Avistar Enters into Partnership with Yamaha to Extend its Videoconferencing Business Beyond the Desktop

Initiative combines Avistar software with Yamaha hardware to create high-performance, low-cost videoconferencing packages

SAN MATEO, Calif., April 15 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Avistar Communications Corporation (NASDAQ:AVSR) has announced a partnership with Yamaha Electronics Corporation to create a range of room-based and mobile videoconferencing packages. The venture combines Avistar's C3 software with Yamaha cameras and audio devices to deliver highly featured and easy to manage videoconferencing systems at market-beating prices. The first packages to be developed through the partnership are Avistar's C3 Teamroom MP, C3 Executive Room and C3 Mobile Room systems.

"Yamaha is really pleased to be a key part of Avistar packages that offer users unusually versatile, easy to use and cost effective videoconferencing solutions," said Tom Graham, vice president of Yamaha Electronics Corporation, USA. "We have decades of experience in digital processing of audio to achieve the finest acoustic performance available. For example, our conferencing camera and audio system uses an array of microphones to automatically select one of three built-in cameras to show whomever is speaking."

The partnership extends the availability of Avistar's patented videoconferencing software beyond the personal desktop deployments for which the company is best known. "Partnering with Yamaha makes a lot of sense for Avistar," said Stephen Epstein, Chief Marketing Officer at Avistar. "Our latest C3 software offers high-end features and is inherently flexible and easy to use. When combined with Yamaha's outstanding camera and audio hardware, we can present a range of highly performing videoconferencing room-based and mobile systems at very compelling prices. Running on standard PC hardware, our systems work 'out-of-the-box' and are a cinch to manage."

The Avistar product range developed with the support of Yamaha comprises three packages:

-- C3 Teamroom MP is a room-based system designed for up to 6
participants in medium- to small-sized meeting rooms and workgroups.
It uses Yamaha's PJP 300V with triple 120 degree pan cameras, a built- in array of 16 microphones and 14 loudspeakers to provide automated
"track-the-talker" audio and camera adjustment that moves and zooms in
on the active participant while providing a complete room coverage
audio experience. Avistar's fully integrated software multi-point
control unit (MCU) facilitates video calls with as many as four
parties. The package includes a 24" LCD monitor, PC tower and wireless
keyboard and mouse.
-- C3 Executive Room is a room-based system designed for up to 4
participants in small- to medium-sized executive offices and
workgroups. It uses a premium webcam and Yamaha's PJP-25UR adaptive
echo-canceling conferencing speakerphone, which can be adjusted
according to the placement of meeting participants. The system can
share existing MCU capacity to leverage the value of this investment
across multiple users. The package includes a 24" LCD monitor, PC
tower and wireless keyboard and mouse.
-- C3 Mobile Room allows any space with Internet connectivity to become
an impromptu videoconferencing suite for up to 2 participants.
Installed on a laptop PC, it offers room-based conferencing quality in
a highly portable package due to the compact size and simple USB
connections of Yamaha's PJP-25UR adaptive echo-canceling conferencing
speakerphone which eliminates background noise, plus a compact premium
webcam. The system can share existing MCU capacity, even across the
Internet, to leverage the value of this investment across multiple
users.

All the systems are powered by Avistar's C3 software. Designed as a "self-service" videoconferencing solution, it requires no technician support or advance call scheduling. An intuitive user interface needs little or no training; presence-awareness lets users see available parties with calls connected by a simple drag-and-drop action. A "find-me/follow-me" feature routes calls to the room where the user is logged in, with no need to input of IP addresses or access codes.

Integrated IP network bandwidth management technology allows videoconferencing to take place without impairing network performance. Compatibility with industry video standards, such as H.320, H.323 and SIP, plus firewall traversal, ensures no-hassle interconnectivity with existing and external room-based videoconferencing systems from other popular vendors. Standard hardware keeps cost of ownership low, and centralized administration and maintenance tools allow system administrators to perform most support functions remotely over the IP network. It also allows administrators to easily and inexpensively add additional videoconferencing locations into the Avistar network.

The C3 Teamroom MP and C3 Executive Room systems also bundle a 25 seat licence for Avistar's C3 desktop videoconferencing software, with additional licences available for purchase. When installed on webcam-equipped PCs, these provide personal videoconferencing that can be distributed across an organization to create a networked, face-to-face community.

Avistar's C3 videoconferencing technology delivers proven gains in terms of improved quality of interaction, greater workflow efficiency and easier collaboration at distance. Clients report as much as a 20 percent reduction in travel expense and carbon emissions, increases in productivity, and immeasurably improved decision making and relationship building within their organizations, as well as with suppliers and customers.

About Avistar Communications Corporation

Avistar creates technology that provides the missing critical element in unified communications: bringing people in organizations face-to-face, through enhanced communications, for true collaboration anytime, anyplace. Its latest product, Avistar C3, draws on over a decade of market experience to deliver a single-click desktop videoconferencing and collaboration experience that moves business communications into a new era. Available as a stand-alone solution, or integrated with existing unified communications software from other vendors, Avistar C3 users gain instant messaging-style ability to initiate video communications across and outside the enterprise. Patented bandwidth management enables thousands of users to access desktop videoconferencing, Voice over IP (VoIP) and streaming media, without requiring substantial new network investment or impairing network performance.

Avistar's desktop videoconferencing and collaboration installations are among the world's largest, including more than 18,000 seats in more than 40 countries. Clients report as much as a 20 percent reduction in travel expense and carbon emissions, increases in productivity, and immeasurably improved relationship building within their organizations, as well as with suppliers and customers. Avistar holds a portfolio of 80 patents for inventions in video and network technology and licenses IP to videoconferencing, rich-media services, public networking and related industries. Current licensees include Sony Corporation, Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. (SCEI), Polycom, Inc., Tandberg ASA, Radvision Ltd. and Emblaze-VCON.

For more information, visit www.avistar.com

Source: Avistar Communications Corporation

CONTACT: Ken Lempit of Austin Lawrence Group for Avistar Communications
Corporation, +1-203-391-3006, k.lempit@austinlawrence.com

Web site: http://www.avistar.com/

2008-04-15 19:27:49 0336855 PRNEWSWIRE