Internet Telepresence, Inc., is a US Corporation created through the joint efforts of Homo Interneticus, Inc., a Quality Content Provider (QCP), and Jora Manoucherian and Pierr Ghapgharan with extensive experience in MIS management and software engineering fields. Telepresence is the developer of the official World Wide Web site for coverage of the 32nd World Chess Olympiad in Armenia.

Telepresence's project development team has over 200 years of combined experience in networks, hardware and software engineering, and has developed numerous large-scale scientific and business applications. These include the development of niche-market software tools for emerging markets with unique linguistic and socio-economic demands. In addition, the project development team has extensive experience in managing local and wide area networks with over 3,500 users at 55 domestic and international offices. Shared information using these networks includes a vast body of reference materials on Armenian art and history that were developed by the project team during the last two years. The team has 15 years of experience in multimedia entertainment and educational software development, particularly in Internet-based software authoring and integration.

During 1997, the team presented a live coverage of Armenia's Presidential "Meet the Press". Questions presented by established News and Media Services in Los Angeles were addressed by the President during the 2 hour long event and reflected in Los Angeles and local Yerevan Media at the same time.

Internet Telepresence, Inc. is a supporter and contributor to distance learning technology and innovative multi-media educational systems, worldwide.

During 1996, the team designed and developed a unique Graphical User Interface, background information tools and other reference materials for the presentation of the 32nd World Chess Olympiad on the Internet, and implemented leading-edge technologies for on-line coverage of the Olympiad games. Including such technologies as Java based Chess application, 1st Live Interview and broadcast of events over Internet channels from Armenia.

The chess pages of the Internet site also feature multimedia presentations of Armenian art and culture, religious and historical monuments, cities and country scenery, as well as educational and social life.

Also, the team has successfully developed and supported Web pages for a live coverage of the humanitarian Stepanakert-Yerevan-Los Angeles Marathon-Telethon ( March 24 through 27 May, 1996), organized by the All Armenia Fund of Armenia, and Armenia-Fund, Inc., of the US.

Homo Interneticus, Ltd., is a subsidiary of Armenia's Homo Ludens, Inc., formerly Aragast B Corporation, a premier software development company that reorganized in 1995 with offices in Armenia and the US to develop Internet-based services and products.

Aragast B has earned accolades from the international press, including London's "The Financial Times" ("Launching Out of Limbo Into Cyberspace," May 27, 1995), and "The New York Times" ("Thriving In What Was the Soviet Silicon Valley", April 27, 1994). Yerevan, the capital of Armenia, was indeed the Silicon Valley of the Soviet Union, with many institutes devoted to the development of military technologies. Most of the Homo Ludens company's technologies and skills build on those developed by Armenia's top scientific institutes and research centers. During several years of success, Aragast B employed a team of about 100 computer scientists, designers and artists developing multimedia software.

However, with mounting economic pressure in Armenia and the advent of the World Wide Web, the company changed direction in the summer of 1995 to address some of the challenges and opportunities of the marketplace brought on by the fast expansion of the Internet. With a new name, Homo Ludens, and offices in the US, the company reorganized to become a dedicated production systems integrator with customized teams for the development of Internet-related products and services.

Homo Ludens specializes in the development of software tools for emerging niche-markets with unique linguistic and socio-economic demands. Core competencies include multimedia entertainment and educational software, as well as scientific and business applications. The company has a strong educational outreach program embedded in its activities. Through regular seminars and symposiums focusing on research and development, it is able to attract a wide range of academicians and professionals in the region. The bolstered expertise helps the company develop coherent and market-driven research and development strategies.

Homo Ludens also maintains close ties with major international development centers, such as the MIT Media Lab. Cooperation of this level enables Homo Ludens to keep abreast of industry trends and concentrate its strengths on leading-edge technologies and emerging market needs, especially in the fields of education and entertainment.

Pierr Ghapgharan and Jora Manoucherian are specialized in consulting and development of Web sites, including engineering and implementation of medium-to-large databases with links to Internet-based applications. The expertise comprises a full range of software engineering, network design, and implementation of large WAN and LANs, hardware assembly and manufacturing, MIS management, medium to large projects management, instruction of computer science and network-related courses, HTML and Java programming, work flow design and implementations, imaging and document management systems development, business and scientific applications development, and re-engineering and conversion of Legacy systems to client-server distributed systems.

The company's background also includes extensive experience in worldwide development and management of business applications, as well as software marketing and sales, especially in the US and the Middle East.

©1998 Internet Telepresence Inc.