Look like we are heading above $30 for good (hopefully) now. The news below is very significant. Imagine people shop in their own homes by speaking to a retailer via live video through the internet using PCTL's expertise... This is truly exciting and cannot come at a better time for PCTL. I think PCTL can support a PE of over 30 with the announcement of this new strategy. The following phrase really sums up why PCTL is THE LEADER with clear DORMINANCE in videoconferencing business - "We have built our reputation as the world leader in videoconferencing technologies by anticipating
the needs of our customers and developing the best products and services
to meet those needs. Our move into intranet and Internet
videoconferencing is just the latest example of our ongoing mission to
enable our customers to conduct business anywhere they want over any
type of network." .
Picturetel Unveils Strategy For Intranet And Internet Videoconferencing
Company is developing 'industrial-strength' videoconferencing
solutionsthat will enable videocommerce over intranets and the Internet
ANDOVER, Mass., Nov. 7 /PRNewswire/ -- Picturetel Corp , the world
leader in videoconferencing technologies, today announced its strategy
for bringing its industry-leading videoconferencing solutions to
intranet and Internet users. The company plans to introduce the world's
first business-quality "industrial-strength" videoconferencing solutions
for intranets and the Internet.
PictureTel's strategy is to enable new and existing customers to conduct
what it calls "videocommerce" using PictureTel videoconferencing
solutions across intranets and the Internet for business-to-business
and, in the near future, business-to-consumer visual communications.
Videocommerce over intranets and the Internet enables businesses to
operate in innovative ways, offer differentiating services and eliminate
physical boundaries by providing them with spontaneous visual access to
colleagues, vendors, distributors and consumers.
"PictureTel is expanding its enterprise-wide videoconferencing solutions
to include the thousands of corporate intranets around the world and,
eventually, the Internet, which is growing into the world's most
ubiquitous network," said Cornel Faucher, vice president of marketing
for PictureTel's Network Systems Division. "We have built our reputation
as the world leader in videoconferencing technologies by anticipating
the needs of our customers and developing the best products and services
to meet those needs. Our move into intranet and Internet
videoconferencing is just the latest example of our ongoing mission to
enable our customers to conduct business anywhere they want over any
type of network."
Focus on corporate intranets
PictureTel's entry into the intranet and Internet space will focus on
working with customers to video-enable their corporate intranets. At the
center of this effort is the company's family of Internet-ready LiveLAN
videoconferencing solutions. The LiveLAN client is a software-only
videoconferencing solution for local area networks. LiveManager manages
videoconferencing traffic over the LAN. LiveGateway provides
interoperability between H.323 standards-based LAN videoconferencing and
the H.320 standards- based ISDN videoconferencing world.
The company already is testing its LAN-based videoconferencing
capabilities over its own corporate intranet, which includes several
sites throughout the United States connected across a public Internet
network. In addition to deploying its LAN technologies for intranet and
Internet users over the next several months, PictureTel's longer term
plans call for its full line of desktop and group videoconferencing
solutions to include the ability to deliver robust industrial-strength
videoconferencing over intranets and the Internet.
The PictureTel difference
Unlike some videoconferencing solutions for the Internet that are
proprietary and more suitable for consumers, PictureTel's
industrial-strength videoconferencing will be focused on business
customers -- not the general public -- so they can use intranets and the
Internet as an effective visual communications tool.
"Two things will distinguish PictureTel videoconferencing over the
Internet and intranets from everything else that's out there," said
Faucher. "Industrial-strength videoconferencing means that we will offer
our customers complete, end-to-end solutions. We will offer the same
high-quality videoconferencing we provide today over ISDN to intranet
and Internet users. To do this, we are working with leading
telecommunications companies and Internet service providers to jointly
develop products and services that will leapfrog today's limited
Internet videoconferencing offerings and enable our customers to conduct
videocommerce. As the technologies evolve and expand, our ties to
telecommunications companies and ISPs will enable us to stay ahead of
the curve and provide our joint customers with the latest solutions for
their businesses. Over the next few months, PictureTel will announce a
series of partnerships and jointly developed products and services
designed to make videocommerce a business reality worldwide."
"PictureTel is uniquely positioned as the market leader to bring
business quality videoconferencing to intranets and the Internet," said
Michael Howard, president of Infonetics Research and a long-time
industry analyst. "Many Internet videoconferencing products today
operate as novelty products for the curious Web surfer, not for the
business user. PictureTel's strategy to extend their current products to
operate over the Internet and to partner with leading ISPs and carriers
puts PictureTel on track to be a major contributor to the coming wave of
videocommerce." |
