Avistar Software Upgrade Facilitates Daily Desktop Video Collaboration; AvistarVOS Software Version 6.7 Adds vPublisher, Voice Platform Manager, IP Support.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

REDWOOD SHORES, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 17, 2002

Avistar Communications Corporation (Nasdaq:AVSR), the leading provider of enterprise video communication solutions, today announced that Version 6.7 of its video operating system is now available. The latest upgrades and additions to the AvistarVOS software make it easier for enterprises to incorporate video communication into daily business routines. Version 6.7 contains key capabilities for enhancing video quality over IP networks, integrating video with voice platforms, and publishing stored video to business applications.

The AvistarVOS(TM) enterprise video software and networked video infrastructure provide professionals with a full range of video communication services, all provided directly from end-point desktops and rooms with phone-like reliability and TV-like quality. New to Version 6.7 of the AvistarVOS software is vPublisher(TM), an end-to-end publishing platform that enables Avistar users to create and add stored video content to various business applications. Users simply record the video and select the destination. vPublisher manages the setup, transcodes the video into Windows Media format, if required, and transfers it to the selected location. For example, from their desktops, users can publish video to any server that is capable of accepting a video clip, including research portals, corporate intranets, Internet sites, multimedia messaging services, content delivery networks, even third-party video production companies. The first application to utilize the vPublisher platform is Avistar vBrief(TM), which enables users to create and publish video emails that contain streaming video, a personalized text message, and links to additional material.

The Avistar Voice Platform Manager is also new to Version 6.7. It enables the AvistarVOS to be integrated with voice trading platforms for seamless voice and video communication. This broadens the participation base for conference calls as participants can connect and interact together even if some are on video, some on turrets, others on mobile phones, and still others on conventional phones. If a video call is taking place, audio callers can easily join in and they can even listen to the audio portion of recorded video clips or live video feeds (such as CNN or CNBC) that are up for discussion. An added convenience for users is that the audio portion of voice and video calls is handled through the same platform handset or headset. The Syntegra ITS Video Turret, which is now available through Syntegra, is the first product developed around the Avistar Voice Platform Manager. The Video Turret allows financial traders and sales professionals to access both audio calls and a suite of video applications -- including two-way and multi-party calling, broadcast, record and playback, and video-on-demand -- from the same platform.

Avistar has also added support for features that enhance the quality of video calls routed over the IP wide area network. Version 6.7 supports IP downspeeding, which provides users with the best possible video quality without saturating the network. Should network saturation occur, the bit rate of the video call is automatically reduced to ensure a consistent quality and avoid video freezes. Version 6.7 also brings enhanced video quality to the WAN using Avistar gateways that now support interlaced video at 768 kbps and 60 fields/second (compared with 384 kbps and 30 fields/second previously) resulting in a higher resolution video image than pervious versions. Furthermore, Version 6.7 gives administrators an increased role in ensuring call quality as they can now use IP precedence to prioritize video traffic relative to other traffic on network routers.

"Version 6.7 of the AvistarVOS software marks our further progress in making video collaboration seamless in the day-to-day workflow of enterprise professionals," said Jerry Burnett, CEO of Avistar. "Our publishing capabilities and our ability to integrate our software with other platforms -- especially for the financial services industry, where we are the emerging standard in video communication -- set Avistar further apart from videoconferencing appliances and web conferencing applications and satisfy a broader range of daily business needs and work habits."

About Avistar Communications Corporation

Avistar develops, markets and supports the Avistar vBusiness(TM) integrated suite of video-enabled applications, all powered by the AvistarVOS(TM) software. Avistar integrates video communications into day-to-day business process applications. From the desktop, Avistar delivers TV-quality video calling, recording, publishing, video-on-demand, broadcast, and document sharing.

Founded in 1993, Avistar Communications Corporation (Nasdaq:AVSR) is headquartered in Redwood Shores, Calif., with sales offices in New York and London. Collaboration Properties, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Avistar Communications Corporation, holds a broad portfolio of patents covering the AvistarVOS platform as well as multiple software and hardware video collaboration products.

Avistar, AvistarVOS, vBrief, vPublisher, Avistar vBusiness and the Avistar logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Avistar Communications Corporation.