PictureTel Announces New Senior Management Structure; Streamlines to Focus on Core Competency

Business Wire, Sept 15, 2000

Business Editors/Hi-Tech Writers

ANDOVER, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 15, 2000

PictureTel Corporation (Nasdaq:PCTL), the world leader in integrated collaboration technologies, today announced a new senior management structure.

Under the re-organization, PictureTel will realign its existing separate business operations to run as a single business entity, with the exception of its 1414c and MultiLink subsidiaries.

"While separate product and service focus was appropriate in the past, our turnaround requires that the company drive toward one common goal," said Lew Jaffe, president, PictureTel. "That goal is to design, sell, and support the best integrated collaboration tools, bar none. Our new structure will integrate our efforts and assure a singular, integrated management focus on achieving that goal." Mr. Jaffe continued, "Over the past several months, the management team has been highly focused on helping PictureTel establish a financially sound base. My own financial experience, fine tuned at Arthur Anderson, has been invaluable in this effort. Having also served as President of three other companies - I now look forward to bringing the sales and marketing expertise that made these organizations successful to the table at PictureTel."

PictureTel has reorganized its management in a horizontal manner, focusing on traditional corporate functions. Dr. Norman Gaut will continue to serve as Chairman of the Board of Directors and Chief Executive Officer. Lew Jaffe will expand the scope of his responsibility. In addition to serving as President and Chief Operating Officer, Mr. Jaffe will head Worldwide Sales at PictureTel. The total senior management structure of the Company is as follows:

-- Jon Kosheff will serve as Executive Vice President, Operations. Mr. Kosheff
has been with PictureTel for more than six years in increasingly significant
roles. He will be responsible for engineering, service, manufacturing
operations, and planning

-- Ned Semonite will serve as Executive Vice President, Marketing. Mr.
Semonite, the engineering leader of the successful PictureTel 900 Series
development effort, will be responsible for corporate and product marketing

-- Ralph Takala will continue to serve as Chief Financial Officer. Mr. Takala
will be responsible for all financial control and reporting functions

-- David Snow will continue to serve as Vice President, Business Development.
Mr. Snow, instrumental in establishing the Intel, Sharp, and Microsoft
strategic relationships, will continue to focus on the development of strategic
alliances

-- Bob Kellegrew will serve as Vice President, General Counsel and Treasurer.
Mr. Kellegrew has been PictureTel's General Counsel since late 1997. In
addition to his role as chief legal officer, he will assume the treasury
function

-- Ralph Walker will continue to serve as Vice President, Human Resources. In
addition to traditional human resource tasks, Mr. Walker will increase the
Company's focus on retaining its greatest resource, its employees

-- Robert Byrnes will continue to serve as President of PictureTel's ASP
subsidiary, 1414c

-- David Blandford will continue to serve as President of PictureTel's
MultiLink, Inc. subsidiary

Tim Duffy, Group Vice President, Conferencing Products, will leave PictureTel, effective October 1, 2000 to return to the United Kingdom. "Tim Duffy has been with PictureTel since 1991 as our head of European operations," said Dr. Norman Gaut, Chairman and CEO at PictureTel. "He agreed last year to undertake a 12-month assignment in the United States to help focus our efforts on delivering the PictureTel 900 Series and iPower platform. Tim has done an outstanding job in getting the products business revitalized and ensured that we achieved our objectives on this hugely successful program. We wish him the very best on his return to the United Kingdom."

About PictureTel

PictureTel Corporation is the world leader in developing, manufacturing, and marketing a full range of visual- and audio-collaboration and streaming-video solutions. The Company's systems meet customers' collaboration needs from the desktop to the boardroom.

PictureTel also markets network conferencing servers and a comprehensive portfolio of enterprise-wide services. Additional PictureTel information is available on the Internet at www.picturetel.com. PictureTel collaboration products and services eliminate the barrier of distance, enabling people to be Anywhere Now(TM).

This release includes projections and other forward-looking statements about the company's revenues, earnings, and other measures of economic performance. Actual results could differ materially from forecasts due to many factors such as, for example, competitive pressures, changes in technology and the difficulty of forecasting in overseas markets and indirect channels. Additional information concerning risks that could cause actual results to differ is contained in the company's annual report on Form 10K as filed with the SEC. The company undertakes no obligation to update publicly any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.