<DOCUMENT>
<TYPE>EX-31.1
<SEQUENCE>5
<FILENAME>d09966exv31w1.txt
<DESCRIPTION>CERTIFICATION PURSUANT TO SECTION 302
<TEXT>
<PAGE>

                                                                    EXHIBIT 31.1

                        CERTIFICATION OF PERIODIC REPORT
            PURSUANT TO SECTION 302 OF THE SARBANES-OXLEY ACT OF 2002

I, the undersigned Richard N. Snyder, Chief Executive Officer, of Forgent
Networks, Inc. (the "Company"), certify that:

         1.       I have reviewed the Annual Report on Form 10-K of the Company
                  for the fiscal year ended July 31, 2003 (the "Report");

         2.       Based on my knowledge, the Report does not contain any untrue
                  statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact
                  necessary in order to make the statements made, in light of
                  the circumstances under which such statements were made, not
                  misleading with respect to the periods covered by this Report;

         3.       Based on my knowledge, the financial statements, and other
                  financial information included in the Report, fairly present
                  in all material respects the financial condition, results of
                  operations and cash flows of the Company as of, and for, the
                  periods presented in the Report;

         4.       The Company's other certifying officer and I are responsible
                  for establishing and maintaining disclosure controls and
                  procedures (as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e) and
                  15d-15(e)) for the Company and we have (a) designed such
                  disclosure controls and procedures, or caused such disclosure
                  controls and procedures to be designed under our supervision,
                  to ensure that material information relating to the Company,
                  including its consolidated subsidiaries, is made known to us
                  by others within these entities, particularly during the
                  period in which the Report is being prepared; (b) evaluated
                  the effectiveness of the Company's disclosure controls and
                  procedures and presented in the Report our conclusions about
                  the effectiveness of the disclosure controls and procedures,
                  as of the end of the period covered by the Report based on
                  such evaluation; and (c) disclosed in the Report any change in
                  the Company's internal control over financial reporting that
                  occurred during the Company's most recent fiscal quarter (the
                  quarter ended July 31, 2003) that has materially affected, or
                  is reasonably likely to materially affect, the Company's
                  internal control over financial reporting; and

         5.       The Company's other certifying officer and I have disclosed,
                  based on our most recent evaluation of internal controls over
                  financial reporting, to the Company's auditors and to the
                  Audit Committee of the Board of Directors: (a) all significant
                  deficiencies or material weaknesses in the design or operation
                  of internal controls over financial reporting which are
                  reasonably likely to adversely affect the Company's ability to
                  record, process, summarize and report financial information;
                  and (b) any fraud, whether or not material, that involves
                  management or other employees who have a significant role in
                  the Company's internal controls.

                                          /s/ RICHARD N. SNYDER
                                          --------------------------------------
                                          Richard N. Snyder
                                          Chief Executive Officer
                                          October 29, 2003

                                        6

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