MRCIY Marconi (MM)

Marconi's ViPr System Enables Distance Learning, Collaboration in Washington State School District Lake Washington School District Adds ViPr System to Existing GigE Network PITTSBURGH, March 9 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Marconi Corporation plc (LONDON: MONI) (NASDAQ:MRCIY) today announced that its ViPr(TM) Virtual Presence System was sold to the Lake Washington School District, near Redmond, Wash., where its flexible, easy-to-use, high-resolution video telephony and multimedia communications will help teachers and administrators improve real- time educational collaboration, including professional development, teacher planning and administrative activities across remote school sites. (Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20050309/CLW016 ) ViPr's intuitive graphical interface is easy to master, making first-time users expert video communicators with minimal training. ViPr's real-time, delay-free operation provides educators with a rich multimedia experience, providing immediate school benefits. Importantly, Lake Washington is adding ViPr to its existing Wide Area Network, which is based on Gigabit Ethernet. ViPr's flexible architecture allows it to work equally well over either ATM or IP networks. "With ViPr, our staff simply calls each other just as they would on a telephone. Such ease of use and high visual and audio quality reinforce our educational mission with new methods of classroom and administrative collaboration," said Dr. Chip Kimball, Lake Washington's assistant superintendent and chief information officer. "ViPr helps our managers make quicker, better decisions instead of waiting to schedule a meeting. We finally have a videoconferencing technology whose reliability and feature set can support pervasive use in education." Lake Washington teachers will employ ViPr strategically in the educational process. Using ViPr's always-on and virtual presence capabilities, team leaders from different schools can easily collaborate on academic projects and Master Teachers -- experienced teachers who mentor other teachers -- can have an immediate and more effective impact on educational issues. With 46 schools across 72 square miles and almost 24,000 students, Lake Washington School District is the fifth largest district in Washington and is located in the greater Seattle area. ViPr's 15-way conferencing feature will help school staff and administrators devote more time and effort to improving the educational process and less time on congested streets traveling for meetings across the expansive district. "ViPr is an ideal multimedia communications tool for school systems, facilitating quick and easy collaboration across multiple school buildings for both educational and school management purposes," said Joe Ferrara, vice president of marketing for Marconi's Broadband Routing and Switching group. "ViPr's versatility in easily connecting to a variety of network types also makes it an economical choice for integrating with existing network infrastructure and legacy videoconferencing equipment." ViPr combines the immediacy of a telephone call with the impact of video, utilizing digital high-fidelity audio and DVD-quality video in an integrated video telephony platform that provides users with an experience they perceive as virtual presence. ViPr pioneered the use of SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) technology and remains the only SIP-based multiparty desktop video telephony platform. ViPr is the only multiparty video telephony platform that eliminates the Multi-point Control Unit (MCU), a costly device that traditional video- conferencing products require for multiparty calls. The MCU also introduces delay that makes real-time video telephony impossible. Eliminating the MCU allows ViPr to deliver critical communications, allowing participants to perceive every gesture and vocal nuance with digital accuracy. About Marconi Corporation plc Marconi Corporation plc is a global telecommunications equipment, services and solutions company. The company's core business is the provision of innovative and reliable optical networks, broadband routing and switching, broadband access technologies and services. The company's customer base includes many of the world's largest telecommunications operators. The company is listed on the London Stock Exchange under the symbol MONI and on NASDAQ under the ticker MRCIY. Additional information about Marconi Corporation can be found at http://www.marconi.com/ . All brands or product names are trademarks of their respective holders. This press release contains forward-looking statements with respect to products, partners, customers, future growth and other matters. Please refer to the Form 10-K report filed by Marconi Corporation plc with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission for a discussion of risks that could cause actual results to differ materially from such statements. Press enquiries: Geof Becker, tel: 724-742-6377; email: Investor enquiries: Karen Keyes, tel: + 44 207 306 1345; email: Industry Analyst enquiries: Colleen Rosander, tel: 724-742-7794; email: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20050309/CLW016 http://photoarchive.ap.org/ DATASOURCE: Marconi Corporation plc CONTACT: Press enquiries, Geof Becker, +1-724-742-6377, or , or Investor enquiries, Karen Keyes, + 44 207 306 1345, or , or Industry Analyst enquiries, Colleen Rosander, +1-724-742-7794, or , all of Marconi Corporation plc Web site: http://www.marconi.com/

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