International Video Conferencing

As I mentioned in the previous post, we have been testing and evaluating PC and conference room based video telepresence systems. If you go back to basic studies on how people interact, conversations are 90% visual and 10% verbal. We live with telephone service because it allows us to communicate. Cell phones have added mobility to the conversation. YouTube started adding static video. Skype added in real time point-point video calls. (Yes, you could do this with other programs much earlier as well.) There is an evolution of communication moving more toward adding visual elements instead of just audio.

Everyone has talked over the years about how wonderful it would be if we could not only talk with the other person, but also see the other person. Many people discuss how wonderful it would be to see the person on the other end. Others talk about how inappropriate the view could be at times. (Hence, the recent Dilbert strip on telepresence with Dilbert in his shirt and underwear. http://www.dilbert.com/strips/comic/2009-02-22/). Regardless, the technology IS evolving toward being able to communicate effectively with both video and audio at a reasonable price.

System Comparisons

Cisco Telepresence

Yesterday I was able to sit in on a Cisco Telepresence call. I recently joined the NC Technology Association (www.nctechnology.org) and attended their CIO Connection forum yesterday. Cisco and the sponsors allowed us to use the Cisco Charlotte sales office Telepresence system to meet with other members at the Cisco Raleigh office. Cisco has a great design in their system. There are 3 screens, back lighting, well placed cameras and microphones, and a place to watch a webex for a shared desktop view. The tables are set to merge your view of your table top with that of the table you see in the screen. The tables even have the wood cut so that you can sit between the lines in the table and know which screen you will appear in for the remote party. It was funny though, to sit on the right side of the table, speak, and watch the heads turn toward you. It feels comfortable when you see people in the screen on the left turning to look at you. It feels a little uncomortable when the people in the screen to your right turn to your right to look at you. Regardless, it was a great way to communicate with other technology leaders in a very interactive forum.

Personal Telepresence

Historically, the only way to have these types of video conference calls is to use a system like the Cisco or Tandberg Telepresence systems. That works great for a large corporation with a large conference room. The rest of us have had to wait. Now through the progression of technology, and, as I mentioned before, with the advent of new protocols to handle video in a scalable format, personal telepresence is on its way. Yesterday's Cisco Telepresence meeting was a great way for me to compare a high end system with the new system we are developing. I already had a video conference call scheduled for 5pm yesterday with another company in Australia. Using my PC (Dell Lattitude D820, dual processor @ 2Ghz, a Logitech Quickcam Pro 9000 ($79 at Amazon), and a USB speakerphone (ClearOne Chat 50), I was able to attend a 6 person video conference on my PC. Two people were in Melbourne Australia, three in our corporate office in Columbia SC, and I was on a cable modem at home (7mb down x 768k up). Everyone was on a PC with a similar setup. I must admit, the video image that I was receiving from Australia was better than the image I was seeing on the Cisco system. To be fair, however, I was watching a smaller image on a 17" computer screen compared with 60" screens at the Cisco office. I'm sure trying to put the PC image on a 60" screen would show the lack of pixels to complete that large of an image. On the other hand, with less than $250 in equipment, a PC, an Internet connection and a system on the back end, I was able to instantly, on the fly, have an international video conference call with people in 6 different locations. There were some issues. I had just upgraded my cable modem from 5mbx512k to 7mbx768k and had not rebooted my cable modem or wireless router. Hence, the other 5 people were seeing some issues with the 500k video stream I was sending. I wasn't having any issues with the 600k stream per person that I was seeing from the other 5 people. It is amazing to be able to pull up to 9 people into a video call from anywhere in the world and get a high quality image. It is still standard def, but will only evolve over time.

Carbon Savings - Going Green

During the call with the chaps in Australia, we discussed the carbon savings of being able to complete the video call on the fly without ever having to fly or drive anywhere. I alone was able to save the company a trip of 160 miles (round trip from where I was located) at the current IRS rate for a savings of $93.60 for one meeting. A single plane ticket alone would have cost at last $1,700/person times at least two people + taxis + meals + hotel rooms. Instead, I was able to spend 1.5 hours on the video call, establish a partnership with another company, and then, more importantly, walk into my kitchen to have dinner with my family after the call.

Evolution or Revolution

The evolution of this technology is going to bring a revolution in how we communicate. The technology will only get better, but the communication between individuals has just jumped exponentially. I realize that this solution is not the end-all for every problem. It will never replace the water cooler conversations where so much work is discussed, initiated, or completed. But it has the potential of lettings us be smarter about how we work and spend more time with our families.