The Conferencing Factor
On the rise, and quite possibly in your next design build
By Harold German
Sound & Communications Magazine
It's all the rage. It's being covered by all of the trade rags. It's the way A/V will be done for many years to come. It's the convergence of conferencing technologies, and it's headed to an A/V installation near you. Over the past year, there has been what appears to be a collective demand by entities of all sizes for a more collaboration-friendly A/V environment. This demand is not limited to large corporations. More and more, small businesses, schools, worship centers and even private citizens are requesting collaborative capabilities in conjunction with their customized A/V builds.
The TCI Group (http://www.tcioptics.com), a New York City-based supplier of custom optical components, is a small company that has joined the convergence bandwagon. They were recently in search of an A/V solution that incorporated collaboration technology in order to reduce travel to their manufacturing plant in the Czech Republic. When they contracted a local A/V and conferencing integrator, for the implementation of a modest video conferencing addition, within two weeks the New York group was having face-to-face meetings with the Czech-based team. The installation was a complete success and TCI recovered their investment in the system in within a few months of usage. President G. Rausnitz was so pleased with the installation that he purchased a video conferencing system for his own Long Island, NY home so that he could participate in the meetings without having to drive into his office at 2 A.M. (8 A.M. Czech time). The company has seen a significant increase in usage and a substantial reduction in travel to the European office. As the company grows, they expect this increase in usage to continue.
The appeal of conferencing capability is not new. Collaboration technologies like web and video conferencing have been around for some time, the latter for more than a decade. The fact is that face-to-face meetings are vital to the success of all business relationships and work-related projects. However, collaborating in today's fast-paced, ever-connected world demands that we be at all places at once. The only way to maintain this level of communication without ringing up hundreds of thousands of dollars in travel costs and losing hundreds of valuable hours in productivity every year is by utilizing incorporating conferencing technologies into the mix.
Video conferencing, for its part, has redefined the 'Face-to-Face' meeting. Over the course of three years, Wainhouse Research (http://www.wainhouse.com), an independent market research firm covering the rich media conferencing and communications fields, conducted a detailed study into the incorporation of collaborative technologies into the work environment. The data reveals that people are increasing their reliance on these technologies and this demand is spilling over into the A/V integration industry. Those companies that provide A/V system integration services, with experience in conferencing technologies, stand to benefit most.
More Reliable
Most companies using video conferencing conduct their meetings over ISDN lines (Integrated Services Digital Network). Although it has always been the most affordable medium for video communication, ISDN is plagued by performance, reliability and image quality issues. For years, the typical conferencing user has had to deal with the dreaded 'dropped call.' Imagine being in the middle of an important board meeting with senior-level, international attendees and the call abruptly ends due to a service interruption. For this reason, large corporations accepted the initially higher costs of IP Networks (Internet Protocol), and enjoyed relatively uninterrupted service.
For the last few years, however, there has been a significant migration to these IP networks, a medium that is much more robust and has recently become more affordable. Used almost exclusively by larger organizations to-date, video over IP is rapidly gaining adoption among mid and small-sized companies. The image quality of the video calls is superior, the point-of-entry is significantly lower and the call connections are more reliable. Some service providers even guarantee their network's uptime. IVCi (http://www.ivci.com), a leading integrator of Audio Visual and conferencing technologies, touts a 99.99% guaranteed network uptime behind flagship service IntelliNet, which is used by some of the nation's largest companies.
Industry-Standard Increased
Video call quality is constantly improving, with this trend continuing due to H.264, a newly ratified video compression standard by the Switzerland-based International Telecommunication Union. H.264 aims to cut the necessary bandwidth for sending video during a videoconference in half. This translates into improved call clarity/definition and an increase in simultaneous call capacity. It also means that there is a substantial reduction in the bandwidth needed to hold video conferences. This year a call placed over a 256k IP connection (substandard economy class) looks as good as if was placed on a 384k IP connection (quality business class) last year. This means that companies of all sizes can now enjoy the same quality only larger corporations had access to. Due to the fact that less bandwidth is needed to conduct better quality video calls, IT departments are more interested than ever since they can now devote less departmental resources and reduce the recurring operating costs associated with implementing video conferencing.
Varying Uses
Companies of all sizes are employing a combination of conferencing technologies, as each serves its own purpose. For instance, companies use video conferencing to supplement 'face-to-face' meetings, where the tangible elements of human presence, body language and eye contact are all active components of the meeting. This differs somewhat from Web conferencing, which companies are using almost exclusively to collaborate and share documents. In other words, video and audio conferencing are being used to make faster, smarter decisions, whereas Web conferencing is being used to get work done rapidly in a collaborative environment.
More Affordable
With escalating international violence and terrorism still a point of concern for many business professionals around the world, conferencing companies realize that the technology is more relevant than ever, and with enhanced quality and reliability, demand will only continue to grow. What is happening in the conferencing technologies space can be best described as a communications phenomenon; akin to the boom of the home computer in the '80s. It was only a couple of years ago that revolutionary technologies like video conferencing were only available to large companies with equally large budgets. This has changed in the advent of the 'consumeration' of conferencing technologies.
Two years ago, you could have expected to spend $30,000 on two video conferencing units and many thousands of dollars on monthly network usage fees for a modest package linking two offices. Although big firms were happy to pay these prices to eliminate travel cost and productivity loss, the formidable upfront costs were a barrier to entry for smaller companies. Entry-level products start at as little as $400 and maintenance-free, unlimited-use services packages start at $500 per month. One year ago, a simple package linking two offices in different geographical regions with the high-end IP service would have cost tens of thousands of dollars in set-up, network integration and maintenance. Today, the same package can be purchased for as little as four thousand dollars. Last year, a study by Wainhouse Research, showed that companies could expect to break even twelve months after implementing a video conferencing system, factoring in cost savings associated with business travel, lodging and dining. Today, companies can easily break even after two to three months after implementation.
Breakthrough Products
Video conferencing is the new 'Face-to-Face' meeting. Wainhouse Research's recent study, along with every other study that has been conducted recently on video conferencing, shows that people are now able to effectively receive all of the key elements present with in-person face-to-face meetings (body language, eye contact, hand movements, subtle gestures). The technology has improved so drastically that it's literally like being in the room with the person you are meeting with. Polycom, the leading manufacturer of video conferencing products in the world, recently released a product called the VSX 7000, which touts television-like video quality and integrated speakers that deliver sound crisp enough to make you forget that your meeting participants are actually not in the same room.
A Different World
It's a different world out there. All accounts suggest that people around the world feel less safe and they are turning to efficient methods of communications that will allow them to communicate without taking the risks and drawbacks associated with traveling to their meetings. These include terrorism, disease, loss of productivity and the expense of traveling.
With regard to concerns over terrorism, the continuing violence in the Middle East, escalating outbreaks of violence in Africa and Europe and the creation of a national terror alert, there is more resistance to fly than ever. Communication in today's business world is different; it's riskier and costlier. If it's safer, more affordable and efficient to meet face-to-face over video than it is face-to-face in person oversees, companies will always chose video conferencing over the latter because both accomplish the same result and provide the same effect. A recent report showed that employees still would prefer not to fly to their next out-of-town business meeting. Employers also prefer that their employees not fly since it is estimated that companies can reduce their traveling expenditures by more than fifty percent every year by simply introducing video conferencing to their overall communications program. In many cases, the savings equates to hundreds of thousands of dollars.
For additional information regarding audio visual integration, products and services or to speak to a representative, please contact IVCi at 800-224-7083 or click here to have an IVCi Representative contact you.
