Finally got to talk to the company today about the press release mentioning "booming demand".
They interpret the release to be saying that there is a very major and enthusiastic interest in the industry for conference serving products based on packet switching technologies (like atm and frame relay); basically computing products.
Given the recent preannouncement, the company has experienced a "stalling" in sales of the ISDN-telephony, circuit-based conferencing products. And they are not alone; the whole industry is dealing with the same stalling problem.
Nonetheless, they believe that the telephony type products have decent steady growth ahead. But the really explosive action is to be had in the packet switching products, which remain in development and should be shipping in (THIS IS MY GUESS AS TO WHAT THEY SAY ABOUT THE TIMING) 3-6 months.
Anyway, I wish the press release (see below) had made this distinction clearly; as written, it sounds too hypey and hurts credibility some. But no big deal. I like the company and management and I think good things are ahead.
Monday August 25 8:29 AM EDT
Company Press Release
Source: VideoServer, Inc.
VideoServer Strengthens International Team to Capitalize on Booming
Videoconferencing Market
BURLINGTON, Mass., Aug. 25 /PRNewswire/ -- VideoServer, Inc. (Nasdaq:
VSVR), the leader in networked conferencing, responded to booming demand
for its networked conferencing products by appointing three senior
managers to help build on its global leadership position. The new
expanded senior management team will be well placed to leverage new
opportunities in the emerging market for Internet and LAN-based
real-time multimedia conferencing systems.
Tim Podd has been appointed European Sales Director, while Karin Nielsen
takes over the newly created post of International Marketing Manager,
and Carole Steel is the new Regional Manager for Southern Europe, China
and the Middle East.
All three are well-known figures from the computer networking industry,
and bring between them over 50 years of valuable expertise selling and
marketing networked solutions. ``With real-time conferencing
increasingly being packaged as part of a total networked multimedia
solution, VideoServer needed to bring on board senior managers
experienced in dealing with the resellers and systems integrators in
that market,'' said Arnold Englander, vice president, marketing at
VideoServer.
Podd joined VideoServer in March of 1996 as Regional Director.
Previously, he was General Manager for Northern Europe at Chipcom, now
part of 3COM, where he was responsible for marketing and selling the
kind of high- performance networking systems that VideoServer's
multimedia conference systems will be integrating with to provide
complete solutions. Before joining Chipcom, Podd was European Business
Manager for BICC Data Networks. ``Most people will experience
videoconferencing in some way over the next two years,'' said Podd.
``From the traditional remote business meeting to a host of emerging
applications such as kiosk terminals in your local bank branch, special
interest conferences over the Internet, or multiplayer games,
VideoServer's technology will sit at the heart of these new
applications.''
Karin Nielsen comes from Shiva Corporation, one of the leading providers
of products facilitating remote access to corporate networks, where she
was Senior Product Marketing Manager for the company's award-winning
range of ISDN routers and Internet access products. ``I feel that my
experience of the fast growing remote access market, where vendors need
to adapt rapidly to changing customer needs, will be invaluable within
the multimedia networking industry, which is also on the verge of
explosion,'' said Nielsen.
Carole Steele was previously with GE Information Systems as European
Director of Partner Programs, and brings VideoServer vital experience in
the continued growth of VideoServer, and their new LAN and IP-based
products are ideally suited to this strategy,`` said Steel.
About VideoServer
VideoServer, Inc. is the leader in networked conferencing, providing
hardware and software networking solutions for multipoint and multimedia
conferences, enabling users to communicate over a variety of networks
and allowing them to interact as a group.
The company's Multimedia Conference Server (MCS) products provide
multipoint conferencing, as well as applications for conference control,
network management and bandwidth management. The company is extending
its technology to offer easy connectivity of existing and new
conferencing solutions, expected to enable wide deployment of real-time
conferencing to the desktop and over corporate networks and the
Internet. VideoServer sells its products to leading suppliers and
integrators of videoconferencing equipment, telephone carriers,
conferencing service providers, network equipment companies, computer
companies and others.
Substantially all traditional videoconferencing vendors OEM or resell
VideoServer's equipment, including PictureTel, Compression Labs,
TANDBERG, British Telecom, GPT Video Systems, Fujitsu, Mitsubishi, Sony,
Panasonic and SAT. Telephone carriers and others providing conferencing
services using the company's products include AT&T, MCI and Sprint, six
of the seven regional Bell operating companies, and many emerging
private service bureaus. Partnerships with computer companies, including
Intel and Compaq, and networking equipment companies, including Cisco
Systems and Siemens/Rolm, position VideoServer to meet the needs of the
evolving conferencing market.
Additional information on VideoServer and its products is available at
videoserver.com.
SOURCE: VideoServer, Inc. |
