The three leading US manufacturers of videoconferencing systems say they have successfully tested a standard that will enable users of the different brands to talk to each other. The three are PictureTel Corp, Compression Labs Inc and VideoTelecom Corp, which together account for over 70% of the world’s installed videoconferencing systems. PictureTel, based in Peabody, Massachusetts said its existing systems can be converted to the new standard via a software upgrade. The dividing line between low-end videoconferencing systems and high-end videophones is getting blurred, but the standard won’t apply to the new $1,500 AT&T videophone introduced last month and aimed at consumers, because it uses analogue technology device where the standard applies only to digital systems.
