PictureTel Videoconferencing Enables Champion Driver to be Two Places At Once

19 November 1999

PictureTel Videoconferencing Enables Champion Driver to be Two Places At Once

    ANDOVER, Mass.--Nov. 19, 1999--PictureTel Corporation , the world leader in integrated collaboration, recently used its industry-leading technology to enable the reigning Formula One champion racing driver, Mika Hakkinen of Finland, to meet with fans in Germany while he was thousands of miles away in Kuala Lumpur preparing for the Malaysian Grand Prix, which he won.
    His racing schedule prevented Hakkinen, the 1998 and 1999 world champion, from fulfilling a personal appearance on behalf of Schweppes, which sponsors Hakkinen's racing team, at Europe's largest food exhibition. Schweppes approached videoconferencing market leader PictureTel through Siemens, a PictureTel partner, to help Hakkinen keep his commitment.
    PictureTel supplied two Concorde 4500(tm) group videoconferencing systems and technical support for an ISDN-based conference from Asia to Europe.
    During the videoconference, the popular Hakkinen answered questions from the German audience on the racing season, technical details about his car, and his expectations for the Malaysian race. Hakkinen also showed them a diagram of a new Malaysian racing circuit.
    Infocom, a PictureTel channel partner, provided technical support for the event in Malaysia.
    PictureTel Corporation (www.picturetel.com) is the world leader in integrated collaboration tools for video, audio and data. The company's innovative conferencing products, services and eVideo streaming solutions enable people to communicate and work together more effectively anywhere in the world. PictureTel collaboration solutions bridge distance and time, enabling people to be Anywhere Now(tm).

    PictureTel is a registered trademark and Concorde 4500 and Anywhere Now are trademarks of PictureTel Corporation. Other brands or products are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.