislative processes of government, helping to capture and distribute internal training or public meeting webcasts live and on-demand. It also helps to digitally manage live public meeting operations and legislative information with greater efficiency.

During any public meeting-for example, city council or board of commissioners meetings, or legislative floor sessions-Granicus clients use its MinutesMaker software or its Open Platform Software Development Kit to integrate the agency's own legislative information systems in order to digitally capture public meeting activities such as motions, votes, or amendments. Automatic timestamps link streaming audio and video files with agenda items in real time.

The result is a digital repository that Granicus calls an "integrated public record" of audio/video streaming media, minutes, agendas, staff reports, or full bill information. All of the information is cross-linked, searchable by keywords, and available on the client's website. An application called Granicus MediaManager, which is hosted by Granicus, manages all of the streaming media operations.

When Granicus started providing its streaming solutions, it focused on offering purely hosted services that government entities accessed over the Internet. But that soon proved to be problematic.

"Many government agencies-and local governments in particular-often have problems with their Internet connectivity," says Tom Spengler, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Granicus. "Some of our clients are small municipalities that have just one DSL connection and no one to manage their IT systems or Internet connections. The big problem that we heard about was about agencies that would simply lose their Internet connection due to, say, a fiber cable being accidently cut or an Internet service provider issue that caused them to go offline. Our customers are often at the mercy of their Internet connection, and if that goes down, then they cannot use a hosted service."

Solution

To help its customer base increase the effectiveness of their Internet-based communications, and to help boost its own growth, Granicus made a strategic shift in the company's core offerings. Instead of providing purely hosted services to government agencies, the company created a series of solutions using a software-plus-services approach based on Microsoft� products and technologies.

"The Microsoft technology and software-plus-services approach helps our customers use webcasts and public meeting management solutions to enhance legislative processes."
-Tom Spengler Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer, Granicus

The Granicus solutions still use the Internet for delivering information, but also provide software applications that are downloaded and installed on local PCs to manage information, providing government personnel with continued information access even when they temporarily lose an Internet connection or need to work offline. These can help perform tasks such as recording minutes or indexing agenda items against the audio/video stream live during their meeting, or intelligently routing internal users to servers on a network without causing user traffic to slow connection speeds.

"We felt this was the best way to take the network connection problem out of the equation-by providing additional richness and functionality on the user's PC, yet keep the scalability and flexibility of Web-based applications," says Javier Muniz, Co-founder and Chief Technology Officer of Granicus.

Granicus created a number of products based on the Software-plus-Services model using Microsoft technology. These include:

Granicus MediaManager, a complete solution for creating, managing, and tracking streaming audio and video broadcasts to the Internet, with the ability to archive them on Granicus databases for future reference and viewing. MediaManager software enables government agency staff members to manage video and audio content of public meetings and other government functions without having to understand the technical complexities of capturing and distributing streaming content to constituents.

Granicus MinutesMaker, which combines minutes-annotation software with streaming-media recording and video-indexing technology. Clerks and secretaries can easily integrate MinutesMaker into their existing legislative workflows. This lets them automate recordkeeping tasks, simplify minutes annotation, and gain time to focus on other high-priority projects. Granicus also offers a Microsoft Word Plug-in for government staff who prefer to edit or format their minutes in their existing word processing application.

Granicus VoteCast, a touch-based solution that gives voting members the power to view agendas, record their own motions and votes, and interact with the meeting clerk minutes process.

Granicus Training Edition, a Web-based training platform that lets government agencies create, deploy, and track online training at a low cost. Training Edition is an add-on module to the Granicus MediaManager content delivery platform.

Granicus StreamReplicator, which is used by organizations unable to support simultaneous requests for live content. StreamReplicator distributes live streams across an internal network and can use existing multicasting capabilities.

Granicus MediaVault, a hosted service that stores all video from public meetings and staff trainings. Content, including Windows Media� files, is replicated and stored on the network, using XML technology and a peer-to-peer model for synchronizing between the Granicus MediaVault database and local PCs. MediaVault uses MediaManager to track where files are stored and identifies files that need to be synchronized.

The Granicus solutions are built on an array of Microsoft products and technologies, including the Microsoft .NET Framework, the Microsoft SilverlightT Web browser plugin, the Windows Presentation Foundation and Windows Workflow Foundation technologies, Microsoft SQL Server� 2005, Microsoft Office Live Meeting, Windows Media technologies, and Internet Information Services.

Benefits

By creating solutions based on the Software-plus-Services model, Granicus can offer a set of rich solutions that combine the best of both locally installed software and hosted services. This helps government agencies to stream their content and cost-effectively record, manage, and deliver information to their constituents without the cost and overhead of traditional IT systems. It gives them the power to create and modify content on their local PCs, while letting Granicus handle the "heavy lifting" of content storage, file synchronization, and Internet-based delivery. The Microsoft technology used by Granicus also creates a flexible, highly responsive information environment without the connection delays and service interruptions that can affect purely hosted services.

Best of Local and Hosted Software

From both the standpoint of both developers and end users, the Software-plus-Services design approach helped Granicus create solutions that provide the best of both hosted and locally installed software.
"The Software-plus-Services architecture using the Microsoft technologies gives us-and our customers-the best of both worlds," says Spengler. "When designing the individual solution components, we took and 'either-or' approach, depending on what a particular piece of a solution was supposed to do. For example, with video, we felt there had to be distribution capabilities both on the hosted side and on the client side to allow for the greatest flexibility. With Live Meeting, we wanted to implement the scalability of a hosted application to allow large or small groups of users to participate in a meeting.

"At the same time, certain components of a meeting solution are locally installed so they're not dramatically affected if Internet service goes down during a meeting," he continues. "What the software-plus services approach does is provide the best features of both hosted and local software, without requiring agencies and municipalities to make large investments in IT personnel and infrastructure."

Ability to Create, Modify Local Data

Solutions relying exclusively on a hosted services provider not only risk connection issues, but deny users the ability to fully interact with information whenever and wherever they need to, Spengler says.

"Using the Software-plus-Services approach with the Microsoft technologies helped us create solutions that give users the ability to interact with their information even when they are offline," says Spengler. "It is analogous to the way that Microsoft Office Outlook works. Outlook needs connectivity to provide full functionality such as sending e-mail and calendar invitations that are distributed to multiple users. But when offline, a user can still open Outlook and compose messages, print information, view calendars and more."

Flexible, Responsive Environment

Basing its Software-plus-Services solutions on the Microsoft platform has helped Granicus deliver software that is flexible and highly responsive to customers-and to the developers working at Granicus.

"From a business perspective, people usually prefer hosted, centralized technology because it is lower maintenance and cost over the long term," Spengler says. "But in the government sector that we serve, there are conditions and restraints. In addition to the risk of disconnected Internet service, people also need solutions that are highly responsive. When a vote is underway, a delay of a few seconds in capturing information creates problems. The Microsoft technology allowed us to create solutions that are extremely responsive to user input while providing a rich user interface."

He says that the software-plus-services approach also helps Granicus remain agile with a highly scalable, flexible platform that can be quickly modified to meet customer requests. "This platform helps us delivery a lot of automation and accuracy for recording and archiving public meetings, with all the reliability and responsiveness of applications that are running locally on the client's PCs," says Spengler. "The Microsoft technology and software-plus-services approach helps our customers use webcasts and public meeting management solutions to enhance legislative processes."

Software + Services

Software-plus-services is an industry shift driven by the fast-growing recognition that combining Internet services with client and server software can deliver exciting new opportunities. Microsoft is dedicated to helping individuals and businesses take advantage of these opportunities. By bringing together the best of both software and services, we maximize capabilities, choice, and flexibility for our customers. The broad software-plus-services approach unites multiple industry phenomena including software as a service, service-oriented development, and the Web 2.0 user experience under a common umbrella.

For more information about software-plus-services, go to: www.microsoft.com/softwareplusservices

For More Information

For more information about Microsoft products and services, call the Microsoft Sales Information Center at (800) 426-9400. In Canada, call the Microsoft Canada Information Centre at (877) 568-2495. Customers who are deaf or hard-of-hearing can reach Microsoft text telephone (TTY/TDD) services at (800) 892-5234 in the United States or (905) 568-9641 in Canada. Outside the 50 United States and Canada, please contact your local Microsoft subsidiary. To access information using the World Wide Web, go to: http://www.microsoft.com/

For more information about Granicus products and services, call (877) 780-4848 or visit the Web site at: http://www.granicus.com/

Public Service Announcement Board of Directors Meetings on Demand with Granicus

Wed, 08 Oct 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Sonora, CA - October 8, 2008 Contact: Lisa Westbrook
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Customer Service Supervisor, TUD

Tuolumne Utilities District moves forward with technology by adding Granicus, webcasting solutions to its website. TUD customers or concerned citizens can easily log onto the TUD website, www.tudwater.com to watch the Board of Director meetings live and on-demand from the comfort of their home. With the help of the Granicus software, the Board of Directors meetings are listed by date with an agenda, video and minutes associated with the meetings. If there is a specific topic of interest, there is a keyword search available to locate the item of reference.

The TUD Board of Directors meets every second and fourth Tuesday of the month at 7pm at the TUD Board Room. "Our goal is to keep the public informed with the many projects we are working on at all times. This webcasting solution is an excellent opportunity to improve our public meeting efficiency and keep our customers informed. It also saves them time. They can quickly search for their point of interest on our website at any time to locate the information covered at the Board of Directors meeting," states Pete Kampa, General Manager for TUD.

About Granicus
Founded in 1999, San Francisco-based Granicus, Inc. helps government reach staff and constituents without barriers. Public agencies trust our webcasting solutions to enable vital improvements to public access, staff efficiency, and government accountability. In addition, the combination of webcasting with public meeting management technology into a single workflow decreases administrative costs and simplifies public recordkeeping tasks. Granicus serves more than 400 governing bodies in 44 states, building close connections with more than 30% of the American population.

Contact
Lauren Alexander
Corporate Communications Manager
415-357-3618 x1788

Students from the National Defense University Meet With Exemplary California Organizations

Wed, 22 Nov 2006 00:00:00 GMT

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

November 2006 - Middle to senior-level managers studying at the National Defense University's Information Resources Management (IRM) College traveled from Washington D.C. to California's Bay Area to engage in an immersive week-long field study. Students held conversations with exemplar organizational leaders across a variety of small to large, entrepreneurial and established organizations in the Bay Area. San Francisco-based, Granicus Inc. was among those selected to share best practices in information resources management and leadership.

The National Defense University's Advanced Management Program Visits Granicus!

Featured in this Picture is Granicus CEO, Tom Spengler (Front-Right), among fourteen middle to senior-level managers from the National Defense University's Information Resource Management College (IRM).

Granicus CEO, Tom Spengler, says "We are honored to be part of such an enriching educational opportunity. Our goal is to expose students to our unique corporate structure, our strategic goals, processes, and approach to maintaining our unique market position. Granicus specializes in the local government marketplace and setting the standard for advanced streaming solutions within this dynamic environment."

Field Studies is one element in the IRM College's 14-week Advanced Management Program. The program is designed for middle to senior managers who exercise leadership and carry responsibility for promoting and attaining national security, as well as agency and interagency goals through the use of information and/or information technology. The curriculum focuses on enhancing leadership competencies in the areas of communication, critical thinking, leading change, leading people, and building coalitions. Observing, experiencing and engaging in dialogue with C-Level executives from diverse organizations offers students insights that complement their total curriculum. The Director, of the College's AMP, Dr. Kathleen Schulin, commented that, "Granicus provided insights into the creation and shaping of an entrepreneurial organization focused on enabling broader access of state and local government information to citizens."

About Granicus
Founded in 1999, San Francisco-based Granicus, Inc. helps government reach staff and constituents without barriers. Public agencies trust our webcasting solutions to enable vital improvements to public access, staff efficiency, and government accountability. In addition, the combination of webcasting with public meeting management technology into a single workflow decreases administrative costs and simplifies public recordkeeping tasks. Granicus serves more than 400 governing bodies in 44 states, building close connections with more than 30% of the American population.

Contact
Lauren Alexander
Corporate Communications Manager
415-357-3618 x1788

County Council Meetings to Be Available Live and On-demand via Streaming Internet Video Beginning Nov. 21

Mon, 20 Nov 2006 00:00:00 GMT

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

PITTSBURGH - Allegheny County Chief Executive Dan Onorato and County Council President Rich Fitzgerald today announced the launch of both live and on-demand access to County Council meetings via streaming Internet video beginning November 21. The County recently implemented advanced web streaming solutions offered by San Francisco-based Granicus Inc. to improve access to County government.

"With our new streaming video system, citizens can now decide what they want to see and when they want to see it from any device with an Internet connection," said Fitzgerald. "This will bring Allegheny County residents closer to their government and hopefully increase public participation in important policy issues."

"Throughout County government, we are looking for ways to use technology to save taxpayers money and increase public participation," said Onorato. "In August, the Court of Common Pleas and County Jail introduced a new video teleconferencing system to expedite hearings and reduce costs, and this week, we're partnering with County Council to bring County government closer to the people via the Internet. I want to thank County Council, the Courts, County Manager and County departments for all of their efforts."

The Granicus solution creates an integrated public record of County Council meeting agendas, minutes, and audio/video content, which are all searchable by keyword in one easy-to-use interface. Users can search by keyword or "jump" to the moment when a specific item was discussed through a drop-down tool that includes index points linked to the audio/video. This new tool will also expedite public access to County Council information because indexed audio/video, minutes and agendas can be automatically published to the County website within hours of a meeting.

Bi-monthly County Council meetings are rebroadcast on Comcast Channel 13 (Channel 20 in former Adelphia communities) at 7:00 p.m. on the Friday following each meeting. Armstrong Cable customers can view the meetings on Channel 10. The rebroadcast is not yet available to Comcast subscribers within the City of Pittsburgh. The most current County Council meeting is also available for a two-week period via Comcast ON DEMAND by choosing "Local Government" under the "Your Town" section.

"Over the past few years, County Council has made great strides in improving the transparency and accountability of County government. We are thankful to both Comcast and Granicus for helping us continue to realize this goal," said Allegheny County Council Member Vince Gastgeb. "This represents a landmark achievement in making County government more accessible to the citizens of Allegheny County."

To access live or archived County Council meetings, visit www.county.allegheny.pa.us/council.

About Granicus
Founded in 1999, San Francisco-based Granicus, Inc. helps government reach staff and constituents without barriers. Public agencies trust our webcasting solutions to enable vital improvements to public access, staff efficiency, and government accountability. In addition, the combination of webcasting with public meeting management technology into a single workflow decreases administrative costs and simplifies public recordkeeping tasks. Granicus serves more than 400 governing bodies in 44 states, building close connections with more than 30% of the American population.

Contact
Lauren Alexander
Corporate Communications Manager
415-357-3618 x1788

Granicus Leads Innovation in Government Transparency with Streaming Media

Wed, 05 Sep 2007 00:00:00 GMT

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Adopts Microsoft Silverlight to Expand Reach of Public Meeting Broadcasts with 100% Cross-Platform Compatibility

San Francisco, CA -- Granicus, Inc. today announced its adoption of Microsoft Silverlight to strengthen its industry-leading streaming media and public meeting management solutions for government. The adoption of Silverlight, including its cross-platform Web plug-in, will take Granicus' current platform, previously based on Microsoft Windows Media, a significant step forward in the industry. Working with Silverlight, Granicus will be able to strengthen the reliability and performance of streaming broadcasts, provide even greater opportunities for its digitally enhanced online public record, and improve the transmission of public meeting broadcasts across IP networks by making them available to all constituents irrespective of computer platform.

Already streaming public meetings live and on-demand to more than 1 million citizens every month, Granicus is hosting nearly 70,000 such meetings and other public functions for more than 300 governments spanning 30 states. Granicus' award-winning solutions are now the only streaming media platform for government to offer Apple and Microsoft Windows compatibility to end-users with a single media format. Providing access through a cross-platform, cross-browser plug-in tremendously improves the capacity for municipal, county, state and federal government to reach their constituents online. This will also enable education districts-where Apple-based systems are very common-to engage constituents with identical functionality.

"Adopting Microsoft Silverlight strengthens the momentum behind our drive to bring one million public meetings online," said Tom Spengler, chief executive officer of Granicus. "With Silverlight, we have strong reliability, the best streaming performance in the industry, and tremendous capacity for facilitating a transparent, democratic process. It is fundamentally critical in government more than in any other industry to provide a format for public access that is available to every citizen on every platform. With no platform barriers between PCs and Macs, we can now bring the public together while also delivering a platform that enables government to be closer than ever to its constituents."

"We are pleased to work with Granicus to bring rich online experiences to the public to enable better communication between the government and its citizens," said Steve Sklepowich, group product manager in the UX Platform and Tools team at Microsoft Corp.

Granicus' fully hosted infrastructure provides governments unlimited bandwidth for delivering streaming broadcasts of public meetings and other public functions from all government departments. This significant, competitively unique innovation in streaming video provides governments with the greatest capacity to more effectively, reliably and transparently reach all their citizens online.

About Granicus
Founded in 1999, San Francisco-based Granicus, Inc. helps government reach staff and constituents without barriers. Public agencies trust our webcasting solutions to enable vital improvements to public access, staff efficiency, and government accountability. In addition, the combination of webcasting with public meeting management technology into a single workflow decreases administrative costs and simplifies public recordkeeping tasks. Granicus serves more than 400 governing bodies in 44 states, building close connections with more than 30% of the American population.

Contact
Lauren Alexander
Corporate Communications Manager
415-357-3618 x1788

The Village of Beach Park to Webcast Board Meetings With Granicus Streaming Solutions

Mon, 05 Feb 2007 00:00:00 GMT

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

BEACH PARK, IL - On February 13th The Village of Beach Park Board Meetings will be available on-demand over the Village of Beach Park's website (http://www.villageofbeachpark.com/). The Village is Granicus' third client in the State of Illinois to take progressive steps forward with Granicus' MediaManagerT system. Granicus provides rich media tools that enable Village staff to manage and quickly publish their Village Board meetings on the web. You can watch the Board Meetings "live" during the hours of 7 PM and 8 PM on every second & fourth Tuesday of each month and then the following business day thru archives.

"I feel that there is no better, nor personal, way to include our residents in our meetings", said Mayor Jensen about the system.

Using Granicus, the Village plans to accumulate a complete video library of their Village Board meetings. The new technology will not only improve government transparency but it makes Board meetings readily available to staff. The Village has had plans to implement a broadcast and digital infrastructure for 3 years & and faced the challenge of getting the video's to the viewers, "live".

"This new technology enables us to open up public access to our meetings" said Kenneth Lopez, Village Administrator. In the past, interested citizens would have to attend board meetings held two times a month in the evening. "The internet is becoming the most effective means of reaching our residents. Granicus will give us the opportunity to keep our citizens fully informed," Lopez adds. Now, citizens and staff can access information they want, when they want it. Granicus helps the Village create a fully integrated and key-word searchable public record of all their audio/video Board Meeting content legislative agendas.

About Granicus
Founded in 1999, San Francisco-based Granicus, Inc. helps government reach staff and constituents without barriers. Public agencies trust our webcasting solutions to enable vital improvements to public access, staff efficiency, and government accountability. In addition, the combination of webcasting with public meeting management technology into a single workflow decreases administrative costs and simplifies public recordkeeping tasks. Granicus serves more than 400 governing bodies in 44 states, building close connections with more than 30% of the American population.

Contact
Lauren Alexander
Corporate Communications Manager
415-357-3618 x1788

Granicus, Inc. Supports Spitzer's Vision for Open Government

Tue, 16 Jan 2007 00:00:00 GMT

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

SAN FRANCISCO--Governor Eliot Spitzer, NY, recently signed five executive orders that articulate a state-wide push for openness and accountability. Spitzer's Executive Order 3 rewrites the state's standard for communicating with citizens, requiring that all state agencies and public authorities must develop plans by March 1^st to stream all public meetings subject to the Open Meetings Law.

Government organizations all over the U.S. are quickly adopting streaming media solutions to effectively reach their citizens. Granicus, Inc., the leading provider of government focused streaming and legislative management solutions, currently serves over 200 municipal governments across 27 states. "Technological advances are rapidly changing the landscape of government communications, streaming offers the most effective medium for distributing public meeting content to citizens," says Tom Spengler, CEO of Granicus, Inc. "Granicus firmly supports Governor Spitzer's progressive vision of government that is committed to openness and accountability and we expect the success of this order will continue throughout New York municipalities. Streaming media provides citizens with robust tools to conveniently access reliable information they want, when they want it. We are dedicated to helping government open up their public meeting processes and encourage a participatory government."

Spitzer's order to reshape the state's open government policy with webcasting speaks to national increases in internet and broadband penetration. Pew Internet & American Life Project reported that internet penetration alone grew seven percentage points, 66 % to 73 %, over the past year. Digital video is fast becoming a critical application for improving government transparency and operational efficiency. Hosting nearly 45,000 public meeting archives, Granicus is integrating streaming video into public records all over the country.

New York's Executive Order 3 will establish a new transparent formula for government that makes crucial information tangible to all citizens. "As state agents devise a plan to meet Mr. Spitzer's open government guidelines, we hope they evaluate the full potential of a comprehensive streaming solution that improves public access while streamlining legislative processes," said Sal Baglio, Granicus Northeastern Regional Sales Director. "Granicus solutions optimize public access by creating an integrated public record of audio/video content and legislative documents all cross-linked and searchable by keyword. Our unique focus on the public meeting process also enables governments to reduce costs and maximize legislative efficiency."

About Granicus
Founded in 1999, San Francisco-based Granicus, Inc. helps government reach staff and constituents without barriers. Public agencies trust our webcasting solutions to enable vital improvements to public access, staff efficiency, and government accountability. In addition, the combination of webcasting with public meeting management technology into a single workflow decreases administrative costs and simplifies public recordkeeping tasks. Granicus serves more than 400 governing bodies in 44 states, building close connections with more than 30% of the American population.

Contact
Lauren Alexander
Corporate Communications Manager
415-357-3618 x1788

Moorpark City Council Meetings Now on Internet

Thu, 13 Apr 2006 00:00:00 GMT

Local government is almost a click away in Moorpark.

Moorpark City Council meetings can now be watched, fully streaming over the Internet, officials said Wednesday.

The city is the second in Ventura County to go to webcasting - streaming both live and archived video on the Internet - but no formal announcement has been made because the city has yet to archive the meetings, City Clerk Deborah Traffenstedt said. Once the archiving capability is used by the staff, anyone can go to a specific council agenda, click on an item and watch just that portion of the meeting.

But for now, no interaction between the agenda and live meeting can take place.

This Wednesday, anyone can go to the city's Web site at 7 p.m. and see local government in action.

"I'm glad they did this," said Mounir Ibrahim, president of E-Z 2 Network, a computer business in Moorpark. "What a great saver of time, so you're not listening to every part of the meeting you're not interested in. You can pick what you want to watch."

Once it is completed, the resource will allow anyone to watch meetings in real time or access them in the city's Internet archives.

To view the page, go to the city's Web site at http://www.ci.moorpark.ca.us. There, a link to view a live video takes visitors to a page with a screen on the top left-hand side. To the right, there is a description of what the City Council does. In the future, it will have a list of archived agendas and videos.

April 5 was the first council meeting that was fed live on the Web site.

Last month, the Oxnard City Council went to webcasting and has archived video meetings since Feb. 7.

Both cities use the same company for setting up the software, managing the live and archived media, and training the city staff. Granicus Inc., based in San Francisco, specializes in managing Thousand Oaks and Westlake Village are preparing to go to webcasts in the next few months, said Pablo Gonzalez, a marketing director for Granicus.

Some Moorpark city employees were trained in December to use the program, but because of a city-run special election, the City Clerk's Office had to focus employee efforts elsewhere for several months. Since that ended, Traffenstedt said, staff members have more time to spend learning how to use the software program so eventually it can be fully operational.

Oxnard was the first of the county's 10 cities to use streaming technology.

The Ventura County Board of Supervisors' meetings are also online, using the Granicus software.

About Granicus
Founded in 1999, San Francisco-based Granicus, Inc. helps government reach staff and constituents without barriers. Public agencies trust our webcasting solutions to enable vital improvements to public access, staff efficiency, and government accountability. In addition, the combination of webcasting with public meeting management technology into a single workflow decreases administrative costs and simplifies public recordkeeping tasks. Granicus serves more than 400 governing bodies in 44 states, building close connections with more than 30% of the American population.

Contact
Lauren Alexander
Corporate Communications Manager
415-357-3618 x1788

New Orleans City Council Launches NOLA GOV. Online Live & Archived Streaming Video and Redesigned Website NOLACityCouncil.com

Thu, 03 Sep 2009 00:00:00 GMT

New Orleans, LA - September 2, 2009 - Today, the New Orleans City Council launched its redesigned website NOLACityCouncil.com and NOLA GOV. Online, a technology featuring live and archived streaming video of City Council meetings. NOLA GOV. Online can be accessed through the City Council website at www.nolacitycouncil.com

Granicus, a San Francisco-based firm specializing in Internet Broadcasting and Archiving for local Government, answered a Request for Proposals (RFP) issued by the Council. The Council awarded Granicus and the firm's Louisiana partner, Crescent Communications, Inc., the contract on July 31, 2008. Although Granicus has more than 500 government clients, New Orleans is the first municipality in Louisiana to adopt this cutting-edge technology with meetings management functionality. This tool includes links within meeting agendas directing viewers to the Council's discussion on those items, as well as legislative instrument tracking, to manage Council meetings and provide greater access and accountability to the public.

In the next six months, as Council committees and other agencies come online, citizens will be able to follow and track the progress of legislation through other bodies (Council committees, boards and commissions, etc.) to final dispensation by the New Orleans City Council, as well as access agenda item links to related pieces of legislation, staff reports, photos and other relevant documents.

According to City Council President Arnie Fielkow, NOLA GOV. Online and the "user friendly" NOLACityCouncil.com provide exceptional access and transparency.

"Government information has been moving steadily to the web for the past ten years - today, the Council is taking the people's business to an exceptional level of openness. Our redesigned website greatly expands citizen access to our Council proceedings, including votes, documents and videos related to agenda items. Just as important, all of this information will be archived and searchable by date and keywords," Fielkow said.

According to District "C" Councilmember James Carter, Chair of the Council's Cable and Telecommunications Committee, the committee began this process by looking at ways to provide displaced citizens with greater access to government proceedings.

"This technology is one of the most important proactive communications decisions made by the New Orleans City Council in the last ten years. NOLA GOV. Online will significantly improve the Council's efforts to provide vital information to the public. Our goal was to meet the "best practices" standards for transparency in government meetings, and we believe that we achieve that goal with the launch of NOLA GOV. Online," Carter said.

City Council Vice President Jacquelyn Brechtel Clarkson commented that one of the most important components of this new technology is that it gives the Council the ability to immediately engage the public in times of emergency and on the important business of the City Council.

"The City Council is now positioned among local governments in providing citizens greater access to its daily business. The idea that a citizen can go right to an agenda item that they are interested in, watch the discussion, and view the documents is remarkable," Clarkson said.

The redesigned website and streaming video impacts engagement between the City Council and the public in the areas of: emergency preparedness; government transparency; research accessibility; education; resources for citizens and neighborhood organizations; and international outreach. It also provides access to New Orleans City Council meetings and emergency information for citizens and stakeholders outside the City of New Orleans via the internet.

According to Granicus CEO and Co-Founder Tom Spengler, with the launch of the new streaming media solution, the City Council is taking a progressive step forward in reshaping how it communicates to its local, national and international audiences over the web.

"City staff is now empowered with a rich platform of audio/video and legislative management tools to help them increase public awareness and foster more participation online. This technology enhancement will also give them the digital capabilities to heighten government transparency as well as strengthen emergency preparedness, community relations, and international outreach efforts - all critical components of maintaining a thriving community and government business," said Spengler.

The initial contract is for up to three years and the contract amount was $266,474.62, of which $82,961.00 was for equipment and equipment installation in the Council Chamber and at the streaming video sites. The remainder of the contract provides for hosted service and software designed for government use, streaming video, custom interfaces and training. There are ongoing monthly fees of $4,500.00.

Granicus is a combined "hosted plus software solution" that provides the City a platform for publishing streaming video online and managing legislative proceedings. The integrated voting system allows legislative votes to be electronically recorded from the Council into the Clerk's meeting minutes, providing a secure and simple digital platform. The City sought a solution that integrates the various processes, such as live and archived online video, electronic recording of legislative votes, annotation of the minutes, automation of workflow, and linkage of associated minutes to the audio/video of the meeting in a consolidated archive that is citizen-centric. In addition, this solution will be utilized to provide emergency notifications and other important public information over the internet.

NOLACityCouncil.com
The redesigned "user friendly" NOLACityCouncil.com website features the latest streaming video technology as well as expanded constituent resources, including Multilingual Functionality; "What Citizens Need to Know" and Emergency Preparedness Information Pages; Meetings and Events Calendars; Enhanced News and Resources Sections; Site-wide Search Function; and a Citizen Comment Form, among other features.

NOLA GOV. Online
The streaming video technology raises the public's expectation of the order and reliability of government and immediate access to legislative instruments and public policy information. Unquestionably, the technology provides exceptional access and transparency, raising the bar for government to administer and legislate the people's business more effectively and efficiently. Specifically, the technology provides, live streaming video; scheduled archiving of meetings and programming; automatic publishing of streaming video to the web; automatic indexing of meetings by agenda item; web based search of audio/video records by keyword; linked documents to audio/video record by agenda item; internal and hosted distribution of streaming video content; user/group access control and administration; and an integrated minutes annotation tool for the Clerk's Office.

Contact
Denise Estopinal / Emily Rogers
The Estopinal Group
Ph: 504-269-9233
Email: news@estopinalgroup.com

City of Newport Selects Granicus for streaming Media Management and Distribution.

Mon, 13 Sep 2004 00:00:00 GMT

Solution Provides Public with 24/7 Access to Information & Lowers Costs

San Francisco, CA (September 13, 2004) - The City of Newport, KY has implemented a new streaming media management and distribution solution that reduces costs across all City departments, while increasing community and employee access to Board of Commissioner's meetings and city information.

Using an enterprise solution from Granicus, the leading provider of streaming media solutions to local government, the City of Newport will now publish indexed video of bi-weekly Commission meetings and other public information pieces for community members and city employees over the Internet. This new implementation follows the city's commitment to provide a comprehensive and open government policy with direct access to city information.

"We wanted to enhance the City of Newport's public access. The Granicus solution now allows us to provide the audio and video of each meeting live on the Web. And staying with our cutting-edge philosophy we now automatically archive those meetings, allowing the public to search the archives by keyword. Meetings are now available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week", said Philip G. Ciafardini, City Manager. "We are also increasing public access to meetings on our Cable channel. We now rebroadcast meetings three times a week, our new times are; Wednesday at 7:00 pm, Fridays at 7:00 pm or Sundays at 2:00 pm."

This initiative has decreased the costs of publishing those meetings. With automatic publishing to the Web, there is no need to convert VHS tape to a digital format, saving time and money by city staff.

"Getting a meeting on the Internet with the agenda included, is much more cost-effective and comprehensive than our old methods," said Paula Williamson, Newport's City Clerk. This is a great example of how technology should be used to increase civic participation and make local government more effective."

The City of Newport chose the Granicus solution because it is designed specifically for city and county governments and meets specific public sector needs. Particularly beneficial to Newport is a group of unique features that automates the creation of a searchable index with "jump points" based on agenda items for each video archive. The resulting searchable index has proven beneficial for the City's meetings. The searchable index is a benefit to community members and city staff who refer to meeting archives for clarification of City issues.

Another feature critical in Newport's decision was the Granicus MediaCenterT, providing secure and scalable distribution of Newport's audio and video content to thousands of concurrent users. The Granicus solution integrates easily into existing infrastructures, eliminating the need to invest in additional dedicated bandwidth and servers.

The City of Newport's video website - www.cityofnewportky.org choose Commission Menu follow to Commission OnDemand -- will now have fully integrated video and document files for each live or future archived meetings. Each video is indexed, allowing browsers to jump to the relevant portion of the meeting quickly, and have all pertaining documents at their fingertips on demand. Prior to implementation of this system, the public would request the video from the city clerk, with an average turnaround of 72-hours.

About Granicus:
Granicus, Inc. is a leading provider of streaming media solutions to local government agencies. Cities and counties utilize the Granicus solution to improve external and internal access to public meetings, which are available in the Windows MediaT audio and video format live over the Internet, and as searchable archives that can be used for efficient long-term record keeping. By measurably improving public and internal access to information beyond what can be provided through cable broadcast, Granicus has become the popular streaming media solution of choice for such innovative cities and governments as; Madera County, Sedgwick County, Ventura County, City of Sacramento, City of El Segundo, City of Long Beach, City of San Diego, City of Scottsdale, City of Brentwood, City of Pinole, California Public Utilities Commission, and more. For more information about Granicus, please visit: www.granicus.com or call 415-357-3618.

City of Newport Contact Information:
Paula Williamson
City Clerk
859-292-3666 ext 112
pwilliamson@cityofnewportky.org

City of Newport, KY
998 Monmouth Street
Newport, Kentucky 41071

Granicus, Inc. Contact Information:
Pablo Gonzalez
Marketing Director
415-357-3618
pablo@granicus.com

Granicus, Inc.
74 Tehama St.
San Francisco, CA 94105

Granicus, Inc. Ranked 97th Fastest Growing Company in North America on Deloitte's 2008 Technology Fast 500

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Industry Distinction Affirms Increased Demands for Transparency and Business Efficiency in the Government Sector

San Francisco, CA - Granicus, Inc., the premier provider of government solutions for webcasting and legislative management, announced today that it was ranked number 97 on Deloitte's 2008 Technology Fast 500, a ranking of the 500 fastest growing technology, media, telecommunications and life sciences companies in North America. This year's rankings are based on percentage of fiscal year revenue growth from 2003-2007. Granicus grew 2,143% during this period. Granicus also ranked 4th among San Francisco-based technology companies listed in the North America Technology Fast 500.

"We are thrilled to receive industry recognition for our fast market growth. This accomplishment illustrates our core commitment to remaining focused on the unique needs of government agencies. It also validates the rapidly growing potential of the niche technology market we've etched out in the government sector over the last decade," said Tom Spengler, Granicus Co-founder and CEO. "Our software combines digital streaming media with the business processes of government. This combination helps public agencies meet the fundamental demands for government transparency and business efficiency. Heightening government transparency and accountability are especially important business tenets as public agencies enter a new year and a new political administration - where there's a strong stance on transparent decision-making overriding institutional opaqueness."

Granicus technology enables workflow automation and simplifies the integration of audio/video streaming media capability into the public recordkeeping, constituent communications, and professional training processes of government agencies. This product strategy delivers an immediate and a long-term return on investment. "With the economic downturn dramatically impacting the health public agencies, it's critical that we help governments find ways to accomplish more with less - creating more opportunities for them to make affordable investments in technology that deliver high-impact organizational and societal improvements," said Spengler.

In addition to ranking on Deloitte's Technology Fast 500, Granicus's fast revenue growth from 2003 to 2007 resulted in a 12th ranking overall in the Technology Fast 50 for Silicon Valley, which is a ranking of the 50 fastest growing technology firms headquartered in the nation's most-thriving technological marketplace.

Qualifying Criteria
The Fast 500 ranks the fastest growing technology, media, telecommunications and life sciences companies in North America. It is compiled from Deloitte's regional North American Fast 50 programs, nominations submitted directly to the Fast 500, and public company database research. Companies are selected based on percentage revenue growth from 2003 to 2007.

To be eligible, entrants must: be in business a minimum of five years; they must be headquartered within North America; meet minimum operating revenues requirements (2003 operating revenue must be at least $50,000 USD or $75,000 CD, 2007 operating revenues must be at least $5 million USD or CD); and own proprietary intellectual property or proprietary technology that contributes to a significant portion of the company's operating revenues or devote a significant proportion of revenues to research and development of technology. Using other companies' technology or intellectual property in a unique way does not qualify.

About Granicus
Founded in 1999, San Francisco-based Granicus, Inc. helps government reach staff and constituents without barriers. Public agencies trust our webcasting solutions to enable vital improvements to public access, staff efficiency, and government accountability. In addition, the combination of webcasting with public meeting management technology into a single workflow decreases administrative costs and simplifies public recordkeeping tasks. Granicus serves more than 500 governing bodies in 44 states, building close connections with more than 30% of the American population.

About Deloitte
As used in this document, "Deloitte" means Deloitte LLP. Please see www.deloitte.com/about for a detailed description of the legal structure of Deloitte LLP and its subsidiaries.

Contact
Lauren Alexander, Granicus Inc, 415-357-3618 x1788

Council Meetings Will Now Be Available on the Web

Fri, 11 May 2007 00:00:00 GMT

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, NV -- Beginning May 15 the city of South Lake Tahoe will make its city council meetings available for viewing live and on-demand anytime via the city's Web site, www.cityofslt.us.

"With our new Internet streaming video system, it will provide better and easier access for our community residents to feel more connected to their local government and will assist in increasing public awareness and participation in important policy issues and decisions," said City Clerk Susan Alessi.

"The city council's approval to contract with the California-based company Granicus Inc., a leading provider of streaming media to local government agencies throughout the United States, demonstrates their commitment to better serve the 24,000 residents of South Lake Tahoe through enhanced public access and information," Alessi said.

City council meetings, which are held on the first and third Tuesdays of each month beginning at 9 a.m., will be viewable live beginning May 15. In addition, archived meetings will be searchable on-demand by agenda item which will enable residents, and interested people throughout the world, to view specific agenda items of interest.

The Granicus solution also creates an integrated public record of city council meeting agendas, minutes and audio/video content which are easily searchable by keyword or a "jump to" pull down menu which are user friendly.

"I am really excited to see this service provided to the citizens of our community. It's so easy to use and people are going to find it very valuable," Alessi said.

About Granicus
Founded in 1999, San Francisco-based Granicus, Inc. helps government reach staff and constituents without barriers. Public agencies trust our webcasting solutions to enable vital improvements to public access, staff efficiency, and government accountability. In addition, the combination of webcasting with public meeting management technology into a single workflow decreases administrative costs and simplifies public recordkeeping tasks. Granicus serves more than 400 governing bodies in 44 states, building close connections with more than 30% of the American population.

Contact
Lauren Alexander
Corporate Communications Manager
415-357-3618 x1788

Savage's Public Proceedings Only a Mouse Click Away

Wed, 10 Jan 2007 00:00:00 GMT

Computer users can now view Council meetings exactly when, how they want

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Savage, Minn. (Jan. 10, 2007) - When City of Savage Mayor Thomas Brennan strikes the gavel to start the Jan. 15 Council meeting, people anywhere in the world will be able to log on to their computers to see what he and fellow Council members are discussing.

The meeting will be the first to be aired live on the City's website, thanks to new technology funded in part by a grant from B.F. Nelson Folding Cartons President Larry Ross. Those who miss the live broadcast, or don't want to watch it in its entirety, can access the meeting's proceedings the next day. Viewers can opt to watch only the portions of the meeting that interest them by clicking on a particular agenda item. A keyword search feature also is available.

"The City Council wanted to make it easier for residents and businesses to stay informed on decisions that could impact their daily lives," said City Administrator Barry Stock. "We hope that, through this new service, our constituents will feel more connected to their local city government."

Users will be able to access the meeting broadcasts via a link from the City's home page, www.cityofsavage.com. In addition to regular City Council meetings, the website will offer live coverage and rebroadcasts of the Planning Commission and Parks, Recreation and Natural Resources Commission meetings. Government Channel 14, available to Mediacom Cable subscribers, currently broadcasts those meetings several times a week.

"Posting the meetings on the City website will greatly expand our number of potential viewers," said Video Production Coordinator Jeff Renner. "Not only will this provide a service that, for some, was previously unattainable - it makes staying on top of local government issues much more convenient."

The implementation and funding of the streaming video service is one example of how the City of Savage is a naturally resourceful organization. Start-up costs were covered by the above mentioned grant, saving taxpayers approximately $10,000. Monthly maintenance fees are split between the City's general fund and cable budgets.

About Granicus
Founded in 1999, San Francisco-based Granicus, Inc. helps government reach staff and constituents without barriers. Public agencies trust our webcasting solutions to enable vital improvements to public access, staff efficiency, and government accountability. In addition, the combination of webcasting with public meeting management technology into a single workflow decreases administrative costs and simplifies public recordkeeping tasks. Granicus serves more than 400 governing bodies in 44 states, building close connections with more than 30% of the American population.

Contact
Lauren Alexander
Corporate Communications Manager
415-357-3618 x1788

Granicus, Inc. Ranked Number 12 in Deloitte's Silicon Valley Technology Fast 50 Awards

Fri, 31 Oct 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Achievement Exemplifies High Demand for Government Solutions to Lower Legislative Costs and Build Public Access

San Francisco, CA - Granicus, Inc, the leading provider of government solutions for webcasting and legislative management, has been named one of the fastest-growing technology companies in Silicon Valley by Deloitte's Technology Fast 50 Awards Program. This prestigious program ranks Internet, Media, Entertainment, and Communications companies headquartered in the nation's most-thriving tech marketplace - Silicon Valley. Rankings are based on percentage revenue growth over five years from 2003 to 2007. Granicus has experienced a 2,143% revenue growth over this period of time.

"Our ranking in the Deloitte Fast 50 reflects rapidly growing demands among government agencies for reliable and affordable software solutions that create transparency and improve public information processes - while reducing both communications and legislative costs," said Tom Spengler, Co-Founder and CEO. "Although the economic downturn is hurting budgets, public agencies are quickly recognizing that technology investments serve as a critical tool to save short-term and long-term by enabling instrumental improvements to the way they do business."

Beyond market conditions, the company also credits its ongoing success to its strong commitment to customer service and its ability to build a product that's tailored specifically to the legislative processes of government. "Our business model blends software and service. This creates more opportunities for governments to improve open government and legislative efficiency without draining resources or staff time," added Spengler.

Granicus's increase in revenues of 2,143% from 2003 to 2007 resulted in a 12th ranking overall in the Technology Fast 50 for Silicon Valley. The average increase in revenues among Internet, Media & Entertainment, and Communication companies who made the Fast 50 for this region was 3,242%.

"Deloitte's Silicon Valley Technology Fast 50 companies have shown the strength, vision, and tenacity to succeed in today's very competitive technology environment," said Mark Jensen, Managing Partner, National Venture Capital Services, Deloitte & Touche LLP, in Silicon Valley. "We applaud the successes of Granicus and acknowledge it as one of the very few to accomplish such a fast growth rate over the past five years."

To be considered, Technology Fast 50 entrants must: have operating revenues of at least $50,000 in fiscal year 2003 and at least $5,000,000 in fiscal year 2007; be headquartered in the San Francisco Bay Area; be a "technology company," defined as a company that owns proprietary technology that contributes to a significant portion of its operating revenues; or devote a significant proportion of revenues to the research and development of technology. Using other companies' technology in a unique way does not qualify.

About Granicus
Founded in 1999, San Francisco-based Granicus, Inc. helps government reach staff and constituents without barriers. Public agencies trust our webcasting solutions to enable vital improvements to public access, staff efficiency, and government accountability. In addition, the combination of webcasting with public meeting management technology into a single workflow decreases administrative costs and simplifies public recordkeeping tasks. Granicus serves more than 500 governing bodies in 44 states, building close connections with more than 30% of the American population.

About Deloitte
As used in this document, "Deloitte" means Deloitte LLP. Please see www.deloitte.com/about for a detailed description of the legal structure of Deloitte LLP and its subsidiaries.

Contact
Lauren Alexander
Corporate Communications Manager, Granicus
415-357-3618 x1788

Jessica Heine
Deloitte
415-783-5007

Bellevue, Kirkland to Launch New Video Services on the Web

Wed, 29 Dec 2004 00:00:00 GMT

Starting next week, residents of Bellevue and Kirkland will have access to live weekly Council meetings and, ultimately, unprecedented on-demand access to past Council meetings via the Web. The City of Bellevue will broadcast its weekly Council meetings live on the city's Web site, www.cityofbellevue.org using a new video streaming service beginning Monday, Jan. 3 at 6 p.m. The City of Kirkland is using the same service to broadcast its Council meetings starting Tuesday, Jan. 4, at 7:30 p.m. at www.ci.kirkland.wa.us.

Bellevue and Kirkland teamed up to begin Web streaming at the same time, with the same vendor, to save both cities time and money. By working together, both cities took advantage of a 20 percent discount available by being the first in Washington state to use Web streaming services from Granicus, Inc.

Officials in both cities are excited about the potential of this new tool for increased public information and participation in government.

"With this new Web streaming tool, you'll be able to watch live and recent City Council meetings on the Internet. You'll also see the agenda, and later in January, you'll be able to connect to supporting documents for each agenda item via the Web," said Myrna Basich, Bellevue Assistant City Manager/City Clerk.

Council meetings will be automatically archived and saved for at least a year, allowing the public access 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Eventually, minutes from various Bellevue city board and commission meetings are expected to be added to the system as well. If people need help finding a meeting with a particular topic or don't know when a topic was discussed, users can search by a phrase or word and receive a list of each time that topic was mentioned in a Council agenda. The system will replay a video of that specific agenda item. This searchable index, along with Granicus' MinutesMaker software, is a benefit to community members and city staff who refer to meeting archives for clarification of city issues. The new system is expected to make the Clerk's office and other city functions more effective by saving staff time. Staff will then be redeployed to other high priority tasks.

This service follows the cities' commitment to increase civic participation and help make local government more effective in meeting the needs of the community.

"Kirkland sees value in being accessible," said Janice Perry, Kirkland City Clerk. "Making City Council meetings available through a live video stream allows those who are unable to attend a meeting or do not have access to Kirkland's cable television, KGOV - Channel 21, to see the live broadcast or meeting replays via the internet at any point in time, any day of the week."

Kirkland, like Bellevue, will store video files of Council meetings for up to one year beginning with the Jan. 4, 2005 City Council meeting. By the end of the first quarter of 2005 Kirkland will begin having City Council meeting packets available on their website as well. A person will then be able to simultaneously watch the video stream, see the meeting agenda and scan the staff report and related materials. Other video programming created by the City of Kirkland such as "Currently Kirkland" or the "In Focus Magazine" will become available throughout the course of the year.

Bellevue also will offer archived videos from its cable channel, BTV Channel 21, including the It's Your City monthly show and other featured videos, such as a recent production about neighborhood traffic and a King County meeting on County Council redistricting. The city plans to add additional video options on its Web site during the year.

About
Founded in 1999, San Francisco-based Granicus, Inc. helps government reach staff and constituents without barriers. Public agencies trust our webcasting solutions to enable vital improvements to public access, staff efficiency, and government accountability. In addition, the combination of webcasting with public meeting management technology into a single workflow decreases administrative costs and simplifies public recordkeeping tasks. Granicus serves more than 400 governing bodies in 44 states, building close connections with more than 30% of the American population.

Contact
Lauren Alexander
Corporate Communications Manager
415-357-3618 x1788

Wilson County Board of Commissioners Begins Online Broadcasting

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 00:00:00 GMT

December 1, 2008 - Wilson County residents can now watch the Board of Commissioners meetings live and at their convenience by going to the County's website, www.wilson-co.com. The online offering is enabled by the county's new webcasting technology which will increase public involvement and open dialogue with the citizen population over the entire County.

"This service has been a goal of the Board's for many years. Chairman Frank Emory has especially been a proponent of making the access to Board meetings easier and available to more citizens." says County Manager Ellis Williford. "Wilson County residents are busy, on-the-go people and this offers us access at anytime from anywhere via a computer link."

County Chair Frank Emory noted that "easy access to the government process has long been a priority of the Board of Commissioners." Now there is immediate availability of Commissioners' meetings and citizens and government staff can quickly access and keyword search a centralized repository of webcasts and paperless public records.

The Chair wishes to acknowledge Ms. Kim Dupree, Information Systems Director and her staff for their hard work in making the project a reality. The County partnered with San Francisco-based, government webcasting solutions provider, Granicus, Inc., to deploy technology which manages webcast the County's webcasting and live meeting actions including votes, motions, and speakers. The webcasting and vote management system work together to make streaming video and meeting actions searchable and conveniently available live and on-demand from the County's website. Granicus captures, stores, manages and distributes the Wilson County Board of Commissioners webcasting and public meetings data to ensure their citizens receive information quickly and reliably.

Wilson County's goal is to streamline and unify the whole document process from creating the ordinances and resolutions to capturing them and voting on them during the meetings. Granicus software helps the County to manage their meetings from end-to-end. Other boards including the Planning Board and the Zoning Board of Adjustment are all expected to webcast and manage meetings using the same system.

About Granicus, Inc.
Founded in 1999, San Francisco-based Granicus, Inc. helps government reach staff and constituents without barriers. Public agencies trust our webcasting solutions to enable vital improvements to public access, staff efficiency, and government accountability. In addition, the combination of webcasting with public meeting management technology into a single workflow decreases administrative costs and simplifies public recordkeeping tasks. Granicus serves more than 500 governing bodies in 44 states, building close connections with more than 30% of the American population. Granicus provides the most comprehensive online public records retention system available and manages the world's largest government webcasting network, securely and reliably bringing vital government information closer to the people.

Lt. Governor Ramsey Announces Top Ranking for Government Webcasts

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Achievement Signifies Success in Government Transparency

Nashville, TN - Lt. Governor Ron Ramsey (R-Blountville) today announced that the Tennessee General Assembly has climbed to the top 2 of a national ranking of government webcasts due to its leading performance in recording, producing, and distributing streaming media content online.

"We are very pleased to be recognized for our innovation in webcasting. It's a great example of our ongoing commitment to making state government more accessible to Tennesseans." said Lt. Governor Ramsey. "This ranking also indicates how publishing media content on our website has proven to be an effective channel for us to distribute information."

The Tennessee General Assembly is a top performer in a national ranking that aggregates and tracks webcasting data from over 500 government agencies. It ranked 2nd for most archived webcasts created in both the last 10 days and the last 30 days. Beyond creating archived content, the Tennessee General Assembly has averaged 5,834 hits since January 1, 2009. The Tennessee General Assembly has been webcasting with Granicus, Inc. since January, 2009. It decided to implement this type of solution in order to make legislative video readily accessible to the citizens of the state of Tennessee.

"I am very impressed with the work that the General Assembly has recently done to increase government transparency," says Tom Spengler, co-founder and CEO of Granicus, Inc. "The quantity, depth, and accessibility of streaming media content on its website truly displays its leadership in creating an environment in which citizens feel more connected to their government. We look forward to working with the legislature to put even more public meetings, hearings, and other content online."

Granicus is the nation's leading government system for distributing public meetings and other vital public information online. Over 500 public agencies belong to this network. The company has launched a statistics page that captures live metrics covering five major areas: total archived webcasts, most webcasts created, most live webcast viewers, most archived webcast viewers, and most popular webcasts. The statistics page is an integral part of Granicus's Drive to a Million initiative. The statistics captured here display the leading contributors in the company's effort to bring one million public meetings online.

On the web
Lt. Governor Ron Ramsey http://www.teamronramsey.com/

Tennessee General Assembly www.capitol.tn.gov

About Granicus
Founded in 1999, San Francisco-based Granicus, Inc. helps government agencies build stronger connections with their citizens. Public agencies trust our webcasting solutions to enable vital improvements to public access, staff efficiency, and government accountability. In addition, the combination of webcasting with public meeting management technology into a single workflow decreases administrative costs and simplifies public recordkeeping tasks. Visit www.granicus.com for more details.

###

Granicus Announces National Digital Governance Award Winners

Wed, 22 Jul 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Awards Distinguish Excellence in Government 2.0

San Francisco, CA - Today, Granicus, Inc announced the winners of the 2009 Digital Governance Awards. Granicus is the nation's leading provider of integrated streaming media, legislative management, and online training solutions built to help government agencies enhance Web-based transparency, citizen participation, and communication. The awards honor government agencies that leverage streaming media technologies to:

Improve efficiency in government and public service
Enhance public communication
Improve community engagement
Facilitate government transparency

The winners will accept their awards at the Digital Governance Awards Banquet on July 24 at the 2009 Granicus User Conference held July 22-24 in San Francisco.

"We're exceptionally proud to honor this diverse group of agencies that govern populations as small as 8,000 and as big as six million. They have adopted new technology and are applying it in innovative ways to deliver more transparency, foster higher levels of citizen awareness and participation, optimize their processes, and reduce operating costs," says Tom Spengler, Granicus CEO and co-founder.

"This year's Digital Governance Awards exemplify local and state government leadership in harnessing technology to align with Web 2.0 information standards and Obama's principles of open government. Our winners illustrate best practices in government transparency for demonstrating high levels of government information aggregation and Web accessibility. The winners are also true leaders in providing public information that's useful, timely, complete, and easy to find," adds Spengler.

The Digital Governance Awards program was instituted by Granicus to recognize technological innovation by its broad client base. Over the past decade, over 550 public agencies in 47 states and Canada have deployed Granicus technologies for streaming public meetings and managing legislative data, resulting in the development of one of the largest networks of government data online. This data includes audio/video public meeting recordings and digital public records-all archived, cross-linked, keyword searchable, and RSS-enabled. The collection of data has enabled Granicus to form a national ranking of webcast government content. The statistics are now publicly available on this website.

Presenting the 2009 Digital Governance Award recipients in their respective categories:

Leadership in Digital Access
Winners: Tennessee General Assembly & Town of Blacksburg, VA

Excellence in Disseminating Government Information
Winner: Arlington County, VA
Honorable Mention: City of Calabasas, CA

Excellence in Government Efficiency
Winner: City of Port of St. Lucie, FL
Honorable Mention: City of Sarasota, FL

Excellence in Constituent Engagement
Winner: Village of Rye Brook, NY
Honorable Mention: Superior Court of California, Ventura County

About Granicus
Granicus, Inc. is the leading provider of comprehensive government solutions for improving transparency, public participation, and collaboration over the Web. Our extensive streaming media platform helps public agencies create, manage, and distribute live and on-demand streaming media content over the Web. The technology was built to support and enhance public meeting communications, internal trainings, and public education programs-while reducing staff time and costs. Granicus manages the world's largest government-exclusive webcasting network, streaming an average of 200,000 government webcasts, with over 600,000 hours of archived content, on a daily basis.

For more information on the winners, please contact Lauren Alexander at 415-357-3618 x1788.

Granicus Announces 2008 National Digital Governance Award Winners

Thu, 17 Jul 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Awards Distinguish Technological Excellence in Government Sector

San Francisco, CA - Granicus, Inc., the nation's leading provider of solutions for government webcasting and public meeting management, announced the winners of the Digital Governance Awards today. The awards honor public agencies that:

Improve efficiency in government and public services.
Enhance public communication.
Improve community engagement.
Facilitate government transparency.

The winners will accept their awards at the 2008 Granicus User Conference, co-sponsored by Microsoft, August 6-8 in San Francisco, California.

"We are extremely honored to award our clients for displaying innovation, creativity, and leadership using technology to accomplish better results at lower costs," says Tom Spengler, Granicus CEO.

"The winners' successful initiatives demonstrate the growing potential for webcasting and legislative management solutions in government," Spengler says. "The awards recognize the broad applicability of digital technology across different government departments, leading to collaborative problem-solving and higher efficiency." Award winners exemplified the use of best practices in digital technology within the government sector; they effectively streamlined processes for council and commission meetings, minutes annotation, paperless records management, emergency communication, internal training, and community outreach.

Presenting the winners in their respective categories:

Leadership in Digital Access
Winner: Frederick County, MD
Second Place: City of Indianapolis, IN
Honorable Mentions:
City of Edina, MN
Long Beach Fire Department, CA

Excellence in Disseminating Government Information
Winner: Town of Blacksburg, VA
Second Place: City of Delray Beach, FL
Honorable Mentions:
City of Alexandria, VA
City of Glendora, CA
Santa Barbara County, CA

Excellence in Government Efficiency
Winner: City of Lee's Summit, MO
Second Place: City of Hesperia, CA

Excellence in Constituent Engagement
Winner: Onslow County, NC
Second Place: City of Arcata, CA
Honorable Mentions:
City of Chesapeake, VA
City of St. Paul, MN

Silverlight Excellence Award
Winner: Skagit County, WA
Second Place: South Washington County Telecommunications Commission, MN
Honorable Mention: Village of Hastings On Hudson, NY

About Granicus
Founded in 1999, San Francisco-based Granicus� helps government and constituents communicate without barriers. Serving more than 400 governing bodies in 43 states and reaching more than 25% of the American population, Granicus solutions enable vital improvements to public access, civic engagement, government accountability, and efficiency. We manage the world's largest government webcasting network, supporting more than 85,000 public meetings and other government content, securely and reliably bringing vital government information closer to the people.
For more information on the winners, visit http://www.granicus.com/about/contact.html.

Contact
Lauren Alexander, 415-357-3618 x1788

Mayor Gavin Newsom Annouces San Francisco Ranks First for Archiving Most Government Meetings Online

Thu, 26 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO, CA - Today Mayor Gavin Newsom announced that SFGTV- cable TV channel 26 & 78, the City and County of San Francisco's government television station ranks first among nearly 500 government agencies archiving streaming media content through the Granicus media system. The City currently has more meetings online than any other government agency with 2,371 archived meetings as of Friday, February 20th. Second place is the City of Los Angeles, and third place is the Arizona State Legislature.

"I am committed to making San Francisco the most transparent government in the country," said San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom. "In order to nurture an informed electorate it is critical that government make content easily accessible through video, interactive media, and other relevant programming."

San Francisco also ranked first among government agencies for live views in 2008, with 313,491 viewers. SFGTV is a clear leader in the local government webcasting trend that's changing the course of decision-making and citizen engagement throughout the country, streaming over 2000 public meeting to constituents in 2008. SFGTV was an early adopter of webcasting meetings beginning in 2004, since then San Francisco has seen consistent growth in the number of online viewers.

"I am very impressed with the work that the City and County of San Francisco has done to increase government transparency", said Tom Spengler, CEO of Granicus, Inc. "It has been one of the true pioneers of open government over the past five years, and we look forward to working with its staff to put even more public meetings and hearings online."

SFGTV, operated by the City's Department of Technology, programs two San Francisco cable television channels. Programming produced by SFGTV includes live gavel-to-gavel coverage of the Board of Supervisors' meetings, numerous city commission meetings, the Mayor's press conferences and other governmental meetings and events. SFGTV also produces original programming and provides information on city events, city services, and city life.

Granicus, Inc. Announces $10 Million Strategic Investment from JMI Equity

Wed, 16 Jan 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Profitable Company to Use Proceeds to Expand Leadership Position in Webcasting and Public Meeting Management Solutions for Government; Funding Affirms Market Demand

San Francisco, CA - January 16, 2008 - After eight years of successfully growing its business, Granicus� Inc., the nation's leading provider of government webcasting and public meeting management solutions, announced today that it has raised $10 million in Series A financing from JMI Equity. The investment funds will capitalize on Granicus' consistently strong market growth and momentum, enabling significant expansions in sales, marketing, product development, and customer support. Peter Arrowsmith, a general partner at JMI Equity, has joined Granicus' Board of Directors to support the company's growth. JMI is a private equity firm exclusively focused on investment in growing software and business services companies.

"It was important for us to find a firm that understood our exclusive focus on providing solutions to improve the business processes of governments and JMI Equity met all of our requirements," said Tom Spengler, co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Granicus, Inc. "With JMI's track record of investing in growing vertical market businesses that deliver 'Software as a Service' (SaaS) solutions, they bring more than just capital; they will add significant value to the strategic direction of our organization."

Granicus' wide suite of solutions includes licensing models specifically designed to allow governments to work within fixed budgets, including unlimited bandwidth for delivery of audio/video streaming content to global audiences, highly reliable system monitoring that ensures the performance and availability of their content, and custom information technology and website integration that ensures that content meets the very specific service level requirements of governments. With pricing and software that are designed to be highly scalable, Granicus' solutions are already in use by governments with populations as small as 246 and as large as many millions.

"Granicus offers a truly unique integrated public meeting record, servicing governing bodies that are increasingly looking for more reliable and cost-effective solutions for webcasting, public meeting management and constituent communication," said Mr. Arrowsmith. "The industry vision and foresight demonstrated by Tom and the entire Granicus management team have positioned the company to address this promising growth market by continuing to offer significant opportunities for innovative, best-in-class technology with world-class functionality. We look forward to applying our industry expertise to help further expand Granicus' standing among local, state, federal, special district and other governmental organizations."

Granicus has been consistently profitable since 2004, with the company and its client-base having doubled in size every year since 2003. Today, Granicus serves nearly 400 government clients, earning 165 new clients in 2007 alone. The company streams more than 85,000 public meetings and other government content live and on-demand, reaching nearly 1.5 million individual citizen views every month. The fundamental demand for government to deliver critical public services with greater transparency and efficiency is rapidly intensifying. Granicus' proven industry success and exclusive focus on the unique requirements of government positions the company well for continued growth.

Mr. Spengler continued: "JMI is our first institutional investment. It is more than a significant step for us; it validates our niche in a powerful new market. JMI's capital and expertise will help us strengthen our business infrastructure, expand our solutions portfolio and give us the ammunition we need to even more aggressively meet the market demand for our solutions."

About JMI Equity
JMI Equity, based in Baltimore and San Diego, is a private equity firm exclusively focused on investments in growing software and business services companies at all stages of their lifecycles. Founded in 1992, JMI has invested in more than 85 companies throughout North America and has approximately $1.3 billion of committed capital under management. JMI provides the first institutional capital to self-funded companies, partners with management teams to acquire or recapitalize market leading companies and selectively makes investments in early-stage companies. Representative investments include Blackbaud, DoubleClick, Kronos and Unica. For more information on JMI, visit www.jmiequity.com.

About Granicus
Founded in 1999, San Francisco-based Granicus, Inc. helps government reach staff and constituents without barriers. Public agencies trust our webcasting solutions to enable vital improvements to public access, staff efficiency, and government accountability. In addition, the combination of webcasting with public meeting management technology into a single workflow decreases administrative costs and simplifies public recordkeeping tasks. Granicus serves more than 400 governing bodies in 44 states, building close connections with more than 30% of the American population.

Contact
Lauren Alexander
Corporate Communications Manager
415-357-3618 x1788

San Francisco City/County Launches Improved Video Streaming Service

Mon, 27 Jun 2005 00:00:00 GMT

Solution Provides Public with 24/7 Access to Information & Lowers Costs

San Francisco, California (June 27, 2005) - San Francisco City/County launched a significantly improved video streaming service. For several years, San Francisco's local government television station, SFGTV, has provided the public with internet access to government meetings, events and other types of video material through streaming media. The improved service will now offers many new benefits to the public and City employees.

"We now have better access to our meeting videos, which are indexed. With the indexing our citizens can jump straight to any portion of the meeting they're interested in," said Jack Chin, General Manager of SFGTV. "Plus we now have closed captioning available in the video player, which is a huge benefit for the hearing impaired. We are now offering more, at a better cost to our constituents."

Granicus Inc, the leading provider of streaming media solutions for local government, enabled SFGTV video streaming service to offer more. SFGTV's searchable archives generate a more accurate index, detailing what each video file is about. Users can search the minutes or closed captioning by keyword or phrase, resulting in a list of all subjects that pertains to them.

The new and improved service is standardized on the Windows Media player and is available free for all PC and Mac users. The video player has "jump to" points for each agenda item allowing viewers to watch just the portion of the meeting of interest. In the same browser window, Citizens can display the video stream, closed caption text, index points and links to the meeting agendas or minutes. In addition, links to documents related to the meeting can be provided, saving time for the viewer.

The old Real Media archives, from Ipolis, Corp., will be supported until September 2005. The transition from the old to the new system will be seamless to end users. Thanks to the new contract with Granicus, Inc. the city and county is able to offer all these great new features without an increase in spending.

About Granicus
Founded in 1999, San Francisco-based Granicus, Inc. helps government reach staff and constituents without barriers. Public agencies trust our webcasting solutions to enable vital improvements to public access, staff efficiency, and government accountability. In addition, the combination of webcasting with public meeting management technology into a single workflow decreases administrative costs and simplifies public recordkeeping tasks. Granicus serves more than 400 governing bodies in 44 states, building close connections with more than 30% of the American population.

Contact
Lauren Alexander
Corporate Communications Manager
415-357-3618 x1788

City of Wheat Ridge Launches Videostreaming Technology

Fri, 17 Apr 2009 00:00:00 GMT

WRTV Channel 8 Programming Now Online and On Demand

WHEAT RIDGE, CO - Wheat Ridge residents are now able to watch local City meetings broadcast live on the Internet. Users can also instantly replay of all or part of those meetings at their convenience through a link on their City's web site (www.ci.wheatridge.co.us and click on the link titled "WRTV Live and OnDemand Videos").

The City officially launched the new videostreaming technology at the April 13, 2009 City Council meeting enhancing the accessibility of Channel 8 programming to citizens who may not have access to WRTV 8.

"The City of Wheat Ridge has made open government a priority by funding initiatives that enhance communication with our citizens," said Mayor Jerry DiTullio. "We are excited about this new web site feature as further example of our ongoing efforts to increase public input and involvement in government."

Currently the City televises the regular City Council and Planning Commission meetings. These meetings can be accessed live at their regularly scheduled time. Additionally, citizens can access scheduled meetings of the Citizens' Budget Oversight Committee. A copy of the monthly Channel 8 schedule is available on the City's Website.

"The City is very excited about this new technology as a way to outreach to a greater number of residents and members of the business community," said Heather Geyer, Assistant to the City Manager/Public Information Officer. "This is one of the Website enhancements that the City has been looking forward to since the launch of our new City Website last December."

The new on-line service is powered by San Francisco-based Granicus, Inc., the premier provider of government webcasting and public meeting management solutions to over 500 government agencies spanning 45 states across the nation.

"Wheat Ridge is a great example of the positive direction cities are moving in to foster more openness in government with innovative technology. They are among the first 10 cities in the state of Colorado to deploy this type of technology," said Michael Osuna, South Central Regional Manager of Granicus, Inc. "The more meaningful information they can put online, the more they can encourage citizen awareness and involvement."

The Granicus solution includes streaming software to capture, manage, store and distribute online video recordings. In addition, the video player window includes the meeting agenda with direct links to access specific agenda item discussions within the archived meeting. Archived meetings will generally be available for viewing by 10 p.m. the same evening depending on the length of the meeting. Meetings will be archived and available for viewing for one year. In the coming week the City will be adding other Channel 8 programs such as Wheat Ridge Top of the Hour.

Arizona Legislature Expands Public Web Access

Tue, 20 Mar 2007 00:00:00 GMT

The Arizona Legislature introduced upgrades to its Web site that allows computer users to view live and archived committee meetings and floor sessions within 24 hours.

Computer users have been able to view live proceedings since the late 1990s. But for the first time, the Web site will feature an archive of all proceedings. Most committee meetings and floor sessions from the current session will be posted to the Internet.

"Our enhanced Web site combined with a new cable channel featuring legislative proceedings opens Arizona government in ways only imagined," House Speaker Jim Weiers, R-Phoenix, said.

"I commend Steve West and his IT team for working so hard to bring the public the most information as soon as possible," said Senate President Tim Bee, R-Tucson.

The Arizona Legislature also began providing wireless Internet access earlier this decade at the Capitol and has received accolades for this effort.

"This is a great new tool that improves everyone's ability to track important legislation and watch informative debates," said Sen. Jay Tibshraeny, R-Chandler and co-chairman of the Legislature's technology committee.

"I want to make sure people can connect with the Legislature no matter where they are," said House Speaker Pro Tem Bob Robson, R-Chandler and co-chairman of the Legislature's technology committee.

The Legislature worked with San Francisco-based Granicus Inc., a provider of streaming solutions for local government, for the new features.

Granicus integrates with the Legislature's home grown Legislative Tracking System, ALIS. The integrated system creates a robust video and legislative document library. Citizens can conveniently view debate on specific committees and bills or keyword search meeting archives to find precise information they want, when they want it.

About Granicus
Founded in 1999, San Francisco-based Granicus, Inc. helps government reach staff and constituents without barriers. Public agencies trust our webcasting solutions to enable vital improvements to public access, staff efficiency, and government accountability. In addition, the combination of webcasting with public meeting management technology into a single workflow decreases administrative costs and simplifies public recordkeeping tasks. Granicus serves more than 400 governing bodies in 44 states, building close connections with more than 30% of the American population.

Contact
Lauren Alexander
Corporate Communications Manager
415-357-3618 x1788

Granicus, Inc. Introduces National Ranking of Government Webcasts

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Metrics Track Progress in Government Openness and Accountability

San Francisco, CA - Today, Granicus, Inc., the nation's leading provider of government transparency technology, announced its establishment of a national ranking of government webcasts. Granicus aggregates and tracks streaming media from its over 500 government agency clients that use its products and services to encode, manage, archive and distribute their public information online. Efforts like Granicus's to open up government data to the public are a top priority for the Obama administration and especially relevant during this week's celebration of freedom of information laws, National Sunshine Week.

"This is a landmark accomplishment for Granicus. It reaffirms our commitment to help government agencies adopt technology that delivers true transparency and that fosters more citizen awareness and empowerment," says Tom Spengler, CEO and co-founder of Granicus, Inc. "Our technology enables agencies to maximize the accessibility and usefulness of their public information online. Our tools were built specifically to help governments provide information that's complete, timely, and accessible."

Over the past nine years, over 500 public agencies across 45 states have deployed a Granicus solution, resulting in the development of one of the largest networks of government legislative data online. This data includes audio/video public meeting recordings and digital public records - all archived, cross-linked, keyword searchable, and RSS-enabled. The collection of data has enabled Granicus to form a national ranking of webcast government content. The statistics are now publicly available on the Granicus website. It displays top ten lists covering five major areas: most archived webcasts, most webcasts created, most live-webcast viewers, most archived-webcast viewers, and most popular archived webcasts.

The top performers in each area demonstrate leadership due to their success in: 1) distributing a high number of public meetings and other government webcasts live and on-demand; 2) publishing content with depth and key-word searchability (meaning, the audio/video files are integrated with other useful public information and searchable); 3) achieving high visibility and usage of this content among staff and constituents; and 4) positioning this content in an accessible place on the agency's website - in a timely and complete form.

The agencies listed in the ranking are leading contributors in the company's effort to attain one million public meetings online by the end of President Obama's term. This ambitious effort has been coined the "Drive to a Million" initiative. It's Granicus's pledge to support the new administration's goal of creating unprecedented openness in government. Supporters are encouraged to watch the race unfold on the company's website. Granicus hopes more government agencies will join the "Drive to a Million" by putting more government webcasts and public records online. The initiative also aims to inspire more citizens to use the service to increase their awareness and participation with local, state, and national government decision-making.

"Underlying our 'Drive to a Million' is our dedication to helping governments increase the quantity, depth, and accessibility of their public information online with streaming media, archiving, and other distribution tools. The more information we can help agencies put online, the richer the environment we can create for transparency and citizen engagement," adds Spengler.

About Granicus
Founded in 1999, San Francisco-based Granicus, Inc. helps government agencies build stronger connections with citizens. Public agencies trust our webcasting solutions to enable vital improvements to public access, staff efficiency, and government accountability. In addition, the combination of webcasting with public meeting management technology into a single workflow decreases administrative costs and simplifies public recordkeeping tasks. Visit www.granicus.com for more details.

City of St. Peters Expands SPTV Programming to AT&T's U-Verse and the Web with Granicus Technology

Thu, 09 Oct 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Increased Accessibility of Government Programming

PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release
October 9, 2008

St Peters - The city of St. Peters government-access channel, St. Peters TeleVision (SPTV), is now available on on AT&T's digital television network, U-Verse.

The city's new Granicus encoding technology allows SPTV to send a live cable feed over the internet and the U-Verse network simultaneously. This improvement will significantly expand the reach of SPTV programming - digitally distributing it to the web, over cable, and on digital TV.

"We're thrilled to be able to provide SPTV on U-Verse and give our residents and businesses as well as other interested viewers, important information on St. Peters programs, events, news, information and other issues," said Mayor Len Pagano. "With our SPTV programming also available live and on-demand at our website, www.stpetersmo.net, we are able to provide information to people at their convenience. And great communication is one of our top priorities."

St. Peters was able to cut costs in their AT&T U-Verse deployment by leveraging their existing partnership with Granicus, Inc, the nation's leading provider of government webcasting solutions. By implementing the company's new simulstream encoder, Granicus� Outcast Encoder�, St. Peters can webcast and broadcast on TV to the new digital network. With this technology, the city can increase accessibility, while decreasing the overall costs of distribution and maintenance.

"During this time of economic uncertainty we are very excited to offer government agencies a way to save money while improving public access," said Tom Spengler, Co-Founder and CEO of Granicus, Inc. "We have been the leader in government webcasting for several years now, and our new encoder not only supports webcasting, but will also feed the AT&T U-Verse system. The cost advantage of doing both through a single encoder is tremendous, and it also opens the doors for on-demand government not only on the web but through the television."

The City of St. Peters is the first city in the nation to use the new version of the Outcast Encoder. The technology was designed specifically for local governments to support both live webcasting and live distribution of cable content to new digital home video and television networks such as ATT's U-Verse. The Encoder uses simulstream software technology to simultaneously encode multiple streams of audio and video at different resolutions and bit rates - from a single output. Also, with Granicus, content producers control when, where, and how their content is distributed and accessed online using live indexing capability, video trimming, automatic web publishing, long-term archiving, and keyword search.

About Granicus
Founded in 1999, San Francisco-based Granicus, Inc. helps government reach staff and constituents without barriers. Public agencies trust our webcasting solutions to enable vital improvements to public access, staff efficiency, and government accountability. In addition, the combination of webcasting with public meeting management technology into a single workflow decreases administrative costs and simplifies public recordkeeping tasks. Granicus serves more than 400 governing bodies in 44 states, building close connections with more than 30% of the American population.

Contacts:
Lisa Bedian, Community Relations Director, City of St. Peters,
636.477.6600 x 229

Lauren Alexander, Corporate Communications Manager, Granicus, Inc.,
415.357.3618 x 1788

City of Torrance Announces Top Ranking for Government Webcasts

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Achievement Signifies Success in Government Transparency

Torrance, Calif., March 17, 2009 - The City of Torrance announced today that it has climbed to the top of a national ranking of government webcasts due to its leading performance in recording, producing, and distributing streaming media content online with technology provided by Granicus, Inc. In December 1997, Torrance became the first local government in the nation to stream its channel live on the web. In April 2005, Torrance expanded the online service using the Granicus system.

"We are pleased to be recognized for our innovation in webcasting. It attests to our continued efforts in fostering government transparency and encouraging citizen involvement through effective means of distributing information such as publishing media content online," says Mayor Frank Scotto.

The City of Torrance ranks fifth for achieving the most total archived webcasts, positioning itself in the top ten of a national media ranking, a list that aggregates and tracks webcasting data from over 500 government agencies. Torrance has set a record for archived content with total of 2,094 government webcasts archived to date and averaged 1,976 video hits per month over the past year.

"I am very impressed with the work that the City of Torrance has done to increase government transparency," says Tom Spengler, co-founder and CEO of Granicus, Inc. "The quantity, depth, and accessibility of streaming media content on its website truly displays its leadership in creating an environment in which citizens feel more connected to their government. We look forward to working with the City of Torrance to put even more public meetings, hearings, and other content online."

Granicus has become the nation's leading government system for distributing public meetings and other vital public information online. Today, over 500 public agencies belong to this network. As a result, the company has launched a statistics page that captures live metrics covering five major areas: total archived webcasts, most webcasts created, most live webcast viewers, most archived webcast viewers, and most popular webcasts.

The statistics page is an integral part of Granicus' Drive to a Million initiative. The statics captured here display the leading contributors in the company's effort to bring one million public meetings online in support of the new administration's goal of creating an unprecedented level of openness in government. Granicus hopes more government agencies will join the cause by putting more meetings online. The company also hopes more and more citizens will use this service to improve their participation and collaboration with their local, state, and national government agencies.

# # #

Madera County Selects Granicus to Webcast Board and Committee Meetings to the Public

Wed, 27 Apr 2005 00:00:00 GMT

Solution Provides Public with 24/7 Access to Meetings and Emergency Services Information

San Francisco, California (April 27, 2005) - Residents of Madera County, CA can now watch public board meetings live over the Internet or access passed archived meetings at their own convenience. The Board of Supervisors carefully choose Granicus, Inc., an industry leader in the local government video streaming business, to provide the service.

"Madera County is committed to making government as accessible as possible," explained Chairman of the Board Gary Gilbert. "We have been exploring this option for quite some time and we are ecstatic that Madera County residents will have yet another way to stay involved in their government's business."

Using an enterprise solution from Granicus, the County will now publish indexed video of board/committee meetings and other public information. Both residents and county employees can access these video records over the Internet. The archived meetings and information is quickly searchable, by keyword, similar to a "Google" search.

Chief Clerk of the Board, Bonnie Holiday said, "Using the new software seemed a little overwhelming at first; with all the responsibilities I have; taking minutes, running the meeting, operating the remote cameras, among other things. I knew, I had missed a few items in the minutes." However, later on to her pleasure, Bonnie found that she had corrected the misspellings, added missed minutes items and had the full minutes ready to publish after only 10 minutes of time. "Compare that to the old process where I would spend multiple "hours" getting them done." When it came to long meetings Ms. Holiday dreaded the time drain required to complete the meeting minutes. Hours of searching the meeting recording to find missing items. "Its not like I or my staff have a lot of free time on our hands. Now, I know this new product will save the staff and myself many hours in the future."

Bonnie Holiday first surfaced the idea during budget hearings in 2003. At the time, the financial outlook for Madera County was questionable, due in large part to the forecasted State Budget, and the proposal had to be shelved. A short time later Carol Barney, Madera County Public Health Director and the Madera County Office of Emergency Services (OES) Grant Team began looking for ways to broadcast emergency information over the web in the event of a disaster. Before long, it became evident that the solution was already available and a partnership between the Public Health Department, the Office of Emergency Services and the Board of Supervisors Office was formed.

"Bioterrorism funds have been awarded to the County for a few years now," explained Barney. "One goal of the grant program is to expand our public notification capabilities. Video streaming was a perfect fit."

The Office of Emergency Services realized the same benefit and agreed to provide Homeland Security grants funds to get the project going.

"During a disaster the most difficult task can be getting information to the media and the public," explained OES Coordinator Barry Thorn. "Video streaming will allow the County to rapidly produce and disseminate video information should we be the victim of a terrorist attack or natural disaster."

The Board of Supervisors Office has been using the system since March 1st and has already archived every meeting since then. Citizens interested in viewing either the archived meetings or meetings in progress should visit the Supervisors website at www.madera-county.com/supervisors. Meetings are easily viewed on either Macs or Windows computers through the Windows Media Player, available free.

Madera County chose the Granicus solution, because it was designed specifically for city and county governments and met specific public sector needs. The County found a number of features very useful, one of those unique features was how Granicus automates the creation of a searchable index with "jump points" based on agenda items for each video archive. The resulting searchable index will prove beneficial to community members and county staff who refer to meeting archives for clarification of County issues.

Another feature critical in the decision was the Granicus MediaCenter, providing secure and scalable distribution of Madera's audio and video content to thousands of concurrent users, without investing in additional dedicated bandwidth and servers.

About Granicus
Granicus, Inc. is a leading provider of streaming media solutions to local government agencies. Cities and counties utilize the Granicus solution to improve external and internal access to public meetings, which are available in the Windows MediaT audio and video format live over the Internet, and as searchable archives that can be used for efficient long-term record keeping. By measurably improving public and internal access to information beyond what can be provided through cable broadcast, Granicus has become the popular streaming media solution of choice for such innovative cities and governments as; Madera County, Sedgwick County, Ventura County, City of San Francisco, City of Alexandria, City of Sacramento, City of El Segundo, City of Long Beach, City of San Diego, City of Scottsdale, City of Brentwood, City of Pinole, California Public Utilities Commission, and more. For more information about Granicus, please visit: www.granicus.com or call 415-357-3618.

Brookings Increases Government Transparency and Citizen Awareness

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 00:00:00 GMT

City streams Council meetings through their website live and on-demand

Brookings, SD - The City of Brookings has officially launched webcasting technology that allows citizens to view City Council meetings live and on-demand through the City's website (www.cityofbrookings.org), exhibiting the latest in government transparency initiatives.

"This is the next step in giving the community the ability to be active with City Council issues," said Mayor Tim Reed.

Brookings is making strides to increase citizen awareness through live and on-demand streaming. Live streaming of Council meetings provides an alternative to in-person attendance, while on-demand recordings give residents the flexibility to watch meetings on their own time from the location of their choice. During both live and on-demand viewings, residents can access the full meeting's agenda posted along the video player, making it easier for citizens to follow legislation and stay better informed.

"This technology is another layer in the city's open government initiatives as a way to engage citizens. The new system also improves information access helping citizens more directly find answers to topics of interest of them," said City Manager Jeff Weldon.

Hosted by Granicus, this technology allows residents to search archives by keyword, limiting their results to specific mentions within the archived video library. Viewers can also select items from a drop down box and jump to that particular part of the video as well click on hyperlinked text within the agenda to access that portion of the recording. Archived meetings will generally be available within 24 hours of the event.

About Granicus
Granicus, Inc. is the leading provider of government solutions for improving transparency, citizen participation, and community awareness over the Web. Granicus hosts the world's largest government-exclusive webcasting network, streaming an average of 200,000 government webcasts on a daily basis. Granicus serves over 600 clients spanning all 50 states and into Canada.

Contact
Brookings: Shari Thornes, City Clerk 605-697-8641
Granicus: Aileen Horgan, Client Marketing Specialist 415-357-3618 x1753.

California Association of Public Information Officials turn to Granicus for Streaming

Wed, 19 May 2004 00:00:00 GMT

CAPIO Announces New Website Design and Streaming Video Powered By Granicus

The California Association of Public Information Officials (CAPIO) today announced the launch of the organization's newly-designed official website: www.capio.org. The upgraded website features new photo galleries, streaming video archives of the 2004 conference and awards ceremony held in Monterey, helpful professional resources and easy-to-navigate search options.

Designed and integrated with the help from the League of California Cities, the new CAPIO site also lists employment opportunities for public relations and marketing professionals throughout California. Streaming video archives have been facilitated through a strategic sponsorship with Granicus, a leading streaming video provider based in San Francisco.

The new design reflects our commitment to setting the pace in public communications,? said Jeff Hobbs, CAPIO President. ?We are reengineering to enhance our services and maintain our position as the pre-eminent communications membership organization in California.

CAPIO recently introduced a new logo, renamed its organizational newsletter and introduced an innovative certificate program called the PIO Institute. CAPIO also conducts regional training opportunities, an annual conference and awards competition, and local workshops in conjunction with leading companies and other public agencies.

For additional information or story assistance, call CAPIO headquarters at
(916) 658-8278.

College Station to Webcast Council, P&Z Meetings

Fri, 04 Nov 2005 00:00:00 GMT

Solution Provides Public with 24/7 Access to Meetings and Emergency Services Information

College Station will soon join the growing number of cities that are streaming video online to allow citizens to watch meetings live or from an archive, allowing 24/7 access.

With the click of a mouse, residents will be able to view Channel 19, the City of College Station's government cable channel, live on their computers. The system will access a searchable index of Council meetings, allowing the public to retrieve specific items using a simple keyword search feature.

"Our 'go live' date is the November 10 City Council meeting," said Glenn Brown, Interim City Manager for the City of College Station. "At that point, our programming will be available to anyone with computer access, anywhere in the world, any time of the day."

Brown noted that one of the first topics on Thursday's agenda is an international presentation by students from Turkey. "It's a monthly feature of our Council meetings, but will mark the first time families and friends of the presenters will actually be able to see the presentation thousands of miles away."

The streaming video option will dramatically broaden external and internal access to meetings and programs broadcast on CSTV 19 as part of the Council's Strategic Plan to promote effective communication with the public. In addition to Council and Planning & Zoning meetings, Channel 19 broadcasts City View, On the Move, Coach Jim Slaughter's Tiger Football, Army Newswatch, Historic Lunch Lectures Series, and video productions furnished by Texas A&M University, the George Bush Presidential Library and Blinn College.

Citizens interested in viewing the live or archived meetings should visit www.cstx.gov. Meetings can be easily viewed through the Windows Media Player, which can be downloaded at no charge from the website. An automated minutes taking function is included, allowing staff to index minutes while the video is streaming.

A representative of Granicus, Inc., a San Francisco based company that was selected as the service provider, will be conducting training for city employees this week and will introduce the new system at the Council workshop on Thursday. Funding is provided through a Service Level Adjustment for $40,259 approved in the 2005 budget for initial hardware and software purchases, training, 24/7 technical support, monitoring, unlimited bandwidth and archiving for 12 months of all public meetings and 20 hours of additional content.

About Granicus
Founded in 1999, San Francisco-based Granicus, Inc. helps government reach staff and constituents without barriers. Public agencies trust our webcasting solutions to enable vital improvements to public access, staff efficiency, and government accountability. In addition, the combination of webcasting with public meeting management technology into a single workflow decreases administrative costs and simplifies public recordkeeping tasks. Granicus serves more than 400 governing bodies in 44 states, building close connections with more than 30% of the American population.

Contact
Lauren Alexander
Corporate Communications Manager
415-357-3618 x1788

Webcasts Allow Citizens Live and On-Demand Access to City Council Meetings

Sun, 04 Oct 2009 00:00:00 GMT

October 4, 2009 - The City of Rohnert Park is pleased to announce that starting Tuesday, November 10, 2009, anyone with a computer or laptop and internet access can view City Council meetings live through a link on the City's website. Viewers can also access archived webcasts of previous meetings at their convenience. These archived webcasts are indexed, allowing users to quickly jump to a particular agenda item, and provide easy access to all agenda-related documents.

The new webcasting system is facilitated by Granicus Inc., a San-Francisco-based company specializing in webcasting and public meeting management for local government. "By streaming City Council meetings and saving them to the Internet we have opened up a whole new avenue for citizens to access their local government meetings," said Dave Rowley, Rohnert Park's Information Services Manager. "The Granicus product will contribute to an open government policy and make it much more convenient for the general public to see, hear, locate and review specific meeting information. With a click of a mouse and a modest investment we have taken a great step forward in enhancing citizen awareness and involvement in the future of Rohnert Park."

To access a City Council meeting on the internet:

Visit www.rpcity.org
Click on the Government heading in the top banner.
Click on Meeting Webcasts (Live and Archived Video)
Choose a live meeting that is currently in progress or an archived meeting by clicking on Video.

City Council meetings are generally held on the second and fourth Tuesdays of each month, beginning at 6:00 p.m. Meetings will be available live and will be archived within a few hours after the meeting is adjourned.

In the future, the City plans to make other board and commission meetings available, as well as a variety of videos on topics of interest to Rohnert Park citizens.

For more information - Should you have further questions about the webcasting of City meetings, please contact David Rowley, Information Services Manager at (707) 584-2684, or Judy Hauff, City Clerk at (707) 588-2216. For more information about Granicus, visit www.granicus.com or contact Lauren Alexander, Granicus Communications Manager at (415) 357-3618.

City Offering Live Webcast, Video Archive of Public Meetings

Wed, 07 Mar 2007 00:00:00 GMT

Indianapolis, IN -- Concerned and interested citizens now can view many public meetings -- including the Indianapolis City-County Council -- via the Internet.

Indianapolis Mayor Bart Peterson and the city-county Information Services Agency have announced in a news release that programming on the city-county television stations, WCTY (Ch. 16) and Government TV2, is available by live Webcast, as well as through an archived video collection of public meeting broadcasts over the city's Website, www.indygov.org.

"We must make every attempt, every day to ensure that the business of city and county government is as open and accessible to the people we serve as possible," Peterson said in the release. "This exciting new Webcasting system will make our job communicating with the residents easier and make government closer to the people."

Indianapolis is the first municipality in Indiana to partner with Granicus, Inc. -- which works with over 250 municipalities in 28 states -- for the new service, according to the news release.

Citizens can search through a comprehensive video archive of committee and board hearings. Meeting agendas will be included in many instances, with descriptors such as case numbers or proposals numbers, to allow the user to navigate to that particular point in the video, according to the release.

About Granicus
Founded in 1999, San Francisco-based Granicus, Inc. helps government reach staff and constituents without barriers. Public agencies trust our webcasting solutions to enable vital improvements to public access, staff efficiency, and government accountability. In addition, the combination of webcasting with public meeting management technology into a single workflow decreases administrative costs and simplifies public recordkeeping tasks. Granicus serves more than 400 governing bodies in 44 states, building close connections with more than 30% of the American population.

Contact
Lauren Alexander
Corporate Communications Manager
415-357-3618 x1788

South Washington County Telecommunications Commission Acquires Granicus Webcasting for Five Member Cities

Thu, 02 Nov 2006 00:00:00 GMT

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

November 2006 - South Washington County Telecommunications Commission, MN is gearing up to webcast its member cities, Cottage Grove, Newport, St. Paul Park, Woodbury and Grey Cloud Island Township, government meetings for live and on demand playback with webcasting solutions offered by San Francisco-based Granicus, Inc. SWCTC Administrator, Fran Hemmesch, sees webcasting as the natural next step to confronting the informational demands of the 21st Century "with the changing scope of today's communication, enabling citizens to decide what they want to see, when they want to see it, is essential. One of the highlights of the new system is 24/7 access to live and on demand coverage of council meetings. Now staff and citizens can simply fire up their computer, visit or re-visit any portion of a meeting by a simple keyword search or clicking on "Jump To" links below the video. With the new system, viewers can conveniently locate a particular item of interest by a keyword search of the audio/video and associated documents that direct you to that specific moment in the meeting when the searched item was discussed. "It's going to be so easy. People are going to love it," says Hemmesch.

"We're excited about the opportunities streaming will provide. Not only our 'regular' SWCTC viewers will be able to obtain video on demand, but also anyone anywhere with broadband internet service," noted SWCTC Chair Wendy Chretien. The SWCTC started talking about web streaming in January 2006. Extensive research of systems was done before signing a contract with Granicus. No other companies provide the integrated audio/video, agenda, and supporting documents. With the new system, agenda items can be indexed in real time to create convenient "Jump To" points in the video and archived videos are automatically published to the web site. The system can deliver both live and on-demand content over the internet. SWCTC anticipates this service will cut down the requests it receives for video copies of city meetings. After all city meetings are phased in SWCTC will use web streaming to deliver other video programming.

About Granicus
Founded in 1999, San Francisco-based Granicus, Inc. helps government reach staff and constituents without barriers. Public agencies trust our webcasting solutions to enable vital improvements to public access, staff efficiency, and government accountability. In addition, the combination of webcasting with public meeting management technology into a single workflow decreases administrative costs and simplifies public recordkeeping tasks. Granicus serves more than 400 governing bodies in 44 states, building close connections with more than 30% of the American population.

Contact
Lauren Alexander
Corporate Communications Manager
415-357-3618 x1788

Louisville Metro Government in top ranking for Government Webcasts

Mon, 16 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Strides made in making government available to public on line

Louisville - When it began in November, residents of Metro Louisville were able to be at any meeting of the Metro Council with a click of a mouse. Web streaming has brought all meetings of the Council to any home or office with internet access.

Now, Louisville Metro Government has been ranked as one of the top government sites that offer such a service to the citizens of a major city or community.

"In the new technological era of openness and transparency in government, we are pleased that our efforts at web streaming have been recognized," says Metro Council President David Tandy (D-4). "This shows more of our citizens want to learn about their government and technology is an easy way for them to find out what is going on."

The Metro Council officially began webcasting its regular and committee meetings in November of 2008 using software created by Granicus Inc. Working with Metro TV, anyone can watch a meeting online live or review any previous meeting under an archived list found on the Metro Council's Home Page: www.louisvilleky.gov/metrocouncil.

"Now the public can actually see what went on at a meeting and how decisions were made," said Metro Council Clerk Kathy Herron. "Over time we anticipate higher usage as citizens become more familiar with this new tool -- web streaming. We have also found the system is very easy to navigate for any user of a computer."

Since November there has been an average of almost 200 hits a month to watch Metro Council meetings.

Some 500 public agencies are currently using the Granicus Inc. system as a way to not only broadcast online but to create and efficient record and archive of meetings.

To see a listing of archived meetings of the Louisville Metro Council go to: http://services.louisvilleky.gov/metrostream/?viewid=2

Granicus Releases Encoder to Connect Public Access Channels to AT&T U-verse

Fri, 30 Jan 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Government Encoding Solution to Increase PEG Accessibility & Cut Costs

Granicus, Inc., the leading provider of government webcasting solutions, today announced the release of its new streaming encoder, specifically designed to connect public, educational and government access (PEG) programming to AT&T's U-verse Internet Protocol (IP)-based video delivery network. Granicus has expanded the functionality of its audio and video streaming encoder, Granicus� Outcast EncoderT, to be 100% compatible with the U-verse system. The Granicus solution provides a cost-effective way for governments to increase the quality and accessibility of their public access channels by supporting high-quality distribution to the U-verse network and the web.

"Protecting and improving the accessibility of PEG programming is particularly important as today's uncertain economic climate increases demands for government transparency and causes citizens to turn to their governments for guidance and support," says Tom Spengler, Co-Founder and CEO of Granicus, Inc. "Granicus is firmly committed to ensuring local governments have the technology and ongoing support they need to effectively extend PEG programming to the web and Internet TV services such as U-verse. In states where U-verse is reaching an increasing number of households, Granicus is working hard to assure public access channels can connect with best-in-class quality - at affordable rates," adds Spengler.

Granicus Outcast Encoder with U-verse Compatibility aims to help local governments:

Increase public availability of PEG content through a low-cost, high-impact model of PEG channel distribution - online and over IPTV.
Improve the reliability and quality of digital encoding and video transmission to U-verse and the web. Our fully managed encoder solution assures video performance is consistently high through remote systems monitoring, 24/7 technical support, and software for auto-reboot and auto-reconnect - as well as automatic software upgrades.
Reach more constituents by increasing the visibility of public access programming with webcasting functionality. With or without U-verse, cities can add on-demand webcasting capability that lets content producers control when, where, and how content is distributed online.
The Outcast Encoder with U-verse Compatibility digitally converts, manages, and transmits video signals to an IPTV-based network in the highest quality digital format. The technology simultaneously encodes multiple streams of audio and video at different resolutions and bit rates - from a single output.

Additionally, it's built to handle all types of video inputs, from analog to uncompressed digital streams. The end result is consistency: a digitally compressed signal leveraging the Windows Media Video format, ready for distribution to U-verse and the web.

With Granicus, local governments also gain access to a live and on-demand webcasting solution without adding hardware or spending more money. You get live indexing capability, video trimming, automatic web publishing, and long-term archiving. The Granicus encoder and webcasting solution is currently relied on by more than 500 government agencies nationwide.

For more information about Granicus Outcast Encoder with U-verse Compatibility, contact us.

About Granicus
Founded in 1999, San Francisco-based Granicus, Inc. helps government reach staff and constituents without barriers. Public agencies trust our webcasting solutions to enable vital improvements to public access, staff efficiency, and government accountability. In addition, the combination of webcasting with public meeting management technology into a single workflow decreases administrative costs and simplifies public recordkeeping tasks. Granicus serves more than 500 governing bodies in 44 states, building close connections with more than 30% of the American population.

Contact
Lauren Alexander, Granicus Inc, 415-357-3618 x1788

Vallejo to Offer Live Webcast of Council, Planning Meetings

Wed, 22 Nov 2006 00:00:00 GMT

In its ongoing effort to reach out to its residents and bring City Hall to the public, the City of Vallejo will soon be offering live webcasting of City Council and Planning Commission meetings on its website by the end of the year.

"This is an exciting, major step for our city," said Vallejo Mayor Anthony Intintoli, Jr. "Bringing this kind of access to our residents makes the process of government more transparent and provides us one more way to reach a larger audience."

The City will be using Granicus, Inc. to provide live webcasting to the City and its residents. Prior to the addition of webcasting, City Council and Planning Commission meetings could only be seen by those residents with cable television. Now, residents can go online at www.ci.vallejo.ca.us to see the meetings as they take place. Along with viewing live meetings, residents will be able to access an archive of past meetings as well.

"We expect this service to help improve our external communications resulting in improved relationships and knowledge transfer," said Gonzalo Gonzalez, Chief Information Officer for the City of Vallejo. "This is a cost-effective way to provide a vital service to our residents as well."

Granicus, Inc. provides comprehensive solutions for creating, managing and distributing live and on-demand streaming media content to support and enhance public meeting communications for local government.

"This major step continues our efforts to improve our website and make it a much more vital link to our community," said City Manager John Thompson. "From completing transactions online to now being able to view live council meetings, or archived past meetings, give more access to our residents." Only two other agencies in Solano County offer live webcasting of public meetings: The City of Fairfield and Solano County.

Many city meetings now being broadcast on the WWW

Fri, 20 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Brooklyn Park, MN - Area residents, and internet users everywhere, can now see many of our local city meetings live on the internet as they happen. Residents will also be able to watch replays of all or a portion of those archived meetings at their convenience. Residents can access the live and on-demand webcasts through a link on their city's website. From there they will be redirected to the host site provided by the Northwest Suburbs Cable Communications Commission at www.nwsccc.org.

Deployment of the new webcasting system has taken place over the last several months, with completion anticipated the week of February 16, 2009. The Northwest Suburbs Cable Communications Commission (NWSCCC) has funded and is coordinating this project for its nine member cities: Brooklyn Center, Brooklyn Park, Crystal, Golden Valley, Maple Grove, New Hope, Osseo, Plymouth and Robbinsdale.

"The unique feature about the archived on-demand portion of the new webcasting service is the ability for residents to click on an agenda item and jump the video directly to the portion of the meeting they are most interested in," said Tim Gaffron, Manager - Municipal Telecommunications Services for the NWSCCC. In addition to the live and on-demand features, residents will be able to search through archived agendas using keywords to locate items of interest.

Archived meetings will generally be available for on-demand viewing by the morning after the meeting takes place. Meetings will be archived and available for viewing for one year from the date of the meeting.

City meetings that are currently cablecast on Channel 16 will still be seen live and replayed at their regular times. The webcasting service will be in addition to the cablecasting services that have been provided since 1982 by the NWSCCC and Northwest Community Television.

The Northwest Suburbs Cable Communications Commission negotiates, adopts and enforces cable franchise agreements with cable television providers in the northwest suburbs of Minneapolis, Minnesota. In addition, the NWSCCC provides and funds Northwest Community Television and Channel 12.

The new on-line service is powered by San Francisco-based Granicus, Inc.,a premier provider of government webcasting and public meeting management solutions to nearly 400 government agencies spanning 39 states across the nation.

###

San Bernardino County Supervisors Meet Live on Internet

Sat, 21 Apr 2007 00:00:00 GMT

San Bernardino, CA -- Starting Tuesday, it will be live from San Bernardino for the county supervisors.

That's when they are expected to kick off a webcast of their weekly meetings as part of their ongoing effort aimed at boosting the openness of local government.

"Because we're the largest U.S. county in the lower 48, attending board meetings means hundreds of miles of travel for many of our residents," board Chairman Paul Biane said in a statement. "This is a major step forward in our continuing effort to make county government directly available to the people we serve."

On Tuesday, the supervisors are launching what is called CountyVision, a feature at www.sbcounty.gov that plays videos of live and archived meetings of the Board of Supervisors and other agencies, such as the Planning Commission, messages from individual supervisors and news conferences.

If all goes according to plan, residents who can't make it to Tuesday's 10 a.m. meeting, or those who just want to get a glimpse of the action, can tune in. The webcast uses Windows Media, meaning most computers should be able to access the video.

Archived meetings will allow residents to jump directly to any portion of the meeting or directly to the video from a specific agenda item.

"That is one of the most fantastic features," county spokesman David Wert said.

Wert said any government meeting held in the county's Covington Chambers on the first floor of the downtown San Bernardino government center eventually should be webcast live.

The county in February hired San Francisco-based Granicus Inc. to build its Web streaming system. The company specializes in helping local governments provide public information on the Internet.

The contract with the company lasts through February 2010 at a total cost of $145,046.

"One of the major goals was always public access and transparency," Granicus CEO and co-founder Tom Spengler said in an interview. "In a county like San Bernardino that is geographically so big, this technology plays a key part in doing that."

The company, which has about 250 government clients nationwide, also is helping the clerk of the board automate many of its record-keeping tasks, Spengler said.

The county since 2002 has videotaped Board of Supervisors meetings but was never able to get them broadcast live because of the many different cable providers in the 20,000-square-mile county. Tapes are sent overnight to television stations interested in broadcasting the meetings.

Other changes in how the Board of Supervisors operates also are on the way.

Statements of economic interest, known as Form 700s, will be available on the Internet starting Tuesday, county officials said. The forms detail potential conflicts of interest and are required for elected officials and other top administrators and staff.

Also starting Tuesday, reports from individual board members, which often entail summaries of activities and remembrances for deceased constituents, will take pace near the end of each meeting, rather than at the start. County officials say this will reduce the time residents wait to comment on the agenda or speak before the board.

And the county no longer will post two agendas to its weekly meeting. Before, the clerk's office posted Tuesday's agenda on the Thursday before. Late changes or additions often would get added in a supplemental agenda posted on Friday.

The two are combined now and posted on Fridays. The county said single agenda was needed to better link with the archived video of board meetings.

"The county is making good on its promise to bring government closer to the people," Supervisor Gary Ovitt said in a statement.

Reach Duane W. Gang at 909-806-3062 or dgang@PE.com

About Granicus
Founded in 1999, San Francisco-based Granicus, Inc. helps government reach staff and constituents without barriers. Public agencies trust our webcasting solutions to enable vital improvements to public access, staff efficiency, and government accountability. In addition, the combination of webcasting with public meeting management technology into a single workflow decreases administrative costs and simplifies public recordkeeping tasks. Granicus serves more than 400 governing bodies in 44 states, building close connections with more than 30% of the American population.

Contact
Lauren Alexander
Corporate Communications Manager
415-357-3618 x1788

City Council Meetings Now Available on City Website

Sat, 28 Jan 2006 00:00:00 GMT

The City's website (www.wilmingtonnc.gov) has been enhanced to include live and archived streaming video of City Council and Planning Commission meetings.

Citizens are now able to view council meetings live, or view specific portions of council meetings by clicking on selected agenda items. Citizens can also do keyword searches to view items of interest, or view by selected meeting date. Windows Media Player version 9 or better is required to view the streaming video. In time, documents such as maps associated with related agenda items will also be linked to the videos.

The City's technology partner in this endeavor is Granicus Inc., of San-Francisco. Granicus specializes in working with municipalities to provide streaming video services. Wilmington is the first municipality in North Carolina to utilize Granicus' unique agenda-based solution. Dylan Lee, GTV8 Station Manager, said, "The City has committed to communicating with the public via GTV8, which reaches over 60,000 households on TimeWarner cable. Now, City Council meetings, Planning Commission meetings, and all of our other programming will be available, on-demand, on the web. This will be an extremely helpful tool for anyone who is interested in what's happening in City Government."

The streaming videos can be accessed by going to the City's homepage, www.wilmingtonnc.gov, and clicking on "online videos"

For more information, contact GTV8 Station Manager Dylan Lee at 341-4675.

About Granicus
Founded in 1999, San Francisco-based Granicus, Inc. helps government reach staff and constituents without barriers. Public agencies trust our webcasting solutions to enable vital improvements to public access, staff efficiency, and government accountability. In addition, the combination of webcasting with public meeting management technology into a single workflow decreases administrative costs and simplifies public recordkeeping tasks. Granicus serves more than 400 governing bodies in 44 states, building close connections with more than 30% of the American population.

Contact
Lauren Alexander
Corporate Communications Manager
415-357-3618 x1788

City Meetings Now Online

Tue, 31 Jul 2007 00:00:00 GMT

Wilson, NC -- Public meetings held by the city of Wilson are not only available on cable television but are now being offered online.

The city's Web site -- www.wilsonnc.org -- started offering videos of its meetings last week and will provide the meetings either live or on demand.

"The city of Wilson is committed to open, transparent decision-making," said Brian Bowman, public affairs manager. "We've televised public meetings for years. Now, citizens can see public meetings on their computer. They don't have to have cable to see their elected leaders at work."

The videos are available at any time on the Web site and provide a scroll-down menu that allows viewers the ability to watch certain portions of the meeting.

The scroll-down menu includes the meeting agenda, which provides easy access to certain meeting topics.

"This will allow people to find the item that interests them most," Bowman said. "Instead of having to call City Hall to request a copy of the meeting, they can watch it any time in their home or office."

The Web site currently offers several City Council meetings from April to July 19.

Meetings held by the City Council, the Planning Board and the Board of Adjustment will all be available on the Web site, as well as editions of the city's "City Talk" and "Around Town" television shows that are currently aired on cable Channel 8.

Other special programming will be available from time to time. Archived videos will be available for one year after their original air date.

The city contracted with San Francisco-based Granicus for the video service, which is being used by 200 cities and towns across the nation. The city of Wilmington currently offers the same online service.

System software, staff training and other equipment cost the city $26,150. The city will pay $100 per program and estimate the monthly cost at $1,000 for 10 shows.

"Granicus is a turn-key operation," Bowman said. "They have created a simple, easy-to-navigate web system that allows city staffers to post about 10 videos each month."

A government calendar is also available on the Web site, providing meeting time confirmation for people wanting to watch meetings live.

To access the video Web page, go to http://www.wilsonnc.org, click on the WTV logo then click on the appropriate links. The service is free and works best with DSL or higher Internet speeds. Dial-up customers are advised to listen to sound only.

About Granicus
Founded in 1999, San Francisco-based Granicus, Inc. helps government reach staff and constituents without barriers. Public agencies trust our webcasting solutions to enable vital improvements to public access, staff efficiency, and government accountability. In addition, the combination of webcasting with public meeting management technology into a single workflow decreases administrative costs and simplifies public recordkeeping tasks. Granicus serves more than 400 governing bodies in 44 states, building close connections with more than 30% of the American population.

Contact
Lauren Alexander
Corporate Communications Manager
415-357-3618 x1788

Granicus Inc. Makes the Inc. 500 List of America's Fastest-Growing Private Companies

Wed, 19 Aug 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Government Solutions Provider Ranks No. 419 with a Three-Year Sales Growth of 617.9%

San Francisco, CA - Granicus, Inc., the top provider of government transparency and collaboration technologies specifically designed to improve the way citizens interact with government, has been ranked the 419th fastest-growing private company in America on Inc. magazine's prestigious 2009 Inc. 500 list.

The company's 617.9% revenue growth from 2005-2008 also secured its position as the 45th fastest-growing company in the government services industry and the 18th fastest-growing company in the San Francisco Bay area. Overall, Granicus has experienced over 3,600 percent revenue growth since 2003.

"We're honored to receive this distinction. Being named to the Inc. 500 list underscores our ability to provide an effective product that meets the maturing government need for increased levels of transparency, operational efficiency, citizen participation, and collaboration. Our consistent revenue growth can be attributed to the hard work of the Granicus team and our deep dedication to creating innovative technologies and delivering industry-leading customer service," says Spengler.

Granicus products are currently used by over 550 government agencies. The company manages the world's largest government webcasting network, streaming an average of 5,000 government meetings per month and managing over 600,000 hours of archived content. Visit the company's Client Stats page to view a live aggregation of streaming media stats from all levels of government. The top performing agencies include: the City of Los Angeles, CA; Olelo Community Television, HI; the Arizona State Legislature; the City and County of San Francisco, CA; King County, WA; the City of Indianapolis, IN; the City of Fort Worth, TX; Miami-Dade County, FL; and many more.

"An important part of our growth-especially critical in the recent economic downturn-has been maintaining consistently high client retention and referability rates. Our 99.6% client retention rate, combined with our 97.5% referability rate, indicates that we've been a successful, trustworthy, and reliable government partner. We're excited to strive to maintain this rate in the coming year through continued customer success and satisfaction with our products. This means we'll keep a sharp focus on helping our clients achieve success through an immediate and long-term return-on-investment from our solutions. Additionally, we'll continue to stay highly proactive and responsive in our services and support to ensure we meet and exceed client expectations," adds Spengler.

Methodology
The 2009 Inc. 500 measures revenue growth from 2005 through 2008. To qualify, companies must have been founded and generating revenue by the first week of 2005, and therefore able to show four full calendar years of sales. Additionally, they had to be U.S.-based, privately held, for profit, and independent-not subsidiaries or divisions of other companies-as of December 31, 2008. (Since then, a number of companies on the list have gone public or been acquired.) The minimum revenue required for 2005 is $200,000; the minimum for 2008 is $2 million.

About Granicus
Granicus, Inc. is the leading provider of comprehensive government solutions for improving transparency, public participation, and collaboration over the Web. Granicus offers an extensive platform to help public agencies to create, manage, and distribute live and on-demand streaming media content. The technology was built to support and enhance public meeting communications, internal trainings, citizen engagement, and public education programs-while reducing staff time and costs. Granicus is the only provider with the experience and capabilities to tightly integrate webcasting, online training, citizen collaboration, and public meeting management tools into the existing processes, systems, and infrastructure of government.

About Inc. Magazine
Founded in 1979 and acquired in 2005 by Mansueto Ventures LLC, Inc. (www.inc.com) is the only major business magazine dedicated exclusively to owners and managers of growing private companies that delivers real solutions for today's innovative company builders. With a total paid circulation of 712,961, Inc. provides hands-on tools and market-tested strategies for managing people, finances, sales, marketing, and technology. Visit us online at Inc.com.

Arcata City Council & Planning Commission Meetings Live on the Web

Fri, 14 Apr 2006 00:00:00 GMT

"LIVE FROM CITY HALL IT'S..."

Beginning with the April 19th City Council meeting, citizens can now watch Arcata City Council and Planning Commission meetings live over the Internet, or access past archived meetings at their own convenience. The City of Arcata has partnered with Granicus, Inc. of San Francisico, a leading provider of streaming media solutions to local government, to webcast the Arcata City Council and Planning Commission meetings live and archived on the Internet. The web-streaming system provided by Granicus is designed specifically for cities and meets specific public sector needs.

From the City's homepage www.arcatacityhall.org by clicking on "Meetings - Live and Archived", citizens will have the ability to watch live web-stream video of the Council and Planning Commission meetings from their computers, even if they are out of town. While the meetings will continue to air on COX Cable, this opens access to our public meetings to many of our citizens who do not have access to HCTV channel 12. During the live webcast the meeting agenda will be posted to the right of the screen and the item currently under discussion is listed directly below the screen.

By the morning following the meeting, the video is uploaded to the City's website where it will be archived for a year, thus giving web visitors 24 x 7 access to meeting information. The archived videos are available on-demand and have some unique features that automates the creation of searchable agenda index with "jump-points". Citizens will now be able to view specific portions of council meetings by clicking on selected agenda items and going directly to that portion of the meeting. The streaming video viewer is like a regular video player, there are features that allow for fast forward to a particular item of interest. Citizens can also do keyword searches to view items, or view by selected meeting date. This will be a very helpful tool for anyone who is interested in what's happening in City Government.

To access internet meetings from the City's website, computers need to be running Windows 2000 or XP with 128 mb ram minimum, Windows Media Player 9 or newer, 1.2 MHz processor, sound card, and a high speed internet connection. Computers below these specifications or using dial up connections may still be able to connect to the meeting but may experience choppy or no video.

For more information, contact GTV8 Station Manager Dylan Lee at 341-4675.

About Granicus
Founded in 1999, San Francisco-based Granicus, Inc. helps government reach staff and constituents without barriers. Public agencies trust our webcasting solutions to enable vital improvements to public access, staff efficiency, and government accountability. In addition, the combination of webcasting with public meeting management technology into a single workflow decreases administrative costs and simplifies public recordkeeping tasks. Granicus serves more than 400 governing bodies in 44 states, building close connections with more than 30% of the American population.

Contact
Lauren Alexander
Corporate Communications Manager
415-357-3618 x1788

Streaming New York: Governor Spitzer Orders Webcasts of Public Meetings

Tue, 13 Feb 2007 00:00:00 GMT

NEW YORK, NY -- On January 1st, his first day as governor, New York's Eliot Spitzer issued an executive order promoting webcasts of state public meetings.

"In the order, it says that public businesses should be performed in an open, public manner," says Brad Maione, Spitzer's spokesperson. "Governor Spitzer has stressed since the beginning of the administration that transparency and public accountability are very important, and this dovetails nicely with that."

The order is an extension of New York's Open Meetings Law, enacted in the mid-1970s to ensure public access to public meetings. The law calls for public business to "be performed in an open and public manner" and says citizens should be "able to observe the performance of public officials and attend and listen to the deliberations and decisions that go into the making of public policy."

Governor Spitzer's order extends the Open Meetings Law through the use of broadband. In it, he spells out a plan for implementing this technology across all state agencies. By March 1 of this year, every agency and public authority must submit to the Secretary to the Governor a plan that identifies all meetings that are subject to the Open Meetings Law and specifies a timetable for ensuring all such meetings are broadcast on the Internet. By July 1, the meetings must actually be broadcast on the Internet.

"This is a big step in New York," says Maione. "We're going to work with the agencies to identify the meetings and also the timetable and how we're going to carry it out. It's going to take some time to get it together, but once it does it'll be good for the public."

For companies in the business of webcasting, the order is a vindication of their efforts. "It's a great thing to see," says Tom Spengler, CEO of Granicus. "It's the first time that I've seen nationwide where the executive office said, 'Hey, we're going to make it a priority to make all of our meetings available to the public through streaming audio and video.' This is what we've been pushing for for years, so it's really nice to see the leadership at the state level make this big a step forward."

Spengler says that legislation requiring Internet broadcasts of public meetings has been proposed in several other states but has not succeeded. "In California, probably about two years ago, there was a bill but it never got out of committee," he adds. Granicus already provides the technology for more than 100 local governments in California to stream their public meetings via Internet, and Spengler anticipates statewide legislation to be enacted in the next few years.

While Spitzer's order is limited to state agencies, it may have a trickle-down effect to New York's city and county governments, spurring them to adopt streaming technologies. And it also holds the promise of influencing governments beyond the state's borders. "As an attorney general, Eliot did a lot of things that provided resources and expertise to other states, so I'm sure that states will take a look at this and consider it for their own communities," says Maione.

About Granicus
Founded in 1999, San Francisco-based Granicus, Inc. helps government reach staff and constituents without barriers. Public agencies trust our webcasting solutions to enable vital improvements to public access, staff efficiency, and government accountability. In addition, the combination of webcasting with public meeting management technology into a single workflow decreases administrative costs and simplifies public recordkeeping tasks. Granicus serves more than 400 governing bodies in 44 states, building close connections with more than 30% of the American population.

Contact

Lauren Alexander
Corporate Communications Manager
415-357-3618 x1788

Denver 8 TV Announces Top Ranking for Government Webcasts

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Achievement Signifies Success in Government Transparency

DENVER, CO - March, 17, 2009 - Denver 8 TV, the City and County of Denver's municipal access television channel, announced today that it has climbed to the top of a national ranking of government webcasts due to its leading performance in recording, producing, and distributing streaming media content online. Denver 8 TV is meeting its commitment to deliver all of its public video productions as web-available programming.

"We're pleased to be recognized for our innovation in webcasting content. It's a great example of our ongoing commitment to fostering government transparency. The more meaningful information we can put online, through Denver 8's webstreaming and through DenverGov as a whole, the more we can encourage citizen involvement and empowerment," says Darryn Zuehlke, Director of the Office of Telecommunications and Denver 8TV. "This ranking also indicates how publishing video content on our website has proven to be effective as an additional channel of communication to distribute information," adds Zuehlke.

Denver 8 TV positioned itself in the Top 10 of a list that aggregates and tracks webcasting data from more than 500 government agencies. It ranked 5th in the nation for most archived webcasts created in 2008 The television station made 609 programs available last year. Denver also regularly appears in the top 10 for number of weekly webcasts.

Denver 8 TV live streams all City Council meetings, including weekly Council Committees, as well as the weekly Mayor-Council session. Additionally, the channel makes these and its regular programming available on its website www.DenverGov.org/Denver8TV from an on-demand video archive which includes a weekly city news show, Denver Update, and numerous public affairs programs. This is made possible with technology provided by Granicus, Inc.

Beyond setting the pace for archiving the most government content, Denver 8 TV has topped 24,000 programs viewed over in the past year. This represents a 71% jump in public viewing over the previous year. Denver 8 has been webcasting for more than two years with Granicus, beginning the service in January 2006. This type of solution was implemented as an alternate means of distributing Denver 8 programming to the roughly 50% of Denver residents who do not subscribe to Comcast cable TV. Additional

benefits are also ascribed to reaching those stakeholders doing business in and with the City who can gain additional information about Denver city government processes and policy discussions.

The achievement report coincides with National Sunshine Week (www.sunshineweek.org) which runs March 15 - 22, 2009. The event focuses attention on openness and transparency in government, and a citizen's right to know.

"I am very impressed with the work that Denver 8 TV has done to increase government transparency," says Tom Spengler, co-founder and CEO of Granicus, Inc. "The quantity, depth, and accessibility of streaming media content on its website truly displays its leadership in creating an environment in which citizens feel more connected to their government. We look forward to assisting Denver 8 in making even more public content available online."

Granicus has become the nation's leading government system for distributing public meetings and other vital public information online. Today, more than 500 public agencies belong to this network. As a result, the company has launched a statistics page (http://www.granicus.com/Clients/Client-Stats.aspx) that captures live metrics covering five major areas: total archived webcasts, most webcasts created, most live webcast viewers, most archived webcast viewers, and most popular webcasts.

The statistics page is an integral part of Granicus's Drive to a Million initiative (http://www.granicus.com/Transparency/Drive-To-A-Million.aspx). The statistics captured here display the leading contributors in an effort to bring one million public meetings online in support of the new presidential administration's goal of creating an unprecedented level of openness in government. Visit www.granicus.com for more details.

###

Governments Meet Economic Challenges with Granicus Solutions

Thu, 11 Sep 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Agencies Leverage Webcasting and Meeting Management to Decrease Costs and Build Public Trust

San Francisco, CA - Granicus, Inc., the nation's leading provider of solutions for government webcasting and public meeting management, announced today that nearly 150 government agencies have adopted its technology so far this year, despite widespread economic challenges.

The state of today's economy is presenting new challenges for cities, counties, special districts, and state agencies. Budget deficits, the downturn in local property tax revenue, employee layoffs, and cuts to services are creating a sense of uncertainty among constituents. In spite of these difficulties, nearly double the number of government agencies than a year ago are investing in government transparency with technology provided by Granicus.

Election-year rhetoric commonly emphasizes the proud tradition of open government. This year, governments are taking action and delivering real transparency, which is building trust in their communities and saving them money. To do this, they are turning to new technologies to build public confidence through increased openness, accountability, and efficiency. Citizen demands on government are also shaping today's necessity for government transparency. The public wants more transparency in deliberation, decision-making, and policy-making. As a result, government agencies are seeking long-term, affordable technology solutions to strengthen open government.

"Our exclusive focus on the public sector enables us to see a strong trend developing among government agencies. We're not surprised by the fact that agencies are recognizing that the budget crisis serves as an opportunity to make instrumental changes to the way they do business," says Tom Spengler, Co-Founder and CEO of Granicus. "Today, many public agencies are increasingly relying on technology solutions that create transparency and result in more public trust - while decreasing both their communications and legislative costs. Granicus's remarkable market growth confirms the strong demand by citizens for transparency. Governments are applying webcasting and public meeting management solutions to fill transparency voids in their legislative and administrative processes."

This year alone, a wide variety of small towns, metropolitan cities, school districts, special districts, and state agencies have adopted Granicus solutions - expanding the company's client base into 44 states across the nation. This broad range points to the prevalence of this trend among all types of governing bodies with differing powers and policy needs. Among them are:

Town of Dewey-Humboldt, Arizona

City of Ivins, Utah

City of San Marcos, Texas

City of Dallas, Texas

Washington, D.C.

Miami-Dade County, Florida

Knox County, Tennessee

Alexandria City Public Schools, Virginia

Port of Oakland, California

South Carolina Department of Labor, Licensing, and Regulation

Tuolumne Utilities District, California

Northwest Suburbs Cable Communications Commission (NWSCCC)

New York State Liquor Authority

Granicus software and services help agencies easily set up online repositories of government webcasts and digital documents - all cross-linked, keyword-searchable, and conveniently accessible online 24/7. Granicus specializes in minimizing the impact webcasting has on staff time. Realtime streaming media indexing is built into public meeting management software for minutes-annotation and vote control, so government agencies can automate their processes and help ensure accountability at the same time. Staff from different departments and locations in governmental organizations can easily control their own content, while sharing hardware, software, storage, and bandwidth resources from a single system. These benefits provide agencies with a low cost of ownership.

This strong trend amidst difficult financial times is leading to smart cost cutting in public agencies across the U.S. The technology solutions they're increasingly turning to are from Granicus.

About Granicus
Founded in 1999, San Francisco-based Granicus, Inc. helps government reach staff and constituents without barriers. Public agencies trust our webcasting solutions to enable vital improvements to public access, staff efficiency, and government accountability. In addition, the combination of webcasting with public meeting management technology into a single workflow decreases administrative costs and simplifies public recordkeeping tasks. Granicus serves more than 400 governing bodies in 44 states, building close connections with more than 30% of the American population.

Contact
Lauren Alexander
Corporate Communications Manager
415-357-3618 x1788

Cupertino Extends Communication with Video Podcasting

Wed, 01 Nov 2006 00:00:00 GMT

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

November 2006 - Cupertino is responding to information demands of the 21st century by advancing their communications with video podcasting offered by San Francisco-based Granicus, Inc. Now, interested citizens, staff and people all over the globe can subscribe to Cupertino's video podcasts to view the city's latest public meeting webcasts. Subscribing to podcasts is easy and allows you to get the information you want, when you want it. As webcasts of city council, planning and parks and recreation meetings are published to the web, podcast feeds are automatically delivered and downloaded into your RSS reader, like iTunes, for remote and mobile viewing on handheld video players, like video-enabled iPod's, and some mobile phones.

"It is our goal to continue to use technology, like that offered by Granicus, to improve city communication with residents. Increasingly, there is a need to deliver municipal information through a medium that is both effective and convenient," says, Cupertino City Manager, David Knapp. With this new service, Cupertino staff and residents can personalize their audio/video library with content by subscription. Granicus RSS (Really Simple Syndication) is an XML-based format for sharing and distributing webcasts. RSS feeds collect your information and intelligently route itto your desktop for quick and easy access.

As rates of Internet and broadband penetration continue to rise across the nation, the Internet is fast becoming the primary medium for communication local governments and their constituents. Adopting communication methods likewebcasting and audio/video podcasting to expand the reach of public information to citizens has become a priorityamong local governments across the nation. Rick Kitson, Public Communication Manager, City of Cupertino,recognizes the changing landscape in government communications, "Podcasting is a natural addition to ourcommunication programs." He says, "We are offering ourresidents every opportunity to find out about their city andabout the decisions that will affect their quality of life."

Since June 2005, Cupertino has been webcasting their public meetings with Granicus and in May 2006 theyadopted audio podcasting as an additional vehicle for city information. Now, Cupertino paves the way as Granicus'first client to engage citizens through their video podcasting service designed to help clients maximize theirgovernment communication beyond a webcasting-only solution. The new video podcasting service will accentuate the city's already well received live and on demand webcasting service offered by Granicus that enables citizens tointuitively navigate through an integrated public record of agendas, minutes, staff reports and audio/video content allcross linked and searchable by keyword. Each month this year, the city has averaged over 3,500 requests for their web-based video content.

About Granicus
Founded in 1999, San Francisco-based Granicus, Inc. helps government reach staff and constituents without barriers. Public agencies trust our webcasting solutions to enable vital improvements to public access, staff efficiency, and government accountability. In addition, the combination of webcasting with public meeting management technology into a single workflow decreases administrative costs and simplifies public recordkeeping tasks. Granicus serves more than 400 governing bodies in 44 states, building close connections with more than 30% of the American population.

Contact
Lauren Alexander
Corporate Communications Manager
415-357-3618 x1788

Town Honored for Technology Excellence with Granicus Solutions

Thu, 08 May 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Award Distinguishes Streamlined and Open Government

North Kingstown, RI - Granicus, Inc., the nation's leading provider of solutions for government webcasting and public meeting management, announced today that its partnership with the Town of North Kingstown, Rhode Island, has been nationally recognized for technology excellence. Public Technology Institute (PTI) has honored North Kingstown with the 2007-2008 Public Technology Solutions Award for "Web Services - Providing a Streamlined and Open Government" for making vast improvements to public access and staff efficiency using one straightforward and cost-effective solution. The Town's IT Director, Jason Albuquerque, will accept the award at the PTI 2008 Technology Leadership Conference & Exposition to be held May 6-8 in Miami, Florida.

"I consider this to be a meaningful recognition of the town IT department and the strides we have made in providing increased web services and information. The award is confirmation of the direction the Town Council requested we move in for IT and web services. It also reinforces the forward thinking and expertise of our IT department," said Michael Embury, North Kingstown Town Manager.

PTI recognizes local governments for demonstrating the use of technology innovation to improve service delivery, reduce operating costs, and create new revenue opportunities. North Kingstown's IT department faced increasing demands for open access to critical public information and for a more streamlined approach to records management and information processing. However, they had limited funds and staffing resources. To solve this, they partnered with Granicus to deploy a solution that helped them easily meet both challenges. North Kingstown used Granicus's webcasting and public meeting management solutions to streamline management of public meeting information and to institute an effective channel for sharing this knowledge with the public.

North Kingstown was awarded in the smallest population category (1 to 99,000), demonstrating that noteworthy success with digital technology can give small jurisdictions working with limited resources a competitive edge. "We are infinitely proud of our partnership with North Kingstown. Their outstanding achievement validates how vital web technology is to local governments of all sizes," said Tom Spengler, Co-Founder and CEO of Granicus. "This award reaffirms our commitment to helping any governing body improve openness and efficiency using flexible solutions that consistently exceed expectations for affordability and cost-effectiveness."

Granicus enables North Kingstown staff to webcast public meetings integrated with related documents such as agendas, minutes, and policy or staff reports. Granicus software offers user-friendly tools for minutes annotation, public recordkeeping, and media management, helping the Town Council foster a centralized repository for the public to access and easily search for information. Since they began using Granicus, the town has seen a 90% Return-on-Investment from improved workflow efficiency. Within the first five months, over 20,000 people viewed their webcasts. "Our IT team has brought open government closer to North Kingstown's citizens through the introduction of a variety of web-based tools. These technology initiatives have also facilitated consolidation possibilities between our Town and School departments," said Edward J. Cooney, Town Council President.

About Granicus
Founded in 1999, San Francisco-based Granicus, Inc. helps government reach staff and constituents without barriers. Public agencies trust our webcasting solutions to enable vital improvements to public access, staff efficiency, and government accountability. In addition, the combination of webcasting with public meeting management technology into a single workflow decreases administrative costs and simplifies public recordkeeping tasks. Granicus serves more than 400 governing bodies in 44 states, building close connections with more than 30% of the American population.

Contact
Lauren Alexander
Corporate Communications Manager
415-357-3618 x1788

Granicus & iCompass Announce Partnership.

Wed, 19 Mar 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Alliance to Offer Governments in the US and Canada Maximum Meeting Efficiency and Transparency

San Francisco, CA - March 19, 2008. Today, Granicus� Inc., the nation's premier provider of government webcasting and public meeting management solutions, and Kamloops-based iCompass Technologies, the North American leader in delivering web applications for electronic meeting management solutions, announced a strategic partnership. The partnership aims to:

Expand the reach of tightly integrated webcasting and meeting management to US and Canadian local governments.

Develop stronger and more reliable solutions, enabling both companies to expand their service offerings.

Deliver highly cost-effective, end-to-end solutions for local governments.

Together, Granicus and iCompass provide an innovative turnkey solution that focuses on decreasing the costs and complexities of knowledge management, meeting efficiency, and public access for local governments. Both companies offer hosted solutions and enable local governments to adopt high performing and reliable solutions with greater flexibility and security when it comes to deployment, management, and on-going maintenance. All this is provided at a fraction of the cost an organization would pay to build its own internal applications or purchase expensive, traditional software applications.

"With today's economic uncertainties and a growing public appetite for greater access, efficiency, and accountability, local governments demand integrated solutions for webcasting and meeting management," said Tom Spengler, co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Granicus, Inc. "This partnership enables local governments to seamlessly deploy the most cohesive solution in all of North America for streamlining information management, meeting automation, and public distribution of their critical legislative records with unprecedented efficiency and transparency." Granicus' award-winning solutions tightly integrate into the legislative process - providing tools to capture, store, manage and distribute live and on-demand streaming content while adding efficiency to existing meeting operations. Local governments benefit from Granicus' user-friendly tools to perform minutes annotation, vote management, and public recordkeeping. The solutions also foster a paperless, completely integrated, and transparent environment for public records.

"We are thrilled to be working in partnership with Granicus to provide our customers with a powerful and integrated solution that will better assist them in managing their entire end-to-end meeting management process," said Todd Stone, iCompass President & CEO. "This partnership will enable our mutual customers to manage their huge volumes of information for meetings more effectively as well as to provide more timely public access to this information." iCompass provides online meeting management solutions to streamline manual knowledge management tasks involved with agenda/minutes management, action item tracking, and document storage for local governments. The two companies' products integrate seamlessly to deliver comprehensive management for processes before, during, and after meetings, while integrating critical public records into a single, unified online source for public access.

About iCompass
Founded in 1998, iCompass provides CivicWeb, the leading meeting management solution for busy government and post-secondary professionals. Serving nearly 350 local governments, post-secondary institutions and other public sector organizations across North America, iCompass solutions are designed to remove the frustrations of manual, time-consuming tasks by streamlining the extensive effort related to managing information and preparing for, holding and following-up on endless meeting cycles.

About Granicus
Founded in 1999, San Francisco-based Granicus, Inc. helps government reach staff and constituents without barriers. Public agencies trust our webcasting solutions to enable vital improvements to public access, staff efficiency, and government accountability. In addition, the combination of webcasting with public meeting management technology into a single workflow decreases administrative costs and simplifies public recordkeeping tasks. Granicus serves more than 400 governing bodies in 44 states, building close connections with more than 30% of the American population.

Contact
Lauren Alexander
Corporate Communications Manager
415-357-3618 x1788

www.icompasstech.com