Tag Archives: Cisco Video Conferencing
2011
Benefits of Video Conferencing in Government
Video conferencing is a technology that has been making important in-roads into government – both local and national – for many years. In particular, telepresence offers the ability for citizens to gain more direct access to their elected officials, especially as the cost of video conferencing drops and proliferation of this type of communication becomes more common, even in smaller municipalities.
The advantages of video conferencing at the government level extend beyond constituents and office-holders staying in touch. Inter-agency cooperation can be dramatically improved through the use of telepresence to connect offices that may be geographically distant. The reduction of travel for meetings introduces significant cost savings for government officials, particularly where large territories make it difficult to schedule get-togethers at convenient locations.
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2011
KBZ Communications Roundup of GovComm11
At GovComm11, KBZ Communications greeted close to a hundred visitors to its booth over the two-day show period. Many attendees were KBZ partners, either with clients or visiting solo to discover what this inaugural event is all about. GovComm11 attendance was around 1200 for the overall show, which felt much like a mini-InfoComm.
Educational classes hosted a variety of government professionals, and were sponsored by InfoComm and IMCCA. KBZ’s Brian Ricca presented in the IMCCA panel session about Unified Communications and Collaborative conferencing. The session, moderated by IMCCA executive director Carol Zelkin, featured IMCCA Chair Ken Scaturro, Mike Brandolfino of AVI-SPL, KBZ’s Brian Ricca, and Bob Haley of Compunetix, each of whom offered a different perspective on the relationship between UC and collaborative conferencing. KBZ will post a recording of this event on YouTube for those interested in the presentation.
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2011
Videoconferencing Professionals LinkedIn Group Roundup – September 2011
September was a fruitful month for conversation in the Videoconferencing Professionals LinkedIn group, with a healthy amount of participation from group members on a wide range of different topics. Trygve Wettestad, business development manager at Orange Business Services, started an intriguing discussion about the benefits of video conferencing via cloud-based video solutions versus those which run on a dedicated infrastructure owned outright by the client.
The general consensus of the group was that cloud-based video was notable for its ability to save on the up-front costs associated with dedicated video conferencing hardware, as well as reducing or eliminating the expense of the specialized training required to use and maintain it. This trends small and medium-sized businesses towards cloud-based communications, while larger organizations with greater access to IT resources favor the stability and lower long-term total cost of ownership afforded by a dedicated solution (like Cisco TelePresence). John Skeehan, senior product marketing manager at LifeSize, and Dave Dumas, project manager at Cox Communications, each provided particularly insightful comments and information during the course of the discussion.
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2011
Cisco Unveils New Telepresence Products at InfoComm 2011
Cisco took the opportunity presented by this past month’s InfoComm 2011 industry gathering to showcase some of the new telepresence products that it is bringing to market. One of the most intriguing new members of the Cisco TelePresence family is the TelePresence MX200 endpoint, which is intended to offer more affordable video communications to a wide range of business customers who are looking for a multi-room telepresence solution.
The TelePresence MX200 is self-configuring and can adjust to a new room in approximately 15 minutes using a simple on-screen setup process. Designed specifically to pull double-duty in both small conference rooms and individual offices, the endpoint’s 42-inch display is capable of full 1080p30 HD video and content sharing, as well as HD surround sound. The concept behind the MX200 is “TelePresence Everywhere,” as the unit is priced so as to make it feasible for companies to deploy multiple endpoints throughout their office space or facility.
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2011
Videoconferencing Professionals Linkedin Group Roundup – June 2011
Most Popular Discussions for June, 2011
The Videoconferencing Professionals group on Linkedin is a fairly active one, and this past June was no exception. Elie Massakbi, President of Syfx Tekworks (@leftyserve) tapped into the collective knowledge of the group’s 7,000+ members when he asked for a conferencing solution that would allow his company to cover a large room without the complications associated with wiring more than one microphone. Almost 50 telecommunications professionals chimed in with their suggestions as to how he could achieve a single microphone setup that would offer clear audio and still be practical, with solutions ranging from ceiling microphones (posted by Gerry Murphy of Infocor, Twitter handle @Gmurph61) to multiple-mic housings offered by Polycom and LifeSize (posted by David Schofield of Videonations).
These two options were backed up by numerous member endorsements, including several stemming from real-world experience using these types of devices in videoconferencing situations. Further potential microphone suggestions included the Audio Science mics offered by Cisco, as well as Revolab mics.
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2011
Cisco Publishes “Extending Telepresence Beyond the Boardroom” White Paper
Until recent years, the costs associated with telepresence technology have kept it largely oriented towards executive use, suitable for meetings, conferences, and high-level summits between upper-management employees. The dramatic drop in video conferencing pricing and the greater affordability of the level of bandwidth required to facilitate high-quality telepresence sessions have opened up a new realm of collaborative communications use.
Cisco has released a white paper that explores several methods that companies can use to help take better advantage of video conferencing across the entire enterprise. Called “Extending Telepresence Beyond the Boardroom,” the free, downloadable report offers useful advice for organizations looking for a communications edge.
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2011
Cisco Video Collaboration Guide: Four Steps to Understanding the Possibilities of Video for Your Organization
Many businesses are interested in adopting a telepresence strategy or expanding the role of the video conferencing technology that they are already using within the organization. It is not always clear, however, what the best course forward is in selecting which areas of a business can benefit the most from video communications. To help provide decision makers with a resource that they can turn to when pondering these questions, Cisco has published a white paper entitled “Cisco Video Collaboration Guide: Four Steps to Understanding the Possibilities of Video for Your Organization.”
The “Cisco Video Collaboration Guide” starts out with a brief overview of the impact that video conferencing technology can have on a business’s practices and bottom line. It then quickly delves into the benefits offered by telepresence, including the ability to move faster and make decisions more quickly across an organization, the opportunity to more readily access experts within a company regardless of where they might be located geographically, and the way that video communications can create a tighter-knit group of co-workers and allow those employees to achieve a better work-life balance. Each positive aspect of video conferencing technology is backed up by a real world mini-case study.
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2011
ZCARE Telepresence Tech Tip – Setting a Custom C Series Codec Wallpaper
ZCare’s Bob Fitzgerald is KBZ’s go-to guru when it comes to putting together video Tech Tips designed to help you configure and use Cisco video conferencing and telepresence systems.
This week, Bob walks you through the steps needed to install custom wallpaper on the C Series codec. Although the C Series codec comes with two wallpapers right out of the box, some companies have expressed an interest in being able to add their own branded wallpapers to the system in order to enhance their presence at each video access point. Custom images and wallpaper can be installed through the C Series web interface, and Bob explains the file format requirements and supported resolutions available to administrators.
Click play on the video below to watch Bob Fitzgerald’s guide to installing custom wallpaper on the C Series codec.
Benjamin Hunting
KBZ Blogging Team
2011
Cisco TelePresence Advantage Calculator Debuts Online
Businesses interested in evaluating the impact that a telepresence or video conferencing system could have on their operations gained a new tool from Cisco this week with the launch of the Cisco TelePresence Advantage Calculator. Capable of providing a custom profile of a company’s cost reductions, as well as productivity benefits and reduction in travel-related greenhouse gases, this Cisco utility is freely available on the web for use by any organization.
Also known as the Business Advantage Calculator, the evaluation tool starts out by asking companies to register with some basic information about their industry segment. This includes the location of the business and how many employees are involved in operations, as well as how many of those employees work within the borders of the country that serves as the organization’s base. The TelePresence Advantage Calculator also gathers details about the leadership structure of a business, such as how many members the home country’s leadership team has, general information concerning the distribution of employees across different management levels and the amount of travel associated with each. Finally, the Calculator determines the type of videoconferencing infrastructure – if any – currently employed by a company.
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2011
Videoconferencing Professionals Linkedin Group Roundup – April, 2011
Joining a Linkedin group such as the Videoconferencing Professionals group gives those in the telepresence and video conferencing industry the chance to connect with like-minded individuals and participate in lively discussions and brainstorming sessions about technology, the social implications of video collaboration, and the future of videoconferencing. With 7,426 members, there is never a lack of something to talk about in this helpful and useful group.
Most Popular Discussions for April, 2011
By far the conversation which gathered the most interest this past April was a question from Bill Moede, a multi-media producer at CESA 7 (@bmoede), who asked how to bridge Skype connections to his Polycom network. More than 80 replies provided Bill with tips, software suggestions, and a debate about the merits of linking low-quality video conferencing software to a high end telepresence system. Blue Jeans Network was mentioned several times as one of the most user-friendly ways to achieve this type of interconnectivity.
Other lively discussions centered on a question from Rui Ribeiro of GÉANT’s (@racribeiro) about the best software suites or techniques to use when testing Ipv6 H323-enabled terminals, feedback for Darren Pitt of Saville Audio Visual (@Darren_Pitt) about ClearSea video conferencing tools, and an article posted by Keisuke Hashimoto of CNAR (@cnareportjapan), originally published by Computerworld, discussing Cisco’s plans for repositioning the umi personal telepresence system.
Top Influencer for April, 2011
The ability of his Skype question to stir up such a whirlwind of conversation makes Bill Moede the top influencer in the Video Conferencing Professionals group for April, 2011. Moede’s question was one of several conversations over the course of the month that involved Skype and its role in a business telepresence strategy, suggesting that he set the entire group to thinking about this consumer-level technology and whether it has true benefits that can be explored by corporations seeking an inexpensive video conferencing solution.
Benjamin Hunting
KBZ Blogging Team
Categories
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