Versit Announces H.320 Implementors' Agreement to Make Disparate
Videoconferencing Systems Work Together

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Sept. 25 -- Versit, a global initiative of Apple,
AT&T, IBM and Siemens, today released the Versit H.320 Implementors'
Agreement, a comprehensive solution to one of the major problems
confronting users of videoconferencing products today -- incompatible
conferencing products.

The ITU-T H.320 specifications lay the groundwork for interoperability over
ISDN and other digital transmission facilities. However, these
specifications contain hundreds of options so that different
implementation choices can result in collaborative products that do not
interoperate. To resolve this issue, the Versit H.320 Implementors'
Agreement specifies precisely defined subsets of options and sequences of
commands required for desktop voice, video and data interoperability in
both point-to-point and multi-point configurations.

"There is a wide gap between establishing technical standards such as H.320
and the ability to deliver the standard to end users in a coherent,
consistent and easy to use way," said Dusty Sykes, a consultant at
Vanguard Communications Corporation. "While people understand the power of
conferencing and collaborative methods, the pain of doing so is far too
great to make it a realistic alternative for most individuals. The Versit
Implementors' Agreement will remove many of these barriers and make
conferencing a reality for everyday use."

Versit believes that freely available open specifications will dramatically
expand the market for videoconferencing products by enabling diverse
products from competing vendors to work together. Users of
videoconferencing products that implement the Versit specifications will
be able to take advantage of connectivity over basic rate ISDN, the most
prevalent digital communication facility worldwide, with an optimum
balance of bandwidth for voice, video, and data collaboration.

"When a customer invests in a standards-based conferencing product, they
should be assured it will work with others," said Al Rosen, IBM Managing
Director, Versit. "Our refinement of the H.320 spec makes that a reality."
The release of the Versit H.320 Implementors' Agreement is an important
step towards the goal of providing interoperable conferencing products
over networks.

During the development process many companies reviewed and contributed to
this Agreement. Versit is now submitting this Agreement to the
International Multimedia Teleconferencing Consortium (IMTC) and the
Personal Conferencing Working Group (PCWG).

Versit is an initiative of Apple, AT&T, IBM and Siemens that seeks to
eliminate barriers to effective communication and collaboration by
developing and promoting open, cross-platform specifications for a wide
range of computer and telephony platforms, operating systems and products,
including telephones, PBXs, computers, networks, servers and personal
digital assistants (PDAs).

Developers may download the Implementors' Agreement from the Versit home
page on the World Wide Web: http://www.versit.com, beginning Sept. 25,
1995.
 
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