Conferencing gets a boost from outside

7 March 2007

DON SAMBANDARAKSA

Singapore - Tandberg expects to see a renewed interest in the video teleconferencing market this year thanks to niche players such as Cisco and HP, which are creating an industry-wide buzz thanks to their competition for high-end teleconferencing solutions.

In an exclusive interview, Tandberg's new president for North and Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand, Lars Ronning, explained how a better work-life balance was leading the push for teleconferencing, especially among today's multinationals whose workers have to collaborate across many different time zones.

Rather than go to work at three in the morning, executives can have a meeting via teleconferencing at home with someone from North America, then have breakfast with their family, or tuck their children into bed before talking to someone in Europe.

"What we are seeing now is intense competition to find the brightest heads on the market. This work / life balance is becoming more of a criteria for people to choose their employer. The window of opportunity for people to be in the office at the same time is now quite narrow," he said.

Another main driver is the risk of pandemics, such as bird flu or Sars. The American Chamber of Commerce in Singapore is running simulations on business continuity in case of an outbreak, and it is talking to video conferencing providers to see what they can offer.

One of the more novel uses of Tandberg's video conferencing equipment last year was for a TV station to broadcast live from outside the office via public access Wi-Fi networks, while a Norwegian expedition took one of its portable units with built-in satellite connectivity up Mount Everest. The mountain climbing team was able to video conference and use the same system to send back medical data on blood pressure and even blood samples to discuss the effects of altitude sickness on Everest.

The penal authorities in Singapore, Malaysia and Macao have also use video conferencing to allow families to communicate with prisoners, which helps increase security.

Ronning said that in 2007, the industry is buzzing with interest in teleconferencing, thanks to Cisco's Telepresence and HP's Halo. But he feels that it is companies with a complete suite of solutions, rather than those which focus only on the small niche at the top end, which will benefit most from this renewed attention.

He also noted that Tandberg is cooperating with HP in terms of interoperability. The idea is for organisations to have HP's Halo in the boardroom and for C-level executives with more common Tandberg solutions elsewhere in the organisation. He pointed out that Cisco's Telepesence can only call to another Telepresence site.

However, Tandberg is also launching its own high-end Experia system, which should be in available in the region by the beginning of Q3 this year.

If anything, Thailand's lack of good broadband infrastructure is working to Tandberg's favour. "We can get good quality on as low as possible bandwidth. The way we design our systems to work, we require less bandwidth than any other system out there, not just HP and Cisco, but also Polycom," he claimed.

Ronning said that being an asymmetric protocol, not all H.264 video conferencing solutions are created equal. For 2007, Tandberg is aiming for a better balance between commercial and government customers as it sees its traditional market of public sector clients slowing down here in Thailand.

Some of its key customers in Thailand include Bangkok Hospital, Prince of Songkhla University and Suan Dusit University.

As for the future, Tandberg is working on mixing video conferencing with virtual reality, including work on a virtual receptionist.