Telepresence, sometimes referred to as "Immersive Telepresence" is Video Conferencing that works to create an environment that duplicates the presence of others in the same room although they are elsewhere. The technology is almost the same as Video Conferencing. The difference is the environment, which the users seek to duplicate on both ends, in order to create a "look" of being in the same room. At the expensive end, users spend more money to get fancier decorations that look the same on both (or all) ends. That way it appears that the people on screen are in your room. Whether this is really good or not depends on what we call wallet elasticity. If your wallet is sufficiently elastic, the cosmetic advantages of decoration are certainly worthwhile. Some prefer to limit their spending to the actual technology. This latter area is our strong suit.
We have observed elsewhere on this website that companies today seem more careful with their dollars than they were in the past. As a systems provider, we have always sought technology solutions and eschewed the glitter (whether in the "big" names of the supplier or the gloss of their presentation). Our partnership with Brightcom is another extension of our lifelong tendencies to find the best technology in a given area.
Great Telepresence puts the other meeting participants around a table as though they were in the same room as you. And you appear to be in the same room where they are. This is done by technology - fine monitors for faithful visual reproduction - voice that relates to the party speaking, called spatial audio - well thought out angles of vision to imitate reality, so you see the person where you expect and the voice "sounds" like it originates with the person speaking. Think of your expensive HD TV at home. You know that incredible picture and how the voice seems to come from the person speaking. Now think of getting that quality up close and personal, for several people in the "room" as well as others around the world. There, now you've got the concept.
Did anyone mention the elephant in the room? That would be bandwidth. How much of it do you need for the conferencing? Did you learn the truth about what parts of the video conference enterprise use more bandwidth and how much each part uses? Did you know that the bandwidth costs usually dwarf the investment in the technology? Did you know there are alternatives - in 3 areas:
- How you acquire bandwidth.
- Deciding whether to acquire bandwidth or "rent" it as you need it, in the "cloud".
- Investing in technology that uses less of it.
We have answers to all the questions posed above.
Contact us to learn more.
