NewsBriefs
Cisco Introduces TelePresence
By KA Staff
Oct 23, 2006, 11:35

Cisco TelePresence in action

Cisco, the company whose network equipment powers much of the Internet, announced a new network solution: Cisco TelePresence, a high-end videoconferencing application that the company calls “almost the same as an in-person interaction.” Video with twice the resolution of high-definition TV, life-size images, imperceptible latency and audio that appears to be coming from individual participants combine to give TelePresence users a real sense of sitting face-to-face with a person on the other side of the virtual table, according to Cisco. Participants in large meetings can carry on multiple conversations at once, as if they were in the same room.

The TelePresence solution, which will be available in December, will be delivered not over the public Internet but over private connections operated by Cisco-certified providers. (Verizon Business is currently testing TelePresence over its high-performance Private IP and Ethernet networking services, with a view toward providing it to its customers.) However, meetings can be scheduled and initiated by users without IT support.

The first application announced today, the Cisco TelePresence Meeting solution, is targeted at businesses to facilitate collaboration and enhance productivity. Two versions are available, one designed for small-group meetings and one-on-one conversations, and the other for meetings of 12 people or more around a virtual table.

 Cisco plans to develop additional applications for specific purposes, such as doctors’ appointments, "virtual specialists" to provide in-store expertise, remote interviews or depositions, or family visits.

TelePresence is the third major network solution introduced by Cisco. A physical security/video surveillance application was introduced earlier in the year, and the Digital Media System was introduced last month. Although a number of other vendors, including HP, already offer telepresence solutions, Cisco’s technology is homegrown; the company has 25 patents pending on telepresence technology.