This is a rather exciting week for several reasons. The London Olympics opens on Friday, the athletes and their friends, relatives and supporters are excited, so are the organisers. The UK press too has got itself rather excited by many associated issues, such as the “Zil” lanes on London’s roads: we wouldn’t mind so much if these dedicated routes were just for the athletes and officials, but we believe that they’ll be used more by excited sponsors and their excited guests, much to the inconvenience of other travellers. As a result, many people who normally have to travel to work in London are rather excited by the prospect of WFH during the games. WFH? I first came across this in talking with a government employee, who Works From Home every Friday; now she’s going to get to do that for the next few weeks – official departmental policy. And that in itself is, or should be an exciting opportunity for the VC market.
I must admit to a small quiver of excitement when I head of Vidyo’s VidyoWay. It seems to me that this has the potential to be a truly transformational offering. And I’m not alone, as comments received have indicated. VidyoWay is not going to replace any of the existing technologies, although it might have a negative impact on some of the charged-for bridging services, but it has the potential to substantially enhance the usability of some existing VC “islands” and that, surely, is an exciting benefit for the whole marketplace.
On the same day as the Vidyo announcement I enjoyed a meeting with some excited people from Radvision / Avaya. This is the second meeting I’ve had with representatives of the newly-wedded couple – the first was at Infocomm. And it s true to say that their excitement is genuine. When they talk about a near-perfect fit between them they almost go misty-eyed. With a mission to deliver “pervasive video distinguished by simplicity, practicality and interoperability” and “Video for Everyone” the new enterprise certainly has a large market to aim at. But since Radvision’s infrastructure technology has underpinned a major portion of many vendors’ offerings for many years, it seems there is no company better placed to forecast the future and now, thanks to the commitment of their partner, nobody better able to capitalise upon the present. I’m sure it won’t be too long before you see the strapline “Radvision and Avaya. Because it works.”
Meanwhile, we’re looking forward to hearing how, in just one day, Avaya turned 4,000 of its audio conferencing users into delighted, excited, users of Scopia systems.
Well, that’s enough excitement for one week.
Thanks for reading, and do let me know what you think. Are these developments really exciting?
Keith Warburton