Demand was again strong in 2011 for Telepresence systems - the top-of-the-range solution in visual communications. In this year systems from different vendors became truly interoperable for the first time

When John Chambers, Cisco’s CEO, described a day using Telepresence to replace overseas visits, one London journalist wrote: “The Cisco CEO has the world at his finger tips.” In 2011, the management of many more companies decided to use Telepresence to have the world at their finger tips without long distance travel.

The number of Telepresence rooms installed at companies and organisations worldwide has grown from an estimated 2,000 at end 2008 to about 5,500 at end 2010 and 7,000 today (January 2012). Most of these rooms are for private use. However the number of Telepresence rooms installed in hotels and other buildings for public rental-by-the hour has also increased, standing now at about 100 rooms owned mainly by Marriot and Starwood Hotel groups and Tata Communications.

When defining “Telepresence” experts refer not so much to the technology (which is the same as for 720p/1080p HD videoconferencing) but to the experience which must be “immersive, life size, and like communicating in the same room”. It usually involves multiple HD screens of 50 inches or more and superb directional audio.

In a 15 October 2011 webinar marking the fifth anniversary of the launch of Cisco TelePresencce, Randy Harrell, Senior Director of TelePresence Product Marketing explained: “What we were trying to do was cut the table in half, add 2000 miles between us and yet meet face-to-face.” That is exactly what Cisco’s dedicated TelePresence rooms achieve and when viewed for the first time, most people are amazed. John Chambers said at the webinar: “The first time I saw it, it was better than I dreamed. I saw it would change the way we do business as a global business.”

Cisco TelePresence marketing was targeted first at large multinational enterprises. David Hseih Director of Marketing told us: “This was the first launch Cisco did on a global scale.” Proctor and Gamble and GE were the first customers. P&G was the real pioneer ordering 50 systems. Financial services were among the first customers. But the largest early adopter was Cisco itself.

By October 2010, Cisco could claim that eight customers had installed or ordered more than 50 TelePresence units. The experience that such investment in TelePresence was paid back in 12 months helped to win over the finance directors of many other companies.

The largest Telepresence networks that we have described as user application stories in this newsletter are: Accenture (50 TP systems), Autodesk (18), Bank of America (200), Bosch Siemens HausGerate (120), British American Tobacco (10), GE Energy (n.a), Marriott Hotels (25), PepsiCo (n.a.), Philips Electronics (24), Proctor and Gamble (80), Regus rented offices (15 with 50 planned), Starwood Hotels (17.), Tata Communications (32 with 100 planned), U.S. Government GSA (15).

Cisco, which now includes Tandberg, is the dominant supplier. Polycom was the first to sell Telepresence rooms for 18 people and offers excellent systems. Huawei of China had installed over 500 Telepresence systems by end 2010, mostly in China; they entered the European market in 2011. Teliris was the first producer back in 2001 and remains a highly innovative company. Logitech LifeSize offers an affordable TelePresence kit for A/V systems integrators. Other smaller producers are Telepresence Tech and DVE who each offer a 3D solution. Teliris also offers 3D. Brightcom is another small player.

The adoption of Telepresence in education and telemedicine has been slow. American Universities lead the way, urged on by Cisco. For telemedicine single screen systems are preferred but a simple HD videoconferencing system is cheaper. Cisco TelePresence VX- Clinical Assistant  a new purpose-built, mobile telemedicine cart which was announced in October 2011 and will be available in Q1 2012.

The main new product developments in 2011 were revealed at the InfoComm trade show in June 2011. Vidyo launched VidyoPanorama which supports multiple screens, is scalable, immersive, seamless, multi-point and low cost. It could redefine the traditional approach to multi-site Telepresence. The newcomer to Telepresence, StarLeaf Group is one to watch in 2012. And for those who like quirky products try The VGo Telepresence Robot; it could save you visiting a trade show in person!  

Cisco introduced at InfoComm the MX200 Telepresence with 42-inch HD screen, easy to set up and affordable. Polycom launched its Eagle Eye Director room camera tracking system, the HDX 45000 Desktop Telepresence system and a smaller Telepresence system OTX 100. Cisco also demoed software for native point-to-point interoperability among videoconferencing endpoints that use some common standards like H.264 and TIP without the need for an MCU.

Polycom announced in February interoperability of its Telepresence systems with those of other vendors using TIP (the Telepresence Interoperability Protocol). This protocol contributed to IMTC by Cisco was tested by many manufacturers together at their InterOp testing event in May.

Hence, the main achievement of the year 2011 was the further progress made towards enabling Telepresence systems of different manufacturers to interoperate successfully. Another necessary step in this direction (started in 2010) is to link VC and TP systems on different telecom networks. A further impetus to achieve this goal was the formation by Polycom of Open Visual Communications Consortium (OVCC) to create a visual communications exchange to enable worldwide visual B2B communications by mid-2012.

Richard Line is a commentator and consultant in the TP & VC market.