Award-Winning Avistar C3 Technology Sees Rapid Distribution Through Partner And Technology Channel Strategy

Avistar's C3 solution is projected to be on more than 100,000 desktops in the next couple of years, as a direct result of Avistar's aggressive partnership strategy and commitments from leading industry distributors, resellers and technology partners in the U.S. and Europe, Avistar Communications Corporation announced recently. In the past few months alone, more than 15 direct channel and technology partners and their constellation of resellers have signed with Avistar to offer C3 to their clients and users across the globe. By leveraging reseller and technology partners, Avistar has been able to expand its addressable user base greater than five-fold, without having to incur the increased operational and sales overhead of selling directly to the market.

Simon Moss, CEO, Avistar, said, "In 2008 we migrated our go-to-market strategy away from a direct, narrowly focused sales approach, to a broader, deeper and much larger indirect channel and business partner strategy. Our focus is on partners in order to achieve wide distribution of our C3 technology, which has been designed for simple and rapid global deployment, while retaining market leading performance and scale. We also introduced a new strategy to monetize our patent portfolio through a combined technology and patent licensing model. We are delighted with both the response to the strategy and the early momentum we have recognized by attracting indirect channel partners. Resellers such as CityIS, Touchline and MVC are already realizing the benefits of differentiating their businesses with Avistar in their rapidly changing markets, as we offer flexible and attractive channel options that fit partners of all variety and sizes.

"We expect that these channel and technology relationships will propel Avistar beyond being just a provider of desktop videoconferencing solutions to that of a videoconferencing engine powering other software in the market. It is a strategy focused on leveraging both the significant operational turn-around the firm successfully executed in the first half of 2008, and an impressive redesign of the product portfolio -- both of which are expected to realize tangible and measurable benefits and sequential quarterly growth. We believe this focused strategy aligning product, operational sustainability and top line distribution will continue to increase Avistar's ability to remedy some of the challenges the firm has historically faced, increase market success through engagement rather than competition, and most importantly, grow our shareholders' value," Moss continued.

"The fact that large brands as well as mid-size resellers are committing to Avistar is good news for the industry," said Melanie Turek, Principal Analyst, Frost & Sullivan. "We're seeing increasing interest in desktop and mobile videoconferencing, as companies and their employees struggle to cut costs during a tight economy, as well as embrace a greener way of doing business. Many of these companies want the option of purchasing video solutions through VARs and other technology partners, especially as they attempt to mix and match best-of-breed products to fit their needs and business objectives."

Examples of Avistar partners include:

• AvDis, a Swiss distributor of videoconferencing solutions
• CityIS, a global visual communications company based in the U.K.
• CollabCom AG , a leading Swiss provider of collaboration and communication solutions
• Corporate Telecommunications, a U.K. distributor of headsets, voice and data installations and telecoms equipment
• Datanet, distributors of computer networking products in the U.K.
• Fontel, a wholesale distributor of voice and data communications products in the U.S.
• Innovations Visual, specialists in the design, supply and installation of fully integrated multimedia audio visual systems
• MVC Mobile Video Communications GmbH, a leading German provider of video, audio and data conferencing solutions
• Net Services, specialists in providing innovative voice, data and converged infrastructure solutions
• Project Audio Visual, experts in the audio visual market in the U.K.
• Redline, a supplier of audio visual technology for a wide range of applications and businesses throughout the U.K.
• Snelling Business Systems , U.K. specialists in designing, supplying, installing and servicing professional audio visual solutions for use in educational, commercial,local government and retail environments
• Touchline Video, a leading specialist distributor of video conferencing solutions in the United Kingdom/li>
• Yamaha Electronics, a leader in specialized video and audio conferencing devices.

Darren Innes, General Manager, Worldwide Sales, Avistar, said, "We've signed up many resellers in the U.K. and Europe recently, as the demand is high for desktop videoconferencing. Resellers want to help customers be more eco-friendly and cost-effective by reducing the need for in-person meetings and travel, and see Avistar as an attractive solution for their customer base."

The new resellers join other partners who have been on board since late 2007/early 2008 including Communications III, Focus 21, Manist, MediaPlus, SK Group, Teamwork 123, Veloci and others.

"We shared with the market recently that we are now focused on building an engine to generate top-line growth and leverage the operational turn-around the firm has gone through," Moss said. "The number of seats committed is a primary strategic indicator of how that top line is trending. We believe that the traction we have gained thus far with VARs and tech partners is proof that we are heading in the right direction, meeting customer needs and addressing an opportunity in distributed communication applications that is only now beginning to gain traction in the market."

Stephen Epstein, CMO, Avistar concluded, "We will continue to keep our hands on the pulse of the market, offering videoconferencing in ways that will make it as effective, natural and ubiquitous as other technology that customers use on a day-to-day basis. We feel we are on the right path toward achieving this goal. Our continuing success in attracting strong indirect channel partners is an important milestone for the firm, and clear evidence that our go-to-market strategy is working."

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 more than 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 provides users instant messaging-style ability to initiate video communications across and outside the enterprise. Bandwidth management enables thousands of users to access desktop videoconferencing, 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 sold 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., LifeSize Communications, Inc. and Emblaze-VCON.

For more information, visit www.avistar.com.

SOURCE: Avistar Communications Corporation