VideoTele.com's Enhanced Content Processing Solution Introduces QualView™2, Shattering ADSL Reach Barrier

ATLANTA, Ga., June 4, 2001-VideoTele.com, Inc. (VT.c), a Tektronix company (NYSE: TEK) and the single source provider for service providers deploying innovative home entertainment solutions via the broadband Internet, today announced enhancements to its family of video content processing solutions, Astria™. The enhancements enable Astria to support multiple network access technologies, including Very high-speed Digital Subscriber Line (VDSL) technology and Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL) technology, as well as software transfer protocols, ATM and IP. At this year's SUPERCOMM, VideoTele.com will hold the first public showing of Astria, which includes a technology demonstration of a functional Digital Headend (DHE) transporting MPEG video over IP over Ethernet, and ATM over ADSL and VDSL. Astria enables service providers to leverage their two greatest assets -- an established billing relationship with subscribers and a wired connection into every home -- thereby creating an ideal solution for offering lucrative broadband entertainment/communication packages.

The hallmark of Astria is its capacity to provide processing options for all sources of headend content: MPEG-2 video encoding for analog content, patent-pending processing for pre-encoded content, Dolby DigitalÔ audio coding of analog audio, and demultiplexing and packetization of pre-encoded audio. The flexibility of Astria's protocol neutral approach further enhances its multiple compression techniques for delivering superior quality video over various broadband network architecture such as ADSL and VDSL. Astria's ability to process pre-encoded content is accomplished by VideoTele.com's unique, industry-leading, patent-pending bit rate management technology, QualView™. QualView's data-intact algorithm preserves the full quality of the input video when converting satellite-based Variable Bit Rate (VBR) to Constant Bit Rate (CBR) for delivery over the emission network. The new QualView2 improves Astria's reach, significantly reducing the bandwidth required for the delivery of premium-quality video entertainment. The customization afforded by QualView2 enables service providers to specify a given quality for their network and maximize the reach at that given quality - lessening the bandwidth requirements by nearly one-half.

"VideoTele.com's Astria system with QualView improves the business model for telephone companies who want to increase revenues from their copper infrastructure," said Gerry Kaufhold, principal analyst with Cahners In-Stat Group, a market research firm based in Scottsdale, Arizona. "They have responded to the market by designing an advanced content processing solution and bit-rate management technology, which permit more channels of TV programming to be delivered to consumers. VT.c provides the shortest-time-to-profit with support for ADSL, and also has a roadmap to very high speed DSL (VDSL) - all in a single, unified, cost-effective platform."

Designed by a seasoned engineering team that helped develop the MPEG-2P professional standard, Astria leads the industry in quality MPEG-2 encoding for home video entertainment applications. The agility offered by the Astria family's real-time encoding, QualView processing and ATM multiplexing creates a robust, single-chassis solution for converting all digital video and audio content. Astria's scalability and network/protocol neutrality targets both domestic and international broadband providers (RBOCs, PTTs, BLECs, IOCs, CLECs) who are committed to growing revenues by delivering broadband home entertainment packages over Full Service Networks. A highly integrated DHE solution, Astria offers a complete suite of content processing operations at an economic system price. Astria's high-density chassis design processes over 200 audio and video channels, performing multiple processing operations from demultiplexing to packetization. It leverages QualView to deliver premium video quality to viewers. Astria's capacity and small footprint reduces the costs associated with facilities and switching (rack space, cooling, power supplies, etc.). Similarly, Astria is ideal within space-constrained environments such as multiple dwelling unit (MDU) settings.

Astria also excels at meeting providers' demands for high reliability in a service offering. Hot-swappable components and redundant power supplies ensure high availability while the multi-function Quad Stream Processor boards safeguard providers' technology investment by facilitating the addition of new applications in the future. Astria can be managed by VideoTele.com's management software, Aveon™ Element Management Software. Aveon's capacity for remote management, its scalability for managing both small and large headends and its ability to simultaneously control, configure and monitor multiple hardware resources and functions improve the over-all reliability and flexibility of the Astria system.

Pricing and Availability
Astria is available immediately. Astria with QualView2 and Astria over IP will be available in Fall, 2001. The pricing of an Astria system is dependent on channel count and other customer-dependent specifications.

About VideoTele.com
VideoTele.com is the single source supplier of Digital Headend solutions enabling home entertainment delivery via the broadband Internet. Building on 20 years of experience in video over telecommunications networks, VideoTele.com assists broadband providers with innovative products, strategic consulting and premier performance in system design, deployment and support. VT.c’s Digital Headend solutions are used today at RBOCs, ILECs and CLECs, and VT.c is the number one provider of these products to Independent Operating Companies (IOCs). Headquartered in Lake Oswego, Oregon, VideoTele.com is a subsidiary of Tektronix, Inc. Additional information on the company can be found by accessing the VideoTele.com website at: http://www.videotele.com.