With all of the recent news regarding the cost impact of increased fuel and travel costs to business not to mention the speed that the "green computing" trend band wagon (every man and his IT system seem to be jumping onto) appears to be picking up, it comes as no surprise that businesses will increasingly looking for real world conferencing and communications systems that can allow staff in different offices to communicate both in an effective and efficient way.

Until recently, efforts to deliver and implement video conferencing systems had (at best) been some what disappointing and at worst simply unusable. We've all been exposed to it at some point, the shoddy and difficult to use video conferencing solutions with less then usable clarity.

The scenario usually plays out something like this..

“The monthly ‘team’ meeting starts in 10 minutes and it is going to involve video conferencing with one or more interstate offices (forget overseas.. they can read about it later when someone finally emails out the minutes..) Even though the video conferencing system is supposedly so easy to use, a 12 year old playing GTA4 could set it up, there are at least 3 or 4 members of the team leaning over the system rubbing chins and pointing nervous fingers trying to figure whether they have to dial an internal extension or the full number of the interstate office to make the call… “does anyone know if we need to dial a 0 first?..” At this point other meeting attendees role their eyes and begin checking emails or wondering out of the meeting room..”

Eventually, the video conference starts, everyone is corralled back into the meeting room and the attendees in the other states all crowd in on the small desktop camera at their end in a vain attempt to be seen by everyone else in the main office on the low-end 32” display setup in a distant corner. Every few seconds, the display distorts, freezing part of someone’s face whilst their mouth keeps moving, which I’ll be the first to admit is a little humorous..

The audio breaks in and out and eventually (more often then not), the video conference is abandoned through frustration and the meeting resorts to an audio conference call...

For companies that have the dollars to spend (at least $220k per 3-screen installation), poor video conferencing experiences can be a thing of the past with Cisco's TelePresence solution.

Recently, Optus announced it had implemented the same solution its Melbourne and Sydney offices and another two-screen meeting point in the Sydney offices of its services subsidiary Alphawest (Optus hooked on Cisco TelePresence – AustralianIT).

In my opinion, the Cisco TelePresence solution is, for lack of a better word “stunning”.

In a nutshell, it requires at least a 5Mbs link between sites (although it is suggested that 6Mbs is more realistic). This is why I suggest that overseas video conferencing for many Australian businesses will simply be out of reach for sometime to come given the cost of maintaining such a service.

The system not only includes the displays, camera etc, but also includes the table as part of the solution. It has been specially designed to enhance the experience and to make it feel as if everyone is actually sitting at the same ‘virtual’ table, which I think is a nice touch.

In addition, the system:

• Integrates three 65-inch high-definition plasma displays for life-size images at 720p and 1080p resolutions.

• Specially designed, high-definition cameras provide high-quality, high-definition images, with superior eye contact and no user operation required.

• Full-duplex, CD-quality audio facilitates a full, natural conversation with no perceivable latency. The clarity of the audio allows you and other participants to talk in relaxed or soft voices and still be heard as if you are all in the same room.

• The specially designed, optimized environment offers high-quality lighting and sound treatment that works well within normal conference-room lighting, and provides comfortable seating for up to six participants in the room and up to 48 locations for multipoint meetings.

• Integration with the network helps ensure reliability with high availability, security, and QoS for an optimal experience with every call. Highly secure communications are enabled through encryption of both video and call signalling.

Overall, it is simply impressive and such a far cry from a typical video conferencing solution that it does make one wince at the thought earlier systems and with the every increasing burden of fuel and travel costs, it can and does make sense for larger businesses to look at investing in such a solution, not to mention the “Green” badge that a businesses marketing team would kill for.