GTE introduces video over ATM as first application available over its nationwide ATM network. GTE selects MPR Teltech to provide ATM-based video platform.

IRVING, Texas -- GTE Telephone Operations today announced that, beginning in October, it will demonstrate for its customers a host of video applications over the company's nationwide Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) network launched this summer.

The applications are made possible by an agreement with MPR Teltech Ltd. of Vancouver, Canada, which is providing GTE's eight Technology Solution Centers with WAVE, an ATM-based video platform.

According to Barry Nalls, GTE's director of Business Data Products and Services, WAVE, the first application available over GTE's nationwide ATM network, fully integrates video and high-speed data networking.

"By packaging and offering integrated solutions that combine video and high-speed data networking, we are raising the bar on ATM services from simple transport to invaluable business communication services for customers," said Nalls.

GTE's ATM network, an enhancement to an existing nationwide area network, links GTE's eight Technology Solution Centers across the United States, and provides customers with first-hand exposure to the kinds of powerful services and applications available via ATM. While at the GTE Centers, customers can access technological expertise at GTE Laboratories in Waltham, Mass., and at Newbridge Networks in Herndon, Va., whose 36150 MainStreet (ATMnet) access switches are used in the nationwide ATM network.

Video applications based on the WAVE technology feature video and audio quality comparable to broadcast television, without the motion impairments common to earlier videoconferencing systems. Simple to operate, WAVE can handle up to eight simultaneous sites, allowing users to add or delete locations as needed. WAVE's most typical applications are telemedicine, business conferencing and distance learning.

"With WAVE, we made every effort to create a system where technology is not a barrier for non-technical users. By including us in their Solution Centers, GTE is helping us deliver that message to customers," said

Norm Dowds, MPR Teltech's senior vice president of Network Products and Systems.

"At the same time GTE is creating a robust set of telecommunications solutions that can help customers justify the costs associated with ATM," added Dowds.

GTE's Technology Solution Centers are located in Thousand Oaks and Norwalk, Calif.; Honolulu, Bothell, Wash; Dallas; Tampa, Fla.; Research Triangle Park, N.C., and Ft. Wayne, Ind. To make an appointment at one of GTE's Technology Solution Centers, customers can contact their local account manager.

GTE Telephone Operations

GTE Telephone Operations is the largest U.S.-based local telephone company, providing voice, video and data products and services through more than 23 million access lines in portions of the United States, Canada, South America, the Caribbean and the Pacific. Its parent organization, GTE Corporation, is the fourth-largest publicly owned telecommunications company in the world.

MPR Teltech

MPR Teltech provides advanced telecommunications systems and products to a portfolio of customers in over 20 countries. Incorporated in 1979, the company employs 650 people at six locations in Canada, the United States and Europe.