Worldwide demand for room HD videoconferencing systems in 2011 grew by about 25%; most vendors entered 2011 with a broad portfolio offering HD video at 1080p/30fps on single or dual screens and made only minor improvements like touch screens
 
Demand for room HD videoconferencing systems continued its strong growth in 2011 with emerging markets experiencing the fastest growth. There was also a strong demand for a growing range of mobile HD videoconferencing solutions  on tablets and smart phones which this year we will consider as a separate category.
 
Many HD videoconferencing systems for rooms and desktop continue to be called "Telepresence" or "Personal Telepresence" by their vendors, simply because they were capable of 1080p Full High Definition video and HD audio. So to describe products, the word "videoconferencing" may soon be replaced by the word "Telepresence".
 
The worldwide installed base of videoconferencing and Telepresence systems exceeds 2 million systems. Polycom claims to have supplied 34% of these. About 95% are either the legacy Standard Definition (SD) and High Definition (728p and 1080p) systems and less than 5% Telepresence (defined as providing a truly immersive experience). Gartner estimated in 2008 that the potential market was only 5% saturated and today that figure is probably less than 10%. That is why most industry analysts expect continued annual growth in the market of 20% to 25% through 2015.
 
In 2011, many existing videoconferencing customers were keen to replace their Standard Definition system with HD systems; new customers were attracted by the high quality HD video and audio, the improved the ease of use (including touch screens) and simple installation that is characteristic of modern HD videoconferencing systems. As most users operate on IP networks, the use of the often unreliable ISDN has almost disappeared.
 
Some of the large new deployments of room HD VC systems which we described in this newsletter in 2011 were:
 
Belfast Children's Hospital, BP’s oil rigs in the North Sea, California Department of Corrections (telemedicine), Citizens Financial Group, Inc (video banking), Fleming's Prime Steakhouses, Government of Ontario, Government of Jiangxi Province China, Law courts in Pennsylvania (488 VC systems), Massachusetts General Hospital Telestroke Program, Mortgage Choice (Australia), NIT Hamirpur India, Oakton business consulting, Odense University Hospital in Denmark (telemedicine network), Ohio Law Courts, ONCALL Deaf Interpreters (Australia), Ontario Telemedicine Network (300 remote sites), Poundland (a UK discount retailer), Runge Limited (a mining company), Wageningen University and Research Centre- the Netherlands, and The Vatican in Rome,
 
The Cisco Telepresence range of HD videoconferencing systems in 2011 included: the dual-monitor Profile Series, the large single screen MX series, and the smaller screen EX series for executive desktops. The new MX series is very easy to install with auto-provisioning and self-configuration.
 
The Polycom Real Presence series including the HDX6000, HDX7000, HDX8000 and HDX9000 were upgraded to1080p video in 2009. The HDX 4500 was launched in April 2011 to bring UC and the highest quality video to the executive desktop. In 2011, Polycom added the EagleEye Director room camera tracking system and emphasized the up to 50 percent bandwidth cost savings achieved with its H.264 SVC technology called High Profile..
 
The LifeSize Division of Logitech had ensured in 2010 that all of its LifeSize 220 series endpoints (Room, Team, Express), Conference, Passport, Desktop, could handle Full 1080p/30 High Definition video. There was some new LifeSize infrastructure products and LifeSize Passport now offers support for Skype video from April 2011.
 
Vidyo gained market share in 2011. Its innovative use of the VidyoRouter and H.264.SVC  technology eliminate the need for an MCU and won our Innovation Award for 2010. The VidyoConferencing distributed architecture provides HD quality video over the Internet and other general purpose networks without causing high latency or picture degradation.
 
Another gaining traction was the RADVISION SCOPIA XT 1000 with a built-in 9-site MCU; it was based on the Aethra Xtreme 300 technology which RADVISION acquired in early 2010.
 
The main HD videoconferencing trends in 2011 were:
 
First, new product development focused on using a software-only codec and the growing computational power of microprocessors in PCs, laptops, tablets and smart phones to offer videoconferencing over any network. This brought new meaning to the concept of making videoconferencing available anywhere, at anytime over any network. Mobile videoconferencing will be the big area of growth in 2012 and beyond.
 
Second, a wider range of vendors implemented H.264 SVC/AVC which can reduce the bandwidth required for videoconferencing by 50% and improve the quality of the picture when data is temporarily lost on general purpose networks like the Internet.
 
Third, the growing availability of broadband connections combined with the use of H.264 SVC/AVC and other packet-loss technologies made videoconferencing over the Internet feasible. This was a key selling point for those at remote sites or those unwilling to pay the cost of a more resilient network connection.
 
Fourth, vendors continued to develop their own cameras and camera control systems. The quality of these began to rival those of Sony who used its superb camera technology developed for the broadcast industry for its videoconferencing cameras.
 
The fifth trend was miniaturisation. HD video hardware codecs no longer have to be hidden away in rack under a table. They can be the size of a book, even smaller, and can be laid on top of the table or attached to the back of a PC monitor.
 
Sixth, the year 2011 brought more intense competition with two more big players (Avaya and HP) battling for the HD VC room systems market. Strong new players included CeeLab, Vu Telepresence and StarLeaf with its first true ‘plug and play’ room-based system due early in 2012.
 
These trends mean that customer should benefit in 2012 from HD videoconferencing systems  that are easy-to-use, simple to install, offer very high quality HD VC systems and more resilient, lower telecom connection costs.
 
In 2012, more and more business executives and others will discover that HD videoconferencing and Telepresence systems are fully capable of delivering an across-the-table collaboration experience that is much better than having a conference call and a real alternative to hopping on a plane with all the lost time and greater expense that such travel implies.

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