Avistar Partners With Paradial to Bring Consumer-Style User-Friendliness to Enterprise Videoconferencing and Collaboration

Published 19th June 2008

Move integrates firewall traversal into Avistar software and extends adoption of industry standards for multimedia communications

SAN MATEO, CA – Avistar Communications Corporation (Nasdaq: AVSR) has partnered with Paradial AS to integrate advanced firewall traversal technology into C3, Avistar’s industry-leading software for desktop and room-based videoconferencing and collaboration. The move means that C3 now offers similar simplicity and ease-of-use as consumer software, but in an enterprise-strength package that includes bandwidth management and proven across some of the largest desktop deployments on the globe. This enables organizations at all levels of a supply chain to securely link key personnel with face-to-face communications and collaboration tools, between virtually any location, and without concerns over ability to connect.

“With Paradial, Avistar has taken a significant step forward in increasing the availability – and therefore the impact – of videoconferencing and collaboration tools in the workplace,” said Chris Lauwers, Chief Technology Officer at Avistar. “Our C3 software is now capable of independently managing interconnectivity with different vendor systems, and is a cinch to deploy and manage. These factors make it realistic, indeed even compelling, to extend the rollout of more effective video-enabled communications beyond the borders of an enterprise to include external clients, suppliers and home-based or mobile workers.”

A good example of this new connectivity is the development of the Securities Community Network (SCN), a strategic platform for real time desktop video and data collaboration for the financial services sector, buy-side and sell-side research communities and their corporate clients. The SCN enables research leaders and corporate issuers to gain competitive advantage through improved communication and collaboration with relevant parties throughout the securities industry. The SCN also enables securities professionals to instantly share time-sensitive and valued information among their industry contacts. Avistar’s partnership with Paradial means that financial sector firms and corporate clients seeking to join the network can easily download the SCN software and launch directly into the community.

Ingvar Aaberg, CEO of Paradial added, “A key challenge for the video communications industry is to move from being an intra- to an inter-company solution. The agreement to embed our software within Avistar C3 means video and audio collaboration traffic can flow outside of the corporate network without hassle or compromise to security.”

The partnership sees Paradial’s RealTunnel® Firewall/NAT embedded into all versions of Avistar C3 – Desktop, Teamroom, Teamroom MP, Executive Teamroom, Mobile Teamroom – and available through both hosted and on premise deployments. Support for latest SIP-based industry standards (ICE, STUN, TURN) for multimedia communications enables C3 to work across virtually any firewall and network in a non-intrusive way, without any reconfiguration, and helps ensure the highest possible call quality. The improvements to interconnectivity and minimal need for administrator intervention also extend the value of Avistar’s video-enabling capabilities for integration into third party unified communications systems.

Avistar selected Paradial following a thorough market evaluation of specialist providers of firewall traversal technologies. “We were impressed by Paradial’s dedicated solutions, and pleased to find a partner that has established relationships with other leading vendors in the video and IP communications industry which complement those at Avistar. This helps towards universal adoption of multimedia standards that are vital to the success of unified communications,” said Lauwers.