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ORLANDO, Fla., InfoComm booth #741, EduComm booth #4853, June 8 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Sonic Foundry(R), Inc. (NASDAQ:SOFO) , a leader in automated rich media communications technology, today announced winners of its second annual Rich Media Impact Awards. The winners were recognized at a special luncheon held today during InfoComm 2006 in Orlando, Florida.

The awards highlight excellence in the practical and creative integration of rich media in business, education, health and government. Winners and finalists demonstrate how Mediasite(TM) has transformed their organizations through measurable improvements in accessibility, cost savings, efficiency and productivity.

"Organizations are increasingly witnessing firsthand the enormous benefits of rich media in terms of ROI, attainment of knowledge and flexibility in learning," said Rimas Buinevicius, chairman and CEO of Sonic Foundry. "This year's winners represent a true sampling of the diverse ways in which Mediasite is being used to improve productivity and gain a competitive edge."

Sonic Foundry's Mediasite(TM) solution empowers customers to quickly and cost-effectively create and deliver web presentations that include fully integrated audio, video and presentation graphics with the ease of a few mouse clicks. Organizations and individuals throughout the world are able to mediasite their presentations, lectures, meetings and events to create a rich end-user experience that surpasses conventional webcasting.

The Rich Media Impact Awards program is a testament to the emergence of web communications technology in organizations of all sizes. Melding online audio and video with computer-driven visual aids, rich media technology produces engaging web presentations that are emerging as a cornerstone of next-generation communication. Below are the organizations that were recognized for transforming how their organizations' communicate through Mediasite. In addition, the webcast of the actual awards luncheon is available at www.sonicfoundry.com/awards.

2006 Rich Media Impact Award Winners

Enterprise Award -- This award recognizes a company who improved its business outcomes through rich media communication. The 2006 winner is Lockheed Martin. This leading defense and aerospace company realized enormous cost savings by reducing the amount of money spent on travel and lodging, and increased efficiency of allowing employees to watch and actively participate in meetings right from their desks, minimizing the interruptions to their productivity. The deployment of Mediasite within the organization resulted in a 12-fold ROI of savings in the first year alone. www.lockheed.com

Government Award -- This award recognizes a local, state or federal government initiative that implemented rich media for training and outreach. The 2006 winner is the Air Force Agency for Modeling and Simulation. The AFAMS is a vital federal agency located within the Pentagon charged with supporting the Global War on Terror. Enormous time savings has been realized with the use of Mediasite allowing officers to focus on other key areas of their mission. www.cvc.hq.af.mil

Global Reach Award -- This award recognizes any successful initiative that reached the international community through rich media. The 2006 winners is a joint initiative by York Telecom/ Ross University. Located in the West Indies, Ross University was introduced to the enormous benefits of rich media by York Telecom. The University replicates the in-classroom experience for its students spread across the globe. The implementation of Mediasite at Ross University provided medical students vastly improved study efficiency with the ability to quickly review key lecture topics, resulting in a deeper, fuller understanding of complex course materials. Faculty now collaborates more effectively to improve content development, presentation skills and lecture continuity. www.yorktel.com and http://www.rossu.edu/

Facility Design Award -- This award recognizes a professional AV design or consulting firm that created innovative rich media rooms and facilities. The 2006 winners is the Sextant Group for East Carolina University. The Sextant Group was instrumental in offering Mediasite as a solution for delivering rich media content in ECU's recently constructed Science and Technology Building. The global classroom was designed to meet student needs for synchronous (live) and asynchronous (on-demand) distance learning. www.thesextantgroup.com and http://www.ecu.edu/

Excellence in Distance Education Award -- This award recognizes a higher education institution that transformed its distance education program with rich media. The 2006 winner is Wayne State University. The Wayne State University Library and Information Science Program sought to take advantage of a technology that would enhance student learning. The Program utilizes Mediasite to capture a minimum of 25-28 recordings per month. Program faculty has affectionately nicknamed Mediasite "ECHO," which stands for "enhancing courses held online." www.wayne.edu

Scholastic Achievement Award -- This award recognizes a school district or other organization serving the K-12 educational community that harnessed the power of rich media to improve communication, learning and outreach. The 2006 winner is Wisconsin Association of School District Administrators. WASDA is the professional association for Wisconsin's public school superintendents. With budget constraints not only upon the organization but upon its members, the non-profit entity was continuously forced to do more with less. The organization is saving nearly $20,000 per year on printing costs for its monthly newsletter using Mediasite, which are funds that can be directed to other member activities. www.wasda.org

Healthcare Award --This award recognizes an organization that implemented rich media to benefit health and wellness. The 2006 winner is Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, an internationally recognized leader in women's health, academic research and education. As one of Canada's premier health sciences centers, Sunnybrook sought Mediasite as a solution which would allow the hospital to create the first multimedia clinical library resulting in greater access to critical medical knowledge not only in Canada but to healthcare professionals throughout the world. http://www.sunnybrook.ca/

Rapid ROI Award -- This award recognizes an organization that used rich media to quickly achieve a measurable ROI in its training, communications or outreach initiatives. The 2006 winner is York University. As one of the premier educational facilities in North America, York has attracted an increasing number of students worldwide. Increased popularity came with a price -- a swelling of the university's classrooms.

York's professors turned to Mediasite as a learning solution that could address their growing pains and more importantly, improve the quality of students' education. http://www.yorku.ca/

About Sonic Foundry(R), Inc.

Founded in 1991, Sonic Foundry (NASDAQ:SOFO) is a technology leader in the emerging rich media communications marketplace, providing enterprise solutions and services that link an information-driven world. Sonic Foundry is changing the way organizations communicate via the web and how people around the globe receive vital information needed for work, professional advancement, safety and education. The company's integrated webcasting and web presentation solutions are trusted by Fortune 500 companies, education institutions and government agencies for a variety of critical communication needs. Sonic Foundry is based in Madison, Wis. For more information about Sonic Foundry, visit www.sonicfoundry.com

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

Source: Sonic Foundry, Inc.