Video Conferencing Review

(Network World Middle East Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Plenty of small, geographically dispersed teams within large organizations can benefit from telepresence. The same holds true for small and midsized businesses. However, the technology may seem impractical for these scenarios, due to its notoriously high price.

Whereas higher-end telepresence products do come with large price tag, some vendors also offer alternatives that deliver a similar, if not identical, face-to-face experience — far more affordably. You won’t get all the bells and whistles of a dedicated telepresence suite, but you may find these types of solutions can put a big dent in your travel budget while boosting productivity.

We had a chance to test the Polycom QDX 6000, which offers small, power-saving desktop hardware, television-like remote controls for simple operation, plus quality audio and video. For the lower price, Polycom’s video is standard definition (wide screen), and works over marginal Internet connections and lets you connect more audio and video sources Best value and performance at low bandwidths The Polycom QDX 6000 does not deliver high-definition video; that’s reserved for the company’s pricier HDX Series. Nevertheless, the system’s wide-screen, DVD-quality (480p) images look great on large monitors.

Four more attributes make this system enticing: It’s easy to set up and use; the $3,000 street price puts several units within buying reach; it’s based on industry video standards (H.264, H.263, and H.261), so you can connect with partners that might have other vendors’ hardware; and Polycom’s own Lost Packet Recovery (LPR) algorithm delivers smooth video over slow or congested connections (as low as 256 Kbps).

We successfully tested a QDX 6000 by dialing in to an identical unit at Polycom (a cross-country hop over a relatively slow cable modem). Setup was simple, yet there are enough video and audio inputs and outputs to accommodate media-heavy meetings.

In the most basic scenario, you plug in the supplied wide-view camera and two wideband microphones, attach an Internet cable and power, and add your own wide-screen monitor (I used a Samsung 32-inch 6 Series high-definition LCD television connected using component video cables). With these five connections, the system was operational in less than five minutes.

Further, the main system, which can be placed on a table top or mounted in a rack cabinet, provides outputs for standard 4:3-format televisions and VGA computer monitors or projectors. Inputs from computers, other video cameras, VCRs, DVD players, and audio mixers are all accepted.

The system automatically gets an IP address and leads you through the minimum configuration steps to place a call, which is done from the remote control. More extensive system configuration, such as monitor setup and advanced network settings, is performed from a Web interface.

From start to finish, we were conferencing in less than 10 minutes. In everyday use, you should be able to call others and enter a secure conference in a few seconds.

We were impressed with several other aspects of the QDX 6000. To begin, the studio-quality camera’s performance is amazing, with sharpness and low-light color quality found in video cameras that could cost $3,000 alone. The 12X optical zoom let me zero in on people or items on the desktop; zooming, panning, and tilting (using the remote) was extremely smooth and fast.

The compact remote control is equally easy to use because of clearly labeled buttons and on-screen prompts that are readable from across a room. For example, with one press you can store (or recall) up to 100 preset camera positions, select a video source, or view far and near sites side-by-side.

Alternately, a free Polycom application (People+Content IP) lets you display the screen of a Windows computer to meeting participants without plugging the video output of the PC into the Polycom QDS 6000 system. To use this feature, all I did was load the software, enter the name of the conferencing system and password, then press the Graphics icon on the remote.

The Polycom StereoSurround microphones produced CD-quality audio with very good spatial separation. There’s automatic gain control and noise suppression, which eliminates the need to play with any settings.

Our Comcast network speed is pretty bad (typically about 384Kbps to 512Kbps), so we didn’t have to do anything special to test Lost Packet Recovery. With LifeSize and 5 percent packet loss, we saw broken video and artifacts. However, Polycom’s QoS maintained clear video at the same 5% packet loss. LPR is especially beneficial for home workers or employees connected through wireless networks. Yet this feature could also prove essential for critical medical applications, such as where medical specialists would share X-rays or patient images.

Overall, with high-quality video and audio, multiple video inputs and outputs, and compatibility with other systems, the Polycom QDX 6000 delivered smooth and uninterrupted videoconferences. Sure, video on this model is standard-definition wide screen. But that’s hardly a negative considering the low price, simplified installation, and performance at low bandwidths.

Courtesy of: www.tmcnet.com

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Claudio Castelli

Continuing with its goal of offering customers a consistent set of services that exploit the high speed and broad coverage of its network, Telstra has launched a managed business-to-business Cisco TelePresence solution. The launch is another step in Telstra’s strategy of growing revenues on network-embedded ICT and managed services on the top of its Next IP network. With the credit crunch, telepresence is high on the enterprise agenda. However, full cost savings will be only achieved in a multi-carrier and multi-vendor environment.

Managed services have been a key deployment model for telcos in the enterprise market. They allow a potentially long-term customer relationship that goes beyond standard support and maintenance. This provides both telcos and enterprises with a framework for technology evolution, and helps enterprises to respond quickly to the changes in the market place.

Telepresence deployments offer considerable cost savings for enterprises
We expect telepresence solutions to gain more traction during the current economic climate. Our research with multinational corporations has shown that companies believe that implementing telepresence provides a high return on investment in terms of cost savings, with many companies willing to advance their telepresence plans in response to the global credit crunch.

Driven by travel cost savings and peering capability, we believe a ‘new wave’ of telepresence is evident. Vendors and service providers estimate travel cost savings to be around 30-40%. Some have validated these figures in internal exercises; Verizon, for example, claims it saved $1.5 million in three months across six rooms (1,000 meetings).

Compatibility remains an issue
In a diverse environment, enterprises will need to collaborate with some of their counterparts connected through different carrier networks. Interoperability between carriers and solutions across different vendors will be a challenge.

Telcos providing business-to-business support can assure bandwidth and quality of service within their own networks. The question is whether they will take the next step to delivering global services across multiple carrier networks. AT&T, BT and Tata are already working together to provide services on a global scale.

In addition, vendors don’t use the same protocols. Some use H.323, while others use SIP or, in the case of Cisco and HP, proprietary protocols requiring intermediary solutions to support interconnection. Telstra, for example, offers video collaboration solutions from Cisco and Polycom, and it’s not clear whether there are plans for interoperability across the platforms.

Courtesy of: www.ovum.com

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Unified communications (UC) transforms how businesses communicate by making it simpler to contact others over any device in any location resulting in improved business processes and customer experiences. Organisations run on information and UC facilitates the flow of information to speed the decision-making process, respond more quickly to customers, and reduce latency in employee communications.

UC technology connects communication applications like voice, video and audio conferencing with collaboration applications like calendars, email, Web conferencing, instant messaging and presence on an open standard platform to position companies to become more responsive and agile.

This white paper is a commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Cisco.

Forrester surveyed more than 420 business decision-makers in retail banking, manufacturing, and education in six countries to identify areas in which their organisations experienced communications difficulties, and to quantify the extent to which these issues could be
improved with UC.

Respondents were given a description of how UC would function in certain situations and asked if these would affect their ability to communicate more effectively. The situations described typical scenarios that were specific to each vertical industry.

The survey did not identify any specific product or vendor.

Courtesy of: media.ameinfo.com

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(Network World Middle East Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) More affordable midrange telepresence systems, such as offerings from Polycom and LifeSize systems, offer fine picture and audio quality, along with usability. But in the overall product continuum, Cisco TelePresence System 500 is the most economical system that gives you the full experience of telepresence rooms.

The Cisco TelePresence System 500 I tried out was already installed at a regional office of a large enterprise. This turnkey system — with monitor, pro-grade video camera, and built-in lighting — creates much the same immersive experience as Cisco’s high-end telepresence systems.

Cisco calls the System 500 “personal telepresence” because it’s installed in a private office to connect one or two users to other individuals or to a larger group meetings. I tried the 230-pound pedestal-mounted hardware, but it’s also available in a 65-pound (without pedestal and codec) configuration for wall mounting or placement on a credenza.

Find Solutions for Enterprises, SMBs & Service Providers at the INTERNET TELEPHONY Conference and EXPO West, September 1-3, 2009. Los Angeles, CA.

Find Solutions for Enterprises, SMBs & Service Providers at the INTERNET TELEPHONY Conference and EXPO West, September 1-3, 2009. Los Angeles, CA.

Find Solutions for Enterprises, SMBs & Service Providers at the INTERNET TELEPHONY Conference and EXPO West, September 1-3, 2009. Los Angeles, CA.

Find Solutions for Enterprises, SMBs & Service Providers at the INTERNET TELEPHONY Conference and EXPO West, September 1-3, 2009. Los Angeles, CA.

Find Solutions for Enterprises, SMBs & Service Providers at the INTERNET TELEPHONY Conference and EXPO West, September 1-3, 2009. Los Angeles, CA.

Find Solutions for Enterprises, SMBs & Service Providers at the INTERNET TELEPHONY Conference and EXPO West, September 1-3, 2009. Los Angeles, CA.

Although the system I used was already installed, initial setup looks to be straightforward. The internal Cisco Gigabit Ethernet switch connects to your network; the same RJ-45 interface supports a Cisco Unified IP Phone 7975G and Ethernet-attached PC. An administrator usually does networking and other configuration work through the Cisco TelePresence administrator Web interface.

Small, but powerful You might expect the System 500 to take over a small room, but the opposite is true: The unit is a scant 1 foot deep and 3.2 feet wide. Unlike the systems reviewed that have discrete components (and require you to supply a monitor), Cisco’s integrates the 37-inch high-definition display, manual-focus HD camera, microphone, speakers, and lighting in a modern-looking appliance.

One immediate benefit of this design is that you sit four to six feet away from the unit (the natural distance for face-to-face conversations). As such, I got that in-person experience, clearly seeing the expressions of participants at the far end and clearly hearing their speech. As a side note, microphone electronics are designed to eliminate interference from mobile phones.

The System 500’s camera doesn’t have any motion tracking, but it is calibrated so that you appear centered in the screen. Moreover, positioning lights around the monitor’s bezel guide you so that you sit in the correct position.

Using this system was extremely easy. There’s one-button speed dialing from the IP phone for up to 40 entries, or you can search through thousands of entries maintained by the Cisco Unified Communications Manager application. Calendar and scheduling is available from a Web-enabled application, but it must be installed and configured to work with your calendar and e-mail server.

All Cisco TelePresence systems support 720p or 1080p video resolutions with three quality levels, depending on the bandwidth available and how much capacity you allocate to telepresence; 3Mbps to 4Mbps (1080p) or 1Mbps to 3Mbps (720p) is recommended.

Reaching out The site I visited had a wide-area T1 connection and 1.5Mbps reserved to the conferencing system; therefore, video was shown in 720p mode. Yet even at this resolution, the overall picture appeared better compared to Polycom or LifeSize. The major reason, I believe, is that Cisco’s integrated lighting assembly throws soft, even illumination that eliminates facial shadows. My formal tests of the other systems were under the harsher fluorescent lighting typical of conference rooms. I also appreciated that Cisco’s lighting activates only once a telepresence call begins, which helps provide a green solution.

I dialed another person using a System 500, and there wasn’t any noticeable video or audio latency, even when the meeting was designated as secure (and thus encrypted).

System 500 lets you connect a PC or optional high-definition document to the codec. This content can be displayed on the main display (picture-in-picture) or on an optional secondary monitor. Since this information is often static, it’s only transmitted at 5 fps; an optional codec provides full motion (30 fps) on the auto collaborate data channel. A nice touch, although certainly available with most off-the-shelf HDTVs, is that the System 500’s monitor can double as a PC display when you’re not in a conference.

Besides calling, other conferencing features are also accessed from the IP phone — and they go beyond the low-cost products. For example, CiscoTelepresence Recording Studio lets you record high-quality video messages that can be played back on other Cisco endpoints or standard Web browser players.

Though I didn’t have the opportunity to test, Cisco Telepresence Systems can interoperate with standards-based H.264 videoconferencing systems and other HD endpoints.

As a pure telepresence solution, Cisco has done a fine job of building a simple-to-use, all-in-one unit that combines lifelike HD video, quality audio, security, and compatibility with other conferencing systems. Then there are extra features, such as video recording, not standard with the low-end videoconferencing products I tested.

I was a little surprised that Telepresence System 500 doesn’t accept the multiple video and audio sources of the Polycom QDX 6000, nor the camera panning and zooming that both Polycom and LifeSize offer. Yet I can appreciate that these features, when put in the hands of the wrong end-user, can diminish the picture quality and ruin the telepresence experience.

For larger enterprises, I understand the value Cisco TelePresence System 500 brings. With a street price of about $24,000, it would be a good fit for regional offices, since it works seamlessly with larger Cisco systems while providing the same rich telepresence experience. I also see it fitting right in to specialized markets, such as telemedicine. That said, I imagine it’s too costly for the majority of telecommuting applications (even though Cisco has about 500 workers doing exactly that).

For those smaller offices and individuals, Polycom and LifeSize Express perform admirably.

Courtesy of: www.tmcnet.com

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Marriott International and Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide this week announced separate plans to introduce Cisco’s telepresence remote conferencing technology to several properties this year.

Marriott is partnering with AT&T to bring the Cisco TelePresence technology to Marriott, JW Marriott and Renaissance properties in 25 cities, including Frankfurt, Hong Kong, London, New York, San Francisco, Shanghai and Washington, D.C. The company said the first meeting suites would be operational by the end of October.

Starwood, meanwhile, is working with Singapore-based Tata Communications to bring Cisco TelePresence rooms to 10 of its hotels by the end of the year. The first rooms will be in Sheraton properties in New York, Sydney and Toronto, and Westin properties at Los Angeles International Airport and Chicago. Beyond that, Starwood plans to add rooms to properties in Brussels, Hong Kong, Paris, Singapore, Tokyo and other major international business markets.

“We believe that public telepresence rooms are the key to increasing the accessibility of telepresence beyond major company offices to their wider ecosystem of users: customers, suppliers, remote workers and business partners,” Tata Communications senior vice president of global managed services John Landau said in a statement. “Our partnership with Starwood is a major step towards making this vision a reality.”

Telepresence technology allows small groups, generally 20 people or less, to use high-definition video and real-time audio to meet while in multiple locations worldwide. Besides companies that have the technology installed onsite, Cisco has several public rooms where the technology is available. Tata Communications has such rooms In London and Boston as well as Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Delhi and Gurgaon in India, and it also recently announced an agreement to manage a room in India. Both Tata and AT&T also have capabilities to link to private Cisco TelePresence locations.

Although telepresence technology often is viewed as a way to cut down on travel necessary for meetings, executives from both Starwood and Marriott said they expected that partnering with technology suppliers ultimately would provide a boost to their meetings business.

“As the 24/7 world economy becomes more interconnected, the need to hold small global meetings that cross continents and oceans will only grown,” Marriott president and COO Arne Sorenson said in a statement. “We believe Telepresence will create more business meetings because people can travel shorter distances and easily connect with colleagues around the world.”

Source: Business Travel News

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