Fore Systems is backing video-conferencing in a deal with Picturetel to jointly develop the technology. The team aims to work towards delivering real-time communication across an ATM Lan.

Fore product manager Stephen Duffy, said: "Video-conferencing used to be a playboy's toy. It suffered from not having the right network to support it. This joint development will establish the technology as a tool and not a toy."

Under the terms of the joint agreement, Fore will develop ATM interfaces for Picturetel's family of Lan-based H.323 video-conferencing products.

These include LiveLAN, an H.323 TCP-IP-based video-conferencing client for PCs running Windows 95 and LiveGateway - an H.323/H.320 bi-directional gateway that provides LiveLAN and other H.323 compliant clients access to H.320 standards-based video-conferencing across ISDN.

LiveManager 3.0 is an H.323-compliant gatekeeper conference management software application that enables network managers to tailor the use of video and audio based upon their network configurations and capabilities.

"Video-conferencing will become cost-effective, undercutting expenses such as travel for one-to-one meetings. Time is the greatest saving as it enables users to be more productive."