San Mateo, Ca. - April 5, 2006 — Red Herring announced Contactual has been short-listed as one of the top 200 contenders for its annual "Red Herring 100 North America" list. Well over 1,000 privately held technology companies submitted to this year’s edition of the prestigious award, giving evidence to the invigorated innovative and entrepreneurial strength of the technology ecosystem.

High-quality companies

"We can see the resurgence of the tech sector reflected in the quantity and variety of excellent companies that we had to chose from in putting our list together,” said Joel Dreyfuss, Editor-in-Chief of Red Herring. “It was difficult to choose the 200 finalists and we are very happy with the stellar quality of the companies on this short-list."

 More than just buzz

The “Red Herring 100 North America” award is an important part of Red Herring’s tradition of recognizing new and innovative technology firms and their entrepreneurial founders. Contactual and the other nominees were rigidly evaluated on both quantitative and qualitative criteria such as financial performance, technology innovation, quality of management, execution of strategy, and integration into their ecosystem. This unique assessment of potential complemented by a review of the actual track record and standing of a company allows Red Herring to see past the “buzz” and make the list an invaluable instrument for discovering and advocating the greatest business opportunities in the industry.

 Bringing together the best

As part of this tradition to honor innovation and entrepreneurship in the business of technology, Red Herring will again host “Red Herring Spring,” a two day invitation-only summit for the CEOs and founders of the Red Herring 100 winners and finalists in Monterey, California. The summit's C-level attendees will convene under the theme “The Pursuit of Disruption” to discuss major trends and opportunities and to explore partnerships, alliances, investments, and M&A activities. Further information regarding the event and how to register is available at www.herringevents.com/rhspring06.

 
About Contactual
Contactual is an award-winning Contact Center solution for businesses that want to cost-effectively serve their customers.  It is designed for organizations, outsourcers, and service providers. Because it is delivered via the Internet, customers can have their customer service, help desk and technical support centers up and running in a few days, with no capital outlay. The Contactual OnDemand Contact Center solution fully integrates with all the communications channels people use to reach companies - whether by phone, VoIP, voicemail, email or over the Web. Contactual unifies customer contacts into one routing, queuing and tracking system; ensuring customers receive the attention they deserve, regardless of how they choose to communicate. Contactual has earned numerous awards, including, most recently, the 2005 Global Excellence in Technology Award from Frost & Sullivan and the 2005 Innovation Award from TMC Labs' Customer Interaction Magazine.

 
About Red Herring
Red Herring is a sophisticated insider’s guide to the business of technology, featuring unparalleled insights on the emerging technologies driving the economy, from the Internet to wireless communications and digital entertainment. Red Herring reports on how innovation and entrepreneurship are transforming business and how the business of technology is transforming the world, providing readers with a deep understanding of venture capital and capital markets. Recognized as an essential resource in today’s fast-changing business world, Red Herring gets the right answers before anyone else even thinks to ask the questions. More information on Red Herring is available on the Internet at www.redherring.com.