LONDON and SAN MATEO, California, July 21 /PRNewswire/ --

- Avistar's C3 Technology's User-Friendliness and Cost-Effectiveness Essential to Addressing Client Needs in Challenging Global Markets

- Expansion of Reseller Channel Key Component of Company's Strategy

Avistar Communications Corporation (Nasdaq: AVSR), a leading provider of unified visual communications solutions, has signed a strategic partnership agreement with City Information Services Limited (CityIS Ltd.), a global visual communications company. The agreement offers CityIS' clients a cost-effective, user-friendly and proven desktop videoconferencing solution that is built to easily interoperate with room solutions and extend video to the desktop, office, home or on the road.

In making the announcement, Darren Innes, General Manager, Worldwide Sales, Avistar, said, "CityIS is a significant player in our strategy to deliver our C3 solutions through the reseller channel. CityIS has more than a decade of specialized experience in the videoconferencing space, and knows first-hand what its clients need to remain competitive in today's challenging global marketplace. With offices around the world servicing global clients, CityIS offers a breadth and depth of channel coverage that will be instrumental in our goal of making Avistar desktop videoconferencing as ubiquitous as large room implementations."

John N. Thompson, Founder and Chairman of CityIS, said, "More and more, our clients see the value of videoconferencing as a means to boost workplace efficiency, optimize supply chain operations, accelerate decision-making and reduce carbon emissions. This agreement allows us to complement our extensive videoconferencing offerings with an easy-to-use, intuitive desktop solution that maximizes the productivity of users and does not disrupt the workflow they have underway at their desks."

Ira Weinstein, Senior Analyst and Partner, Wainhouse Research, said, "Today's challenging economic climate has spawned increased interest in both group and desktop/personal videoconferencing. CityIS' experience selling and supporting professional videoconferencing solutions makes them well suited to offer Avistar's C3 integrated desktop conferencing solution to its roster of enterprise clients."

About CityIS Ltd.

CityIS is a global visual communications company, assisting many Fortune 500 organizations realize their ROI and environmental goals through video communications. Its technical and commercial consultancy capabilities ensure that clients optimize videoconferencing to transform the way they communicate. CityIS underpins its consultation process with an unrivalled breadth of global services to ensure total project ownership through the delivery, management and measurement stages, to guarantee a fully managed and successful project lifecycle. CityIS' unrivalled global coverage spans 92 countries worldwide. Corporate offices are located throughout EMEA, USA and APAC. For more information, visit http://www.cityis.com.

About Avistar Communications Corporation

Avistar creates technology that provides the missing critical element in unified communications: bringing people in organizations face-to-face, through enhanced communications, for true collaboration anytime, anyplace. Its latest product, Avistar C3, draws on over a decade of market experience to deliver a single-click desktop videoconferencing and collaboration experience that moves business communications into a new era. Available as a stand-alone solution, or integrated with existing unified communications software from other vendors, Avistar C3 users gain instant messaging-style ability to initiate video communications across and outside the enterprise. Patented bandwidth management enables thousands of users to access desktop videoconferencing, Voice over IP (VoIP) and streaming media, without requiring substantial new network investment or impairing network performance. Avistar's desktop videoconferencing and collaboration installations are among the world's largest, including more than 18,000 seats sold in more than 40 countries. Clients report as much as a 20 percent reduction in travel expense and carbon emissions, increases in productivity, and immeasurably improved relationship building within their organizations, as well as with suppliers and customers. Avistar holds a portfolio of 80 patents for inventions in video and network technology and licenses IP to videoconferencing, rich-media services, public networking and related industries. Current licensees include Sony Corporation, Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. (SCEI), Polycom, Inc., Tandberg ASA, Radvision Ltd. and Emblaze-VCON. For more information, visit http://www.avistar.com.

Web site: http://www.avistar.com http://www.cityis.com

Margaret Bonilla of Birnbach Communications, +1-603-548-0693, mbonilla@birnbachcom.com, for Avistar Communications Corporation; or Lisa Farley of Avistar Communications Corporation, +1-212-949-1137, lfarley@avistar.com; or Jennifer Turnbull of CityIS Ltd., +44-(0)-870-777-0555, jennifer.turnbull@cityis.co.uk