Interviews with Digital Media Thought Leaders
Business Quality Video Conferencing over the Internet (Part 2 of 2)
Podcast Video | Posted by Phil Leigh on March 8, 2008
If you would like to learn about a business-quality video conferencing unit based on standard PC architecture and only requiring the public Internet (wired or wireless) for transmission, this interview is for you. (Part 2 of 2).
Our guest today is Richard Ford who is the CEO of Vtel Corporation. His company makes a business-quality (standard H.323) video conferencing unit that is priced at $6,000. A less expensive unit based on Session Internet Protocol (SIP) is available for $4,000. In Part-Two of the interview we discuss details of the two different models.
The $6,000 unit is capable of working with standard (H.323) units from competitors like Polycom and Tandberg. It is designed as a business-class system for the conventional group (conference room) video conferencing industry.
The $4,000 unit that is based upon the Session Internet Protocol is ideal for use as a group endpoint at a company’s headquarters office that enables employees in the field to participate merely by using their computers at home. Thus the field participants are basically using their PCs as individual (as opposed to “room”) video conferencing endpoints.
Phil’s Take. The fact that Vtel’s units require nothing more that the public Internet is a material advantage. Too often conventional video conferencing systems are complicated and unreliable when unfamiliar endpoints are included in the conference. That means they tend to get used repeatedly by the same collection of endpoints thereby limiting the true potential of video conferencing.
Also, since the Vtel design is based on the Intel PC, there could be material price breakthroughs in the years ahead. According to Wainhouse Research, video conferencing industry statistics indicate that every 20% drop in price leads to a 40% increase in units shipped.
Categories: Podcast Video
Tags: digital media, Internet Media, Internet video, Phil Leigh, Richard Ford, Video Conferencing, Vtel, Wainhouse Research
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