Big Companies Banking on Telepresence While Other Options Abound

As someone who is clearly vested in the game of video conferencing with SightSpeed as a client, its great to see how much pioneering work giant Cisco is doing with Telepresence. While other companies like Tandberg and Polycom continue to also push out news about the concept of using video in the workplace and cutting down on travel, something which SightSpeed CEO Peter Csathy has been saying since 2006 when we first started working together, the big guys are all missing the point. The price point. SightSpeed gets that..

The difference between Cisco's Telepresence and SightSpeed from a conceptual standpoint really isn't that far apart, as both accomplish the same thing, but at very different price points. While the crowd that can buy a corporate jet may go for a Cisco Telepresence suite or a H-P Halo room set up, not everyone is in their league.

For the Mobile Worker without that kind of pocket change laying around idle in their wallet, SightSpeed for Business provides the kind of connectivity and face to face presence on a much more reasonable budget.

Here's the Net Net. If companies the size of HSBC can save money with Telepresence from Cisco to the level they have with 8000 people (though I doubt the teller in the branch ever stepped foot in the Telepresence Suite) think how much the rank and file could be saving on commutes between local offices, and how much more face time they could be getting using a much more cost efficient, and desktop capable solution.

What's more Csathy has been saying since 2006 that desktop video conferencing is also very good for the environment.

Cisco may have a great product for the corporate Jet Set crowd, but if you're business doesn't have the budget for that, I'd look at something much more in line with what is priced at less than a tank of gas per month and see what can be done with your already existing broadband connection, your existing laptop or desktop or even one of the new UMPC's from Dell, Asus, Acer, etc. You see, while you can't take Cisco's Telepresence anywhere, you can take your video conference app from SIghtSpeed with you, latch on to WiFi, or use your own 3G card and have real personal experience with someone else, or up to eight other colleagues virtually anywhere there's 3G access.

To me, that's the way to stay connected.

Comments

[Tsahi Levent-Levi]

I think these are two different experiences.
What you're trying to do is compare between a school play and the royal ballet - both have their place in the world, and both are definitely useful.
Telepresence provides a rich user experience unlike any other today.
I do agree that video conferencing from the desktop and mobile is where the large deployments are though.
Cisco provides solutions for the desktop as well. So does RADVISION, which goes from mobile, through desktop, up to TelePresence.

[Sagee Ben-Zedeff]

As telepresence systems are very impressive, the ambitious goals they set for themselves force a number of restrictions/problems in regards to such a solution: system costs, real-estate, operating costs, network maintenance. And there's also interoperability.

As one would expect from a high-end, high-cost product, only a select few can afford it, but those who can pay the price seem rather eager to embrace it.

Nevertheless, telepresence is an extremely interesting technology for everyone. As in other technology-based products, the features you see in today’s high-end products are what you will enjoy in tomorrow’s low-end versions.

Think about digital cameras, DVD players and even your car - today we enjoy capabilities and quality of experience that not so long ago were reserved only for the rich and famous.

With time, telepresence will become a commodity, and until then it shows that video conferencing can and will become the primary communication tool in the enterprise world as well the personal.

More here:
http://blog.radvision.com/videooverenterprise/2008/04/07/my-other-video-conferencing-system-is-a-telepresence/