White Pine, FVC.COM to Offer Wholesale Web VideoServices
Posted: 02/2000
White Pine, FVC.COM to Offer Wholesale Web Video
Services
BY CHARLOTTE WOLTER
Internet video software pioneer White Pine Software Inc. (www.wpine.com) and corporate video communications provider
FVC.COM (www.fvc.com) will develop and market together
broadband IP video solutions for service providers and enterprises.
The companies will work on Internet protocol (IP) video communications solutions for
broadband networks and have reciprocal original equipement manufacturer (OEM) agreements
to distribute the White Pine’s MeetingPoint and FVC.COM’s V-Gate software products.
The agreement combines White Pine’s expertise with narrowband IP-based video
communications, including Internet videoconferencing, with FVC.COM’s experience in ISDN
and ATM broadband corporate video. FVC.COM’s V-Gate is an IP-to-ISDN-to-ATM video gateway
that enables videoconferencing clients on IP networks to interoperate with systems on ISDN
and ATM networks. It allows those using current ISDN and ATM-based videoconferencing to
make a transition to IP conferencing.
White Pine’s MeetingPoint will be installed at FVC.COM’s Video Operations Center, and
White Pine will enhance the product with features for the telecommunications services
market. This will expand FVC.COM’s ability to provide interactive video services to the
enterprise market and service providers. Among the services offered will be
videoconferencing, video collaboration and video chat.
White Pine marketing vice president Forrest Milkowski says the agreement provides
services targeted to ISPs, many of which are trying to expand beyond simple dial-up modem
connectivity.
"We can say, ‘Don’t make the infrastructure investment. We can do that. Just
connect your users to us.’ And it is still the ISP’s service; we just back-end it,"
Milkowski says.
He adds that working with companies such as White Pine and FVC.COM in a field as
specialized as videoconferencing makes it easier to offer up-to-date services.
"With that technology developing so fast, customers would like to know that they
would get every new competitive feature," he says. "We are already the industry
leader, so we’re saying, invest with us and we will be sure it stays ahead."
Milkowski says it is too early to tell if a classic reseller market will develop for
the video services. That is why White Pine and FVC.COM are developing a packaged service.
"By the end of this year, we will have a clearer picture of how it will map out,
though it is probably a couple of years down the road," Milkowski says. "But
companies such as White Pine and FVC.COM want to make it easy to access and easy to
sell."
