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Continuing the roll out of our 2013 series profiling the leading companies in videoconferencing, telepresence, and visual collaboration, we offer a profile of Polycom.

Polycom is the global leader in open standards-based unified communications and collaboration (UC&C) solutions for voice and video collaboration, trusted by more than 415,000 customers around the world. Polycom solutions are powered by the Polycom® RealPresence® Platform, comprehensive software infrastructure and rich APIs that interoperate with the broadest set of communication, business, mobile and cloud applications and devices to deliver secure face-to-face video collaboration in any environment. Polycom and its ecosystem of over 7,000 partners provide truly unified communications solutions that deliver the best user experience, highest multi-vendor interoperability, and lowest TCO.

Our regular readers will notice that we have recently improved the format of our online Company Profiles as part of our ongoing efforts to constantly improve the website and content. We have also recently redesigned the on-line Telepresence and Videoconferencing Catalog and the upcoming print version of the Catalog will also have an updated look and feel.

The print version of the Telepresence and Videoconferencing Catalog will be included with the next issue of Telepresence Options Magazine, which will be delivered in May to over 5000+ subscribers and industry influential in 100+ countries. Get your free subscription here. Companies that are interested in having their company profiled on Telepresence Options and appearing in print version of the Catalog should contact us at Info@TelepresenceOptions.com

Click Here to View the Polycom Company Profile

Story and Images by Sarah Kessler / Fast Company

When Jason Sosa started work on a webcam technology that detects, in real time, the age, gender, attention time, and glances of the people looking at it, he thought he was solving an advertising problem. It's turned out to be much more.

His startup's first product was a digital billboard that changes the ads it displays depending on who looks at them--showing, for instance, an ad for a toy to a child and an ad for aftershave to a man.

We recently stumbled across "Switchable Projection Window" technology, demonstrated in the YouTube Video below. This technology allows a normal glass window to be used in a variety of ways, including as a television, a whiteboard, a computer monitor, and a privacy screen. 

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G2J is a videoconferencing managed service provider, headquartered in Paris with a growing global presence. I recently was invited to meet with Jose Jacques-Gustave (CEO) and Geoffrey Vande Weerdt (Head of The Americas & Global Wholesale Alliances). Unfortunately I wasn't able to use this as an excuse for a Paris vacation, as we were able to meet in their Miami offices. But it was still a great opportunity for me to learn that there is a lot more than meets the eye when it comes to G2J, and to find out why they are so excited about their MyEasyVision offering.

Continuing the roll out of our 2013 series profiling the leading companies in videoconferencing, telepresence, and visual collaboration, we offer a profile of videoconferencing furniture manufacturer: AVTEQ.

AVTEQ manufacturers of a wide range of AV products including mobile carts, fixed stands, and executive conference room and technology furniture.

The company is regarded for cost-efficient, all-inclusive products that do not require accessories and upgrades to be practical and efficient. AVTEQ has become the preferred choice of hundreds of Global 1000 and Fortune 500 clients because of unmatched quality, service and product innovation. It stocks a full line of A/V and digital signage support products, as well as custom develops and designs solutions for unique videoconferencing, business, and retail applications.

Our regular readers will notice that we have recently improved the format of our online Company Profiles as part of our ongoing efforts to constantly improve the website and content. We have also recently redesigned the on-line Telepresence and Videoconferencing Catalog and the upcoming print version of the Catalog will also have an updated look and feel.

The print version of the Telepresence and Videoconferencing Catalog will be included with the next issue of Telepresence Options Magazine, which will be delivered in May to over 5000+ subscribers and industry influential in 100+ countries. Get your free subscription here. Companies that are interested in having their company profiled on Telepresence Options and appearing in print version of the Catalog should contact us at Info@TelepresenceOptions.com

Click Here to View the AVTEQ Company Profile

Blue Jeans, pioneers in cloud-based videoconferencing interoperability services, just announced a new pricing plan designed to shake up the cloud videoconferencing market. Please check out my recent coverage of Blue Jeans and their latest developments at the Enterprise Connect Show.

The Blue Jeans service is primarly focused around accessibility. Blue Jeans users and their guests can connect to their virtual rooms using a number of business class, and consumer, endpoints (Cisco, Polycom, Lifesize, Microsoft Lync, Skype, Google Video, WebRTC Browser, mobile devices, etc.). However, interoperability is only half of the accessibility picture. In order to be truly accessible to the millions of potential users in the SMB market, the offering has to be affordable.

As videoconferencing technology has advanced over the last few years, it has become more powerful, but also more flexible, allowing for new uses never before thought possible. Hershey (chocolatiers and Cisco TelePresence users), recently created an extremely compelling, and even uplifting, use case for videoconferencing. This implementation would have been much more difficult with the limited flexibility and high support needs of yesterday's VC equipment. We spoke with Ed Schermerhorn of Cisco, who spent two weeks in Ghana helping set up a Cisco TelePresence endpoint in a local elementary school (see above), which is connected to a school in Hershey, Pennsylvania.

Continuing our series profiling the leading companies in videoconferencing, telepresence, and visual collaboration, we offer a profile of IMatte, creator of the SightDeck, the ultimate presentation environment.

SightDeck was formed in 2000 by the award-winning technology company, Ultimatte Corp., the world's recognized leader in sophisticated green screen tools for the film, video and graphics communities. Founded by Petro and Paul Vlahos in 1976, Ultimatte provides real-time hardware and computer software products, allowing industry specialists the ability to create completely seamless film effects in motion pictures and virtual studios for broadcasters.

Key Features of the SightDeck

• Stand in the path of a front projector without any blinding light or image being projected on the presenter
• See Prompts and Tools on the projected image, not on the final output, letting everyone give polished presentations
• Interact with and Draw on graphics
• Collaborate with up to 4 locations simultaneously
• Combine first-generation graphics with first-generation video from each location
• Present, Stream, and Record simultaneously with no camera crew, special lighting, or green screen required

Video: SightDeck - The Ultimate Presentation Environment

Story and Images by Oak Ridge National Laboratory

The Consortium for Advanced Simulation of Light Water Reactors, the Department of Energy's first Innovation Hub, has enlisted top scientists and engineers from around the U.S. to improve the nuclear reactors that provide about 20 percent of the nation's electricity.

But the researchers don't all have to be in one place: CASL, which opened in 2011 and is based at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), is using state-of-the-art telepresence and video communications technology to enable the scientists to collaborate over great distances.

Story and Images by David Szondy / Gizmag

If you've ever tried typing while talking to technical support with the phone crammed between ear and shoulder, then you know the meaning of frustration. Now imagine doing that upside down inside an airplane wing while juggling wires, crimps and a schematic printout. For some field engineers, that sort of thing is an everyday occurrence, so IBM in collaboration with the University of Sheffield Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC) in the UK is developing a mobile maintenance, repair and operations (MRO) prototype robot. It's a combination of a smartphone app and a camera/projector mounted on a robot arm, that allows supervisors and experts to have a more active presence on the job.

Regular Telepresence Options readers may be aware of our recent and on-going work to refresh and upgrade the Telepresence and Videoconferencing Catalog. As part of this effort, we have opened it up to non-sponsors, making it a truly comprehensive third party overview of the visual collaboration industry. In addition, we have been adding new features, such as relevant news and twitter feeds in catalog sections, and we have big plans to continue improving and enhancing the experience, and finding new ways to provide additional free value to our readers.

The VCI-Group has also been working hard to refresh and update their programs and resources to meet the needs of today's visual collaboration users. With this in mind, the VCI-Group has partnered with Telepresence Options to create the best third party, free, resource in the industry. The new VCI-Group Visual Collaboration Industry Sourcebook is a great start for those seeking to learn about the technology and organizations in this space.

Durex Australia has released videos associated to an experimental product they are calling "Fundawear". Fundawear allows the remote sensation of touch through wearable undergarments via use of a mobile application. Unlike other wearable touch undergarments these appear to have had extra effort to ensure the least intrusive hardware within the garment. They have worked to use the smallest battery packs and vibrating sensors similar to those used in mobile phones.

Story and Images by Sebastian Anthony / extremetech

Ladies and gentlemen, some 20 years after the first seeing people jog stupidly on the spot while wearing a large headset and a glove, the future of gaming is finally here: The Omni, an omnidirectional treadmill from Virtuix that allows you to walk, run, or strafe comfortably in any direction. Combined with a virtual reality headset like the Oculus Rift, the Omni allows for the most immersive (and exhausting) gameplay yet devised.

Vidyo, the SVC videoconferencing pioneers, continue to gain momentum with yet another impressive new partnership. Today, Internet2 announced that it will be offering Vidyo to its member schools and their affiliates. I spoke with Dr. Ammon Gavish, SVP of Vertical Solutions for Vidyo, to learn more about the background and future plans for this new partnership.

Internet2 is a community of U.S. and international leaders in research, academia, industry and government who create and collaborate via innovative technologies. Their members represent a wide range of research and academic disciplines and include leading U.S. universities, corporations, government research agencies and not-for-profit networking organizations. The Internet2 community includes hundreds of university members, in addition to numerous corporate, government, and not-for-profit research organizations.

The big story here is the potential scale of this announcement. With its large membership, and over 60,000 affiliate institutions (including thousands of K-12 schools, see pic above of students using Vidyo in a classroom setting), we are looking at millions of users. This is arguably the largest group of potential technology adopters on the planet. These are technology savvy members of today's extremely social internet communications world, and if anyone is ready to upgrade from voice to video, it is education community.

Please click through to learn more about the details, scope, and implications of this announcement.

Continuing the roll out of our 2013 series profiling the leading companies in videoconferencing, telepresence, and visual collaboration, we offer a profile of AVI-SPL.

AVI-SPL is the world's leading video communications partner, specializing in designing, building and supporting collaborative environments. AVI-SPL provides solutions and services for professional AV installation, telepresence and video conferencing, digital media systems, managed conferencing and content production.

The company's certified technicians take a holistic approach that addresses the environment and experience, delivering end-to-end integrations that give organizations the ability to collaborate and compete. AVI-SPL has the unmatched resources to provide top-level services in every market, including corporate, education, healthcare, government, financial, legal and hospitality. Headquartered in Tampa, FL, AVI-SPL has 40 offices throughout the U.S., Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom and Dubai.

Our regular readers will notice that we have recently improved the format of our online Company Profiles as part of our ongoing efforts to constantly improve the website and content. We have also recently redesigned the on-line Telepresence and Videoconferencing Catalog and the upcoming print version of the Catalog will also have an updated look and feel.

The print version of the Telepresence and Videoconferencing Catalog will be included with the next issue of Telepresence Options Magazine, which will be delivered in May to over 5000+ subscribers and industry influential in 100+ countries. Get your free subscription here. Companies that are interested in having their company profiled on Telepresence Options and appearing in print version of the Catalog should contact us at Info@TelepresenceOptions.com

Click Here to View the AVI-SPL Company Profile

Story and Images by Catherine Brahic / NewScientist

Thanks to a virtual reality and telepresence mashup, you no longer have to travel the globe to visit friends or wander around ancient ruins

ONE day, I'll play hide and seek with my niece. I'll turn around while she hides, and later, a flash of purple cotton will make me peer over the log she's hiding behind. It sounds pedestrian, except I will be in London, Lucie will be 7800 kilometres away, and we will be playing together in a virtual jungle.

April 2013 Edition

The Telepresence Options Telegraph - April 2013

To Download the April 2013 Telegraph in Adobe PDF Click Here

The big story this month was the Enterprise Connect 2013 Conference. We had the chance to talk to a large number of vendors, and covered the event in an extensive three part wrap up. The first article, co-written with Dimension Data Principal Consultant David Danto, covered the conference sessions. The remaining articles broke up our vendor coverage first taking on Cisco, Vidyo, Polycom, Smart, TelyHD, BlueJeans, Vidtel, and \Yorktel, and then following up with Magor, Zoom, StarLeaf, AGT, PanaCast, Nexistant, ClearOne, Logitech and LifeSize.

With Enterprise Connect behind us, we are gearing up for the American Telemedicine Association conference in Austin, Texas May 5th -7th. The conference brings together 250 exhibitors and a projected 6,000+ attendees. Telepresence Options readers can use the code "TPOATA" to save $50 off a Full Conference Pass.

Telepresence, Videoconferencing, and Visual Collaboration New Articles and Stories

• Visual Collaboration Industry Press Releases
• Telepresence, Videoconferencing, and Visual Collaboration People
• Telepresence Industry Professionals (TIP) over 3,700+ members and now on XING in Europe!
• Telepresence, Videoconferencing, and Visual Collaboration Industry Jobs from the TIP Job Board
• Telepresence, Videoconferencing, and Visual Collaboration Industry Calendar
• On The Bench - A Breakdown of Industry Talent in the Market for their Next Opportunity and More!

To Download the April 2013 Telegraph in Adobe PDF Click Here

Sign up to get the free Telepresence Options Telegraph delivered to your in-box and a free issue of the upcoming Telepresence Options Magazine and the print edition of the Telepresence and Videoconferencing Catalog delivered to your mail box when it is published on April 22^nd.

The Visual Communications Industry Group (VCI-Group), the largest independent group of videoconferencing and visual communications users, will host industry experts and analysts as they discuss new products, services, and trends expect to impact the videoconferencing and Unified Communications space. VCI-Group recently opened up their Live Webinar series to non-members, so be sure to take advantage of this excellent opportunity to join a premium informative series at no cost.

Date: Thursday, April 18, 2013 - 1:00 - 2:00 PM ET
Topic: Review of 2013 Products and Services - What You Should be Watching For This Year
Registration: FREE

The session is a live interactive videoconferencing session and streaming event sponsored and carried by Cisco WebEx. Join our distinguished panelists as they review recent product and service announcements from key industry vendors. Find out what's hot and what's new in the visual communications and UC space. This session will also focus on current and expected industry trends related to key topics including hardware and software video endpoints, mobile video, WebRTC and managed services.

At this point, most people have heard of Google's 1Gbs Google Fiber service. With their first successful deployment in Kansas City completed, they have made the decision to expand. Austin, TX here comes Google. As they announce the move to Austin TX they have internet providers trembling. Similar to T-Mobile's new approach that is shaking the cell phone market, Google is shaking the Internet market.