Telepresence An Emerging Solution for Keeping Global Enterprises Connected. Kalyn Hove Vice President, Collaboration Services Global Crossing

Transcription

1 Telepresence An Emerging Solution for Keeping Global Enterprises Connected Kalyn Hove Vice President, Collaboration Services Global Crossing December 2010

2 Videoconferencing collaboration services, in particular telepresence solutions, are becoming viable business priorities for many enterprises around the world as they continue to seek innovative and cost-effective ways to stay connected with their customers, partners and constituents around the world. Kayln Hove Vice President, Collaboration Services Telepresence is a relatively new experience in videoconferencing. In a typical telepresence meeting, participants are presented with the impression that all attendees are in the same room through maximized eye-contact, spatial audio table alignment and life-sized images. This completely transforms the videoconference to a true-to-life interaction, when in-person meetings are prohibitive due to geographic constraints. Comprised of a set of highly integrated technologies and engineered environments, the telepresence experience utilizes broadcast quality picture and high-definition sound quality combined with virtually imperceptible latency or delay. This ensures that the interaction is focused on the participants and not the technology, regardless of the number of sites. Telepresence is not just videoconferencing but the ultimate immersive videoconferencing experience, which is considered the next best thing to being there by many. It focuses on a packaged solution rather than selling individual components. Among the key components is room design, which places emphasis on lighting, tables, and directional audio, as well as providing multiple screens that deliver a high-definition video experience. Telepresence When the Next Best Thing to Being There is not Being There Now, more than ever, business leaders are being tasked to do more with less. Many customers are relying more and more on their network providers to become extensions of their own internal teams to deliver mission-critical projects. At the same time, they face many new demands of corporate social responsibility such as the pressures to run a greener business. Advancements in unified communications (UC) and videoconferencing technologies, including telepresence solutions, provide 2

3 businesses the opportunity to realize substantial savings on travel expenses while lowering their carbon footprints. According to a recent study by the Carbon Disclosure Project, enterprises in the U.S. and U.K. that implement four immersive telepresence rooms can cut carbon dioxide emissions by 10 million metric tons while saving almost $19 billion in travel expenses between 2010 and The study focused on global companies with billions of dollars in revenue capable of making significant technology investments. However, recent advancements in telepresence technology offer scalable solutions for small-to-mid-size enterprises that make cost-effective solutions possible. Primary equipment manufacturers such as Cisco, HP, Lifesize, Polycom, and Teliris offer solutions that meet the needs of home and commercial office users. Systems can be sized for virtually any conference room for high-definition video and high-fidelity audio quality. This allows companies across many industries to participate in the cost savings and carbon-reducing benefits of telepresence technology. Telepresence Market Growth and Trends The telepresence supplier market was transformed this year with Cisco s acquisition of Tandberg. While this acquisition has helped consolidate the high-end of the market, supplier activity also created other important trends which indicate significant drivers for telepresence growth. Gartner Inc., the world s leading information technology research and advisory company, published a study on August 13, 2010, by Robert F. Mason and Scott Morrison entitled MarketScope for Video Telepresence Systems. According to the report, the market for telepresence systems is expected to grow at 25.7 percent per year through 2013, on a base of approximately $547 million in This growth is double the rate of growth for the overall video endpoint population, and nearly the same as the growth expected in desktop endpoints. The report went on to explain that while enterprises increasingly expect growing interoperability with UC and other legacy video systems, the initial decision for immersive telepresence remains executive-driven, and 3

4 isolated from a broader UC context. The primary uses of the technology follows: Conducting senior leadership meetings; Enabling high-volume, high-value communication in situation rooms; Connecting headquarters and regional offices to reduce travel costs; Providing contingency planning when travel isn t an option; Meeting with analysts, supply chain partners and strategic vendors; and Enhancing specific processes, procedures and applications in organizations and vertical markets (business transformation). According to ABI Research, a market intelligence company specializing in global connectivity and emerging technology, sales for telepresence solutions is projected to reach $2.7 billion by the end of Nearly any size-company has access to telepresence and video conferencing services, says David Lemelin, director of the Enterprise Communications Research Service with ABI Research. Suppliers are helping businesses transition to telepresence by introducing personal and room-based HD video conferencing solutions. Telepresence room rentals are also on the rise. Offering expanded options for access to telepresence products and services is critical for maintaining strong market growth. Other major trends driving the market in 2010 and beyond include: Saving on travel costs particularly for companies experiencing supply chain expansion; Suppliers targeting companies with legacy video teleconferencing systems and expanding telepresence system interoperability; Telepresence enhanced with UC features such as whiteboards, document sharing and webcam videos; and Growth of managed and cloud telepresence services from vendors such as Glowpoint, BT Onesource, Verizon and AT&T Telepresence products for mobile employees and devices such as laptops and smartphones. 4

5 Conferencing and collaboration products and services are resonating with both large and small companies who want to cut long distance travel, implement telework programs, and interface with partners and customers in a more efficient, more ecologically friendly fashion, says Andrew W. Davis, founder and senior partner at Wainhouse Research. From the first half of 2010 vs. the first half of 2009, the estimated compound annual growth rate for videoconferencing endpoint equipment was up 10 percent for revenues and 20 percent for units. Clearly, the value of videoconferencing is being appreciated by more customers around the world. Crossing the Global Video Bridge As the use of videoconferencing technology increases among enterprises, videoconferencing bridging services that connect multiple video end points are also becoming in high demand. Video bridging services require a global Internet Protocol (IP) infrastructure that is capable of supporting solutions that reduce an enterprise s total cost of network ownership while delivering a high-definition television experience to conference and boardrooms all over the world. Global Crossing, a leading global IP solutions provider, offers one of the most powerful, versatile and cost-effective videoconferencing bridge platforms available today that support end-to-end, high-definition video quality comparable to watching high-definition television programming. It enables enterprises to maximize their resources, accelerate decisionmaking, reduce travel and operational expenses, increase productivity, and create a fully integrated, interactive and efficient environment. Global Crossing s IP Videoconferencing service includes the ability to increase standard definition images up to four times regardless of the endpoint s capabilities. It features universal encoding, which automatically encodes and decodes images at each site, thereby 5

6 delivering the best possible data rates, frames per second, audio and video codec compression and transcoding. In addition, the enhanced service facilitates H.239 content sharing in native high-definition format, which enhances visuals, such as application sharing and PowerPoint presentations for mission-critical applications in biotechnology, finance, medical, manufacturing and other fields. Global Crossing s high-definition videoconferencing bridging services meet or exceed the industry standard, delivering resolutions up to 720p (progressive scan) H.264 at 30 frames per second. This creates an immersive experience that also supports dual video (H.239) and wideband audio mixing at speeds up to five Megabits per second (Mbps) in continuous presence mode. Interactive Web Reservations, Global Crossing s online scheduling tool, makes it simple to self-schedule and self-manage a global video program. In addition, Global Crossing has a fully staffed global call center that arranges all of the call details ahead of time so users can just walk into a room and start their meeting as scheduled. Global Crossing offers enterprises a full suite of converged IP audio, web and video collaboration services for virtually any meeting need. Videoconferencing services include the award-winning ivideoconferencing service, IP Video, High-Definition Video, Video Streaming and Video Endpoint Management Service supporting both ISDN and IP-based end points. The company also provides several telepresence solutions to its customers. For more information on Global Crossing s complete portfolio of collaboration solutions including telepresence, click here. Kalyn Hove is vice president of collaboration services at Global Crossing. She can be reached at kalyn.hove@globalcrossing.com Global Crossing Holdings Limited. Global Crossing and the 7 Cable Design are registered trademarks of Global Crossing Holdings Limited in the United States and other countries, and ucommand is a registered service mark of Global Crossing Holdings Limited in the United States. Some services are subject to geographic availability. Other restrictions may apply. WP TP1210