New Children’s Museum To Harness Videoconferencing For Interactive Learning Environment; PictureTel Systems to Support Mission to Deliver Hands-On Learning Adventures

The Children’s Museum Lowell and PictureTel® Corporation (NASDAQ:PCTL), the world leader in integrated collaboration, today announced that the Children’s Museum Lowell will utilize the PictureTel 600 Series™ as an interactive learning tool. The PictureTel 600 Series combines videoconferencing, the PC, and the Internet, re-creating natural in-person interaction.

The museum, geared toward children ages one to 10, will feature 10 unique theme areas. Children and their families will learn about math, art, music, nature, culture, and more, in a challenging and interactive environment. The theme areas will include:

• Swoosh!, a water in motion exhibit

• Deep Freeze, showcasing ice crystals, snowflakes, and more

• Big Red, a view from Mars

• The Main Attraction, a magnetic field of fun

• Warm Fuzzies, a play space for infants and toddlers

• Common Threads, a town square including houses constructed to model those that would be found in the homelands of the six dominant cultures in Lowell: Greek, French Canadian, Irish, Cambodian, Portuguese, and Puerto Rican. The exhibit will focus on illustrating the commonalities of children in each of these cultures

The museum will harness videoconferencing to enable children to interact with a wide variety of individuals, including NASA scientists, children in Greece and Ireland – and more.

“Our exhibits will spark the imagination through total immersion in an interactive learning environment,” states Nancy Stice, executive director, Children’s Museum Lowell. “And, an interactive learning environment is a fun learning environment. Children will actively participate in the exhibits, solving problems and learning by playing and doing. They will learn about how unique they are – and how much they share with other children around the world. PictureTel’s videoconferencing support is helping us to provide visitors with first-hand, un-edited exposure to new ideas and new cultures.”

“The New Children’s Museum Lowell is an ambitious project,” states Lew Jaffe, president and chief operating officer, PictureTel.

“Videoconferencing will further add to the real-world dimension of the educational experience. We are excited to be a part of the Museum’s plans.”

About PictureTel


PictureTel Corporation (NASDAQ:PCTL) is the world leader in developing, manufacturing, and marketing a full range of visual- and audio- collaboration platforms. PictureTel markets network conferencing servers in addition to the complete range of end-point products and delivers a global capability to service, support and provide complete solutions for customers needing rich media communications. PictureTel is fundamentally in the business of eliminating the barrier of distance, enabling people to be Anywhere Now.™

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, the difficulty in forecasting in overseas markets and indirect channels, or changes in or failure to consummate our announced strategic transaction. Additional information concerning risks that could cause actual results to differ is contained in the company’s annual report on Form 10-K and its Form 10-Q 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.

PictureTel is a registered trademark of PictureTel Corporation. PictureTel 900 Series, PictureTel 600 Series, iPower, and Anywhere Now are trademarks of PictureTel Corporation.

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