High performance IP network provider MASERGY yesterday announced a solution for securely connecting telepresence and videoconferencing endpoints on disparate IP Networks.  Telepresence Options Publisher Howard Lichtman, sat down with Chris Carr, Director of Video Markets at MASERGY to get the scoop.






Howard Lichtman's Thoughts and Analysis

Our regular readers know that we are big fans of inter-company telepresence (and inter-company videoconferencing) I.E. the ability to connect to vendors, joint venture partners, and most importantly, customers around the globe.  Inter-company telepresence dramatically improves the utility of having telepresence and videoconferencing.

One of the biggest problems conferencing with stakeholders outside of the enterprise has been the problem of connecting telepresence/videoconferencing systems on disparate networks without incurring the packet-loss, latency, and jitter that destroys the crystal clear images that provide an 'experience'.  There are also problems with getting video traffic through corporate firewalls and having a common "phone book" where you easily find and call a telepresence system on another network.

 

MASERGY has addressed the problem of connecting disparate networks, addresses many of the security issues, and is working with the telepresence and videoconferencing vendors on the "phone book".  The company seems well positioned as soaring oil prices continue to destroy commercial aviation and the importance of having an alternative strategy for effectively doing business globally becomes evident. 

Since MASERGY has been delivering true QoS for video since the beginning they have connections with many of the world's premiere managed service providers and systems integrators of telepresence and traditional videoconferencing including WireOne (Now part of BT Conferencing), VSGi, York Telecom, Glowpoint, GBH, Omnipresence, ACT Teleconferencing, Providea and Conference Plus to name just a few.

Other Inter-company Telepresence / Videoconferencing Networking Plays

AT&T's Inter-company Cisco TelePresence
BT Conferencing's Coming Inter-company Cisco TelePresence (Sept 08)
Glowpoint's Telepresence Exchange Network
Virtela's Secure Video Extranet

Other:

Telepresence People

Jeff Prestel , formerly Senior Vice President Sales & Marketing at Wire One, has been appointed as the General Manager of the BT Conferencing Video Business Unit

David Danto has joined JPMorgan Chase as Vice President, Director of Multimedia Engineering.  He is retaining his position as the Director of Emerging Technology for the IMCCA

John Dumbleton has joined MASERGY Communications as Senior Vice President of Business Development

Telepresence @ InfoComm
Telepresence is going to be on the agenda at the upcoming InfoComm 2008 Conference and Exhibition next week at the Las Vegas Convention Center  June  14th-20th.  Expect major telepresence announcements from Digital Video Enterprises, Polycom, and Teliris.

Best Bets@ InfoComm:

Howard Lichtman, President of the telepresence consultancy Human Productivity Lab will be attending InfoComm. If your organization is looking to do something cool with telepresence then please contact him at HSL@HumanProductivityLab.com with your interest.

The IMCCA's Telepresence@InfoComm Program on Thursday, June 19th in LVCC Room 219.  Check out the full program Here.

Teliris will be holding a press conference to announce their 5th Generation Telepresence Platform on Wednesday, June 18th at 8:00 AM PST @ Booth No. C2438, keynoting the Telepresence@InfoComm Program, and hosting a private party in a secret locale high above the strip. 

The HD Conferencing and Telepresence Showcase at InfoComm will be held the 18th, 19th, and 20th in the Central Hall 3, Booth C2976.  View Demonstrations by Digital Video Enterprises, LifeSize Communications, Polycom, Telanetix, and TelePresence Tech.   

Digital Video Enterprises will be launching two new Telepresence Systems at InfoComm.  You will be able to find them in the HD Conferencing and Telepresence Showcase in the Central Hall 3, Booth C2976

Glowpoint will be representing their new Telepresence Exchange Network, premiering a schweet new video, and hosting a fly private party. 

Polycom will be announcing a number of new telepresence offerings and a new and improved TPX 306.  You can also find them in the HD Conferencing and Telepresence Showcase in the Central Hall 3, Booth C2976 and in booth # N6019. Get a preview here. 

Telepresence Tech will be showcasing their new TPT Room System at InfoComm and keynoting the IMCCA's Telepresence@InfoComm program.  You will also be able to find them in the HD Conferencing and Telepresence Showcase in the Central Hall 3, Booth C2976


The Crash of Commercial Aviation Continues
Last week we updated the HPL Timeline of Airlines Bankruptcies, Mergers, Acquisitions, and Fiascoes.  The death of the dollar is causing the price of oil to skyrocket which is destroying commercial aviation.  The IATA announced last week that in the past 6 months twenty-four (24) airlines have gone out of business and the head of EasyJet in Germany predicted that high fuel prices could bankrupt up to 50 more leaving just 5 major carriers in Europe.  Got Telepresence?

Telepresence Options and Human Productivity Lab Website Traffic Through The Roof!!



Our YouTube Channel has gone over 1,000,000+ views of our posted content and almost 200 subscribers.



When we first started covering the telepresence industry in 2005 we were only publishing on www.HumanProductivityLab.com. Even though, according to Alexa, our site has been the #1 site covering telepresence and effective visual collaboration since its inception, the Lab's website was never able to break into the top 10 search results for the search term "Telepresence".

Why?  Because Google ranks having the search term in the URL very highly so we have been relegated to the 5th page of search results.  It is a mistake we did not make again when we officially launched the Telepresence Options' website 8 months ago.  Since then Telepresence Options has been steadily climbing the charts and just two short weeks ago hit the front page of Google for the term "Telepresence".  We are currently the 4th result and headed for #1!  Watch out Cisco... Here we come! :-)