Video: Telepresence@InfoComm - A Video Review

I spent the majority of last week at InfoComm in Las Vegas and have spent the 1st part of this week trying to recover from the sensory and informational overload that the conference slams into the cerebral cortex.

Telepresence was front and center at InfoComm this year with a one-day program on the subject put together by the Interactive Multimedia Collaborative Communications Alliance.  It was a superb program that entertained as much as it educated. 


The IMCCA's Telepresence Manufacturers' and Service Provider's Forum - Joe Laezza - Glowpoint, Marcio Macedo - Polycom, Ken Scaturro - York Telecom, John Moellering - Cisco, Peter Nutley - Tandberg, and Chris Carr - MASERGY Communications


The topic that generated the most controversy at the conference was the meaning of the word: Telepresence.  

For those that couldn't make Vegas, let me break down the big debate for you:

The videoconferencing companies (primarily Polycom but LifeSize, Tandberg, and even Cisco are also to blame) seek to expand the definition of telepresence to include any high definition videoconferencing end-point delivered over an IP network.  In fact, bizarrely, Polycom's actual definition was anything "HD over IP". 
 

The telepresence purists, like myself, Ira Weinstein of Wainhouse Research, and what appeared to me to be the majority of conference attendees, argued that the word "telepresence" should be reserved for something closer to "visual collaboration solutions that replicate as closely as possible an in-person experience and make participants feel a sense of "presence" with remote conferees."

The argument then devolved into a lively debate over what makes a visual collaboration solution "Telepresence".  John Steitz from Georgetown University made a critical point when he announced that while he didn't have a precise definition, he "knew it when he saw it" driving home the point that Telepresence is an experience.

So... what makes telepresence so special and separates it from videoconferencing... even HD videoconferencing over IP? 
 

I took the liberty of putting together a chart to demonstrate some of the elements that need to be addressed to create an experience that "replicates as closely as possible an in-person experience".  For the sake of simplicity I gave each of the elements a value of 5% however the reality is that some elements are more important than others...  Some of the most important: high definition video, audio quality, participant positioning, and eye-contact or the approximation of eye-contact. In on-stage, projected, and holographic telepresence solutions obviously the quality/size/reflectivity of the display is as important or more important than in solutions that simply replicate a tradition across the table business meeting. 

You will notice that I included a number of elements that don't necessarily pertain to the visual/acoustical experience: Reliability, Security, Utility, Compatibility, and Ease-of-use.  While these don't  necessarily improve the  feeling of  being in the same physical space I believe they are crucial to the overall experience and improve end-user acceptance.

You simply aren't going to reach your organizational objectives of getting road warriors off planes, accelerating collaboration, cutting costs, etc. if your telepresence solution is not reliable, secure, useful, and easy-to-use.  This is why we are such big fans of telepresence managed service providers like HP Halo, Iformata, Glowpoint, Nortel, and Polycom, who provide managed services that improve the reliability, compatibility, and ease-of-use of telepresence systems.  We also like the developing telepresence/video exchange networks such as MASERGY and Virtela and Telepresence Community of Interest Networks (CoINs) such as HP Halo, Polycom, and Teliris who improve the compatibility and utility by connecting customers to other organization on their networks for inter-company business.

The bottom line for the enterprise is when you adopt solutions that more faithfully replicate an in-person meeting experience you improve end-user acceptance which improves usage which improves ROI over what can be achieved by using traditional videoconferencing alone. 


The IMCCA's Telepresence "Ask the Experts" Panel -Case Murphy - AOL, Rich DeBrino - Advances in Technology, Rob Arnold - Telanetix, Mark Roberts - Polycom, Dr. S. Ann Earon - TRI, Robert McCandless - BrightCom, and Dr. Steve McNelley - DVE

Small Group Telepresence System - Las Vegas Shoot Out!

Digital Video Enterprises and TelePresence Tech

Both DVE and TelepPresence Tech were presenting somewhat similar new small group telepresence solutions, The DVE Huddle Room 70 and the TelePresence Tech Room, almost side-by-side in Las Vegas. Both solutions offer a hidden eye-level camera, seamless display, open platform for all codec/camera platforms, and the ability to immediately improve the experience/usage of a traditional VTC deployment without a greenfield upgrade. The DVE Huddle Room 70 comes bundled with the LifeSize Room for $84,000 and the TelePresence Tech Room comes bundled with a Sony 1080i XG80 for $83,900.

If solely measured by attendee interest, the TelePresence Tech Room stole the show.  Their HD floating image gathered crowd after crowd after crowd and really demonstrated the difference in experience that a seamless telepresence display technology delivers over the TV set.  The company also announced a new deal with Sony that combines Sony HD videoconferencing systems with the TelePresence Tech display technology.   

However I thought practicality and the bezel-less display gave DVE the ultimate edge.  The floating seamless image of the TelePresence Tech Room requires a black background to achieve and while the system can be used without the black background you lose some of the magic and the bezel of the reflected display becomes visible.  The footprint of the system is considerably larger as well and the camera somewhat visible. 

The DVE Huddle Room 70 with its revolutionary bezel-less display in a demonstration

The new DVE Huddle Room 70 features a revolutionary bezel-less display that, when communicating with another Huddle Room 70 system in a similarly colored room makes the display blend in with the background.  Coupled with the hidden eye-level camera, HD image, and intimate 6-8 foot distance from the screen, the system produces a superb conferencing experience.  While it was not being demonstrated at InfoComm, the system can also be used in "Augmented Reality" mode which produces  a floating image similar to the TelePresence Tech Room experience but requires a disassembly of the unit so it can't be done on the fly.



Video: Interview with DVE Co-Founder Jeff Machtig on the DVE Huddle 70


HP Halo and TANDBERG

I am lumping HP Halo and TANDBERG into one bucket because they announced an expanded alliance around video collaboration and they were exhibiting together at InfoComm.  TANDBERG announced the new single screen T1, dubbed "Instant Telepresence" by the Tandberg marketing department, the system offers a 65 inch LCD screen elegantly coupled with Tandberg's Precision HD Camera and C90 Codec for 1080p video resolution.

TANDBERG also announced a new "tele-collaboration" solution developed with high-end display and visualization manufacturer Barco dubbed "The Wonder Wall".(PDF)  The system combines TANDBERG's 1080p high definition videoconferencing technology with Barco's large format display and pixel management system to create a large format video and data collaboration "wall" that can display multiple video and/or data visualizations.  Different video, videoconferencing, or data inputs can be dragged, dropped, expanded, or minimized during a session with multiple windows open simultaneously on the large format screen / wall. 


LifeSize Communications

John Serrao and I had a chance to sit down with Craig Malloy, CEO, and Colin Buechler, SVP of Marketing, at LifeSize Communications via their three screen telepresence offering: The LifeSize Conference.  While we reviewed the LifeSize Conference when it was launched in October of last year and were impressed with it's capabilities and price point, this was my first opportunity to see the system in person.   The human factors need some work but I was impressed with the high definition images and sub-$40,000 price point. I was more impressed with the company's continuing growth.  LifeSize grew 200% last year and, according to Craig, is already up 150% this year. Digital Video Enterprises chose the LifeSize Room system to bundle with its new Huddle Room 70.

 
Telepresence Options Publisher Howard Lichtman and Human Productivity Lab Analyst John Serrao meet with Colin Buechler, SVP of Marketing (center screen left) and Craig Malloy, CEO (Center screen right) of LifeSize Communications using the LifeSize Conference


Telanetix

Telanetix was out in-force at InfoComm with two of the company's Digital Presence telepresence solutions.  I had the chance to speak with Doug Johnson, the company's new CEO, Chris Calbi, Director of US Channel Sales, and Rob Arnold, Co-founder and CTO.   The company announced a new stream computing joint technology agreement with AMD  that builds on the company's work in developing videoconferencing solutions using low cost and flexible GPUs and CPUs vs. custom designed hardware using DSPs and FPGAs. The company recently upgraded their systems to 1080p HD at up to 60 fps and improved the compatibility with traditional standards-based videoconferencing systems.  The company has also restructured their debt with over $26MM in new long term financing and continues to open demonstration centers around the world (You can now see Telanetix @ Imago in London). 


Glowpoint

Glowpoint was definitely in the house at InfoComm.  Glowpoint COO Joe Laezza participated in the IMCCA's Telepresence Manufacturers and Service Providers Forum, the company released a white paper on the role of managed services for telepresence,  threw an awesome party at Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville, and  Glowpoint CEO Mike Brandofino was selected for the IMCCA's Board of Directors. Check back next week for the Telepresence Options premier of their new video on their company and their solutions for managed telepresence services. 







Polycom



Since I covered Polycom's big announcement right before the show and the article has been up for almost two weeks I will direct you to the article and keep it short. The company launched new dual screen and a single screen version of their TPX series and improved the TPX 306M with pop up data collaboration monitors in the table.  


HaiVision

The HaiVision Booth featured blind, inflatable German sharks suspended by dental floss (and the ultra low latency MAKO-HD codec)

HaiVision was in the house showing off their ultra low latency MAKO-HD codec.  While I am always delighted with the picture quality, resolution, fluidity, and latency of the MAKO-HD, I was almost as equally impressed with finding out what the Mako-HD can do for other applications. 

High Definition Digital Signage - Stream in HD to low-cost ($400 a box) Amino AmiNET 130 boxes connected to flat screens at a fraction of what some other digital signage solutions cost.    

Record & Archive - Up to 10 MAKO-HD streams synchronously recorded with the company's SHARE-HD multi-stream network video recorder. 

Direct HD Streaming to Flash with Wowza Media - the ability to stream HD content from the MAKO over the internet to any computer running Flash (95%+ of both Windows and Macs have Flash)

Vidyo

The Vidyo Room Running 720p HD at 60 fps Over a Standard Internet Connection in a
Digital Video Enteprises True Eye-Contact T-50 Telepresence System

I had the chance to sit down with Rob Hughes, Sr. Vice President of Worldwide Sales at Vidyo and get a demonstration of the Vidyo Room running 60 frames per second over a standard internet connection using a Digital Video Enterprises T-50 telepresence system connected to a variety of desktop Vidyo systems around the country.  IMPRESSIVE! Vidyo is definitely a company to watch in the videoconferencing space.  The company was originally founded as Layered Media and only emerged from stealth mode in January of this year.  The company has developed a number of videoconferencing solutions around Scalable Video Coding (SVC - formerly H.264 annex G) which improves the quality of video over non QoS networks like the internet (I recommend Andrew Davis' excellent whitepaper for the specifics)   The company also announced a partnership with Digital Video Enterprises that will combine Vidyo's SVC videoconferencing systems with Digital Video Enterprises true eye-contact telepresence display solutions. 

Virtela

We spent some time talking with Virtela's Principal Architect and fellow Northern Virginian, Jason Redisch about Virtela's Secure Video Extranet service. Virtela is a Virtual Network Operator which means that instead of owning expensive fiber all over the globe they colocate their Regional Policy Centers in carrier neutral co-location facilities around the world with connectivity to 250+ carriers.  Because they have connectivity with multiple providers they can test performance on multiple networks in real time and route traffic only on optimum paths avoiding networks that are congested or down.  This unique network topology allows them to provision service using regional carriers cost-effectively and then ensure QoS on the long haul.  They offer services in 190+ countries, VPNs in 120+ from over 5000+ access points around the world.  Get the scoop (Whitepaper) here: http://www.virtela.net/whitepaper_details.aspx?ID=9



IP V Gateways

While IP V Gateways wasn't exhibiting at InfoComm, my conversation with co-founder and CEO Pat Montani was one of the most educational and by far the most interesting that I had in Las Vegas.  IP V Gateways is a inter-connection specialist for true Quality-of-Service (QoS) video traffic.  The company specializes in connecting diverse networks (enterprise and carrier) while maintaining the QoS required for  real  time delay and jitter intolerant networks like telepresence and videoconferencing.
 The company is located in a carrier-neutral telco hotel in non-union Toronto where they can rapidly provision connectivity between networks and configure/reconfigure client infrastructure.  They house hundreds of telepresence and videoconferencing bridges, session border controllers, and other video and networking infrastructure for some of the best known video solution providers and networks in the business who utilize their services and/or white label their offerings.

One of their most interesting offerings is a diagnostic tool called IPV Insight (PDF) which provides the ability to troubleshoot the quality of a telepresence or videoconferencing call.  IPV Insight looks at both network quality (including the ability to independently test IP traversal over multiple networks including "last mile" providers) and the health of endpoints and intermediary devices including MCUs, gatekeepers, gateways, routers, and switches.

ELECTROSONIC    

Karl Johnson made the trip from Jolly Old England to the desert of Nevada and was showing off the VN-MATRIX which transmits high-resolution audio-visual content in real-time between telepresence and other visual collaboration environments. 



Interactive Multimedia Collaborative Communications Alliance (IMCCA)    

Carol Zelkin, Executive Director of the IMCCA, and organizer of Telepresence @ InfoComm

A big thank you to Carol Zelkin, Dave Danto, and Ann Earon of the IMCCA for putting on such an educational and entertaining program on telepresence at InfoComm.  IMCCA Board Member and Director of Telepresence Initiatives Mark Roberts, Vice President of Alliance Marketing at Polycom, is creating a special purpose group on telepresence for the IMCCA and we signed up immediately!  I'd like to suggest the Silicon Plantation of Northern Virginia with its unbelievable density of telepresence systems and demonstration facilities (Cisco, HP Halo, Polycom, Tandberg, and Telanetix, all have demonstration facilities close by and I really hate to fly these days)  

Digital Illusions

I was also able to spend time with Anne DeVilbiss, the co-founder of Digital Illusions, the North American license holder for on-stage and projected telepresence provider Musion.  Musion is the same tech that helped Cisco transport Marthin DeBeer and Chuck Stucki to Bangalore and Telstra CTO Hugh Bradlow to Adelaide.  As I speculated when DVE launched their Telepresence Stage, I expect we are going to be seeing more and more virtual presenters in the near future and it looks like Digital Illusions is going to be one of the companies that hooks it up in the U.S. of A.

Teliris

Teliris CEO and Co-founder Marc Trachtenberg demonstrates the InterACT TouchTable while Telepresence Options publisher Howard Lichtman (left),  Wainhouse Research Analyst Ira Weinstein (top), and AV Technology publisher Sue Horwitz (with water) look on.

Teliris was out in force with a number of new announcements:

InterACT TouchTable -  The TouchTable is a multi-touch surface computing platform that improves the data collaboration capabilities and the experience of the Teliris VirtuaLive telepresence environment.  Participants can work with virtual documents, images, and even video and share the files around the globe in real time by sliding them across the table.

Video: The Teliris InterACT TouchTable In Action

While the initial capabilities of the TouchTable are limited this was one of the more important announcements of the show.  Teliris has raised the bar on the industry by making a major improvement in the way that information will be displayed, interacted with, used, shared, and archived in collaborative environments.  They are moving towards improving the utility, capabilities, and experience of their system in what could be an ultimately profound way. While they have not released a price for the system I am assuming it will be expensive and, while cool, it remains to be seen how many companies will adopt the limited capabilities of version one.

The company also announced new customer wins including: British American Tobacco, Aviva, Phillip Morris, and the New York Stock Exchange. Plus additional sales to Sony Ericsson, Merck, and GlaxoSmithKline.