UK-based video-conferencing and telepresence service provider BT Conferencing has jumped the pond. It now claims to be the fastest-growing major provider in the US, where it derives about 35% of its revenues. BT Conferencing chief executive Aaron McCormack has been leading BT's conferencing division since early 2006, after having been VP of product management for BT Global Services since 2002. Previously, he held various positions within BT and its joint ventures, including those with AT&T and MCI. He answers questions about the conferencing industry after the break.

Q. Why does the cost of video conferencing systems seem to be escalating faster than travel expenses?

A. That is happening because the pace of business is moving faster and globalization is increasing, and the amount of what people are trying to get through and the amount of collaboration that people are doing...is intensifying. In video conferencing, specifically there are a couple of things to note. First of all, people are still using traditional video technologies, using ISDN in part.

The more they use [video conferencing over ISDN] the more it will cost. If they using integrated converged IP networks, which they probably already developed for voice integration or VoIP services...then they have at least a fixed cost or semi-fixed cost that they can exploit much more readily and get a much better unit cost for video conferencing.

When we talk about the actual units themselves, the actual video technology, particularly with the introduction of the telepresence capability...those are very high-end deployments and that's what the technology costs right. As scale will build, which I'm very confident it will, then those costs will come down, like any new technology. So the boxes will give more for their dollar over time.

The networks are now very cost effective, particularly if you're on IP technologies. And, at the end of the day, in the vast majority of circumstances, the equation of the cost of a video conference, even over a great distance on very sophisticated technology, versus shipping the people around on planes and in hotels -- it's still a slam dunk.

What's changed is the usability of video conferencing. It's actually working in this generation. Where we've been through many false starts, I think, in the use of video, it's becoming more usable, more user friendly, more of a pleasant experience so people are using it more and more rooms are being installed -- and so the bills are going up. I would say the unit costs are probably coming down. It's a volume-driven thing. And that's good to see because that's investment, that's petrol in the tank of business: the more interactions they're having with customers, then more business is being done.


 
BT's Global MPLS IP Network



[via Computer Business Review Online]