PictureTel Teams with Hong Kong Telecom Company

PictureTel (http://www.picturetel.com) announced that it has formed a strategic alliance with New T&T ( http://www.newtt.com), a Hong Kong telecommunications company.

The two companies will work together to deliver Web-based application services and New T&T will market PictureTel's multimedia application services with its own iVIDEO brand in Hong Kong and, eventually, throughout Asia.

The companies say they want to provide business and consumer offerings such as video on demand for movies and other programming.

"PictureTel is extremely pleased to enter into this strategic alliance with New T&T," said Dr. Norman E. Gaut, PictureTel's chairman and CEO. "The worldwide market for streaming video is expected to top $1 billion (U.S.) in 2000, with future annual growth of between 80 and 100 percent. Asia is one of the fastest growing markets for streaming video. By working together, PictureTel and New T&T will be able to take advantage of this lucrative market as we deliver the many benefits of our full range of multimedia application services."