Interesting result of the survey I posted last week, 0% of you say you will NOT up-grade, but all of those of you who will be up-grading to the HD Telepresence (Vendor non-specific) express a good deal of growing pains due to expense!   So, as I think about what this means to all Enterprise (small and large) it occurs to me, that if we are to see an effective change-over from SD to HD Telepresence, the industries that Manufacture HD Telepresence units have a kind of social/economic/cultural responsibility to encourage their distributors to work out better “transition” policies, especially when it comes to pricing and payment options.

I for one have felt the struggle of this economic downturn on a very personal level, yet have found incredible technology partners to work with.   That being said, I extend the olive branch out to all those who are struggling to keep up with the innovations but are having difficulty due to the economic limitations of their slashed budget, decrease in sales or other losses to communicate their struggles so that the industry can react positively.  Seriously, the ability to communicate openly and widely with current technologies that solve problems across great distances seems more like a right than a privilege – standards in players, codecs, systems, etc. are the bane of our existence, however there are companies working to use the big two (Windows Media/Silverlight and Adobe Flash) in addition to a more standardized form of h.264 MPEG compression to make communicating easier, faster and smarter for nearly everyone.

What do you think?

Are you planning on up-grading your legacy Video Teleconferencing devices to true HD Telepresence? 

There is a lot of talk about codecs, budgets and ROI – we know how to use those units, old and new – to monetize your business, do you?  The Multimedia Network Optimization Project is underway, do your part to build better business with more effective ROI for a better future.  Green meetings save lives.

Companies like Polycom understand this simple message, we are leveraging our technology partners to make business work better, all from the heart of New York City, Wall Street!  On-Demand, Inc | nYc and American Movie Company, LLC are making great things happen for Consumer facing Business and the Enterprise.

If you have questions, call us for a free over-the-phone 3 minute consultation 212-952-1800, ask for Nico

There has been a lot of buzz surrounding “telepresence” – a phrase coined by Video TeleConferencing (VTC)  system manufacturers such as Cisco, Polycom, TelaNETix and others.

It is yet another marketing angle on invigorating the old VTC market – The same issues with these new units apply, as existed with the old, here are the TOP 3 Issues Nico has with Telepresence:

1. if one telepresence unit is behind a firewall, your firewall admin will need to open ports dedicated to video conferencing in order to allow the two way communication.

2. Different manufacturer units will need to be connected through a bridge. What is a bridge? Essentially it is a “meet me ” point where the two codecs are bridged together by an operator who can take the various codecs and translate them so the units appear to be speaking to each other.

3. COST: Telepresence units are very expensive – ROI comes from cost-avoidance from less travel and no need for a satellite up-link.

Telepresence is supposed to be the ANSWER for virtual “face-to-face” interactive meetings with some more advanced units tapping into the sensory experience via auditory simulaton and even deeper visual “life size” projections, they also delve into the tactile experiences that translate through gloves, touch screens and the like.

it isn’t Minority Report yet, but it seems our technology leaders must have really liked that movie since they are investing so much in making it a reality

I do believe in the next 5 years, true immersion will generate higher levels of comprehension in learning and simulations adaptive for athlete’s, pilots, acrobats and adventurers alike.