Powwow Virtual RSS - Public Telepresence Updates

Publicly Available Telepresence Explodes!! Marriott, Starwood, Regus, Tata Taj All Deploy!

Wed, 15 Jul 2009 09:43:57 -0500

Publicly available telepresence took off like a moonshot this month with major announcements from Marriott Hotels, Starwood Hotels, and Regus to deploy telepresence systems in dozens of global locations ranging from Sydney to Hong Kong to Frankfurt to Shanghai. Check out the details on each and get Human Productivity Lab President and Telepresence Options' publisher Howard S. Lichtman's Thoughts and Analysis on the market opportunity for telepresence in public places as well as a look at some of the other start ups and entrepreneurial efforts around publicly available telepresence including: Powwow Virtual, F2F Biz Cafe, and MEETnHD.

Brands: Sheraton, Westin, and W Hotels

Cities/Properties: Sheraton New York Hotel & Towers, Sheraton on the Park in Sydney, Sheraton Centre Toronto Hotel, The Westin Los Angeles Airport and W Chicago-City Center.

Future Cities/Properties: Brussels, Paris, Hong Kong, Singapore and Tokyo

Details: Starwood will deploy 10 systems initially which will be primarily Cisco CTS 3000 systems but will be testing the Cisco CTS 1300 in some locations. Locations will vary by property but will mostly be in converted meeting rooms. The cost will be $500 per hour, per room. No price has been set for the CTS 1300 at this time. See information about Tata Communications below.

Brands: Regus Executive Suites and Virtual Offices

Cities/Properties: London- Berkley Square (operational)

Future Cities/Properties: New York, Paris, San Francisco, and Singapore

Details: Regus is a provider of executive office suites, virtual offices, and meeting rooms that can be rented on a short term basis. The company has over 1000 business centers in 450 cities in 75 countries. Regus already operates the largest network of publicly available videoconferencing rooms in the world with 600 locations in 400 cities in 70 countries using primarily Polycom end-points with a smattering of TANDBERG. The company is upgrading an initial 14 of their locations to Polycom HD RPX 208M eight-seat telepresence environments starting with their location in Berkley Square London which is operational now. Pricing is dependent on how many people are at each site. Pricing for 1-4 people starts at 299 GBP / $480 per hour, 1099 GBP/ $1766 for 1/2 day (4 hours), or 1999 GLB / $3212 for full day (8 hours). Pricing for 5-8 particpants starts at 499 GBP per hour / $799, 1849 GPB / $2971 for a half-day (4 hours), and 3,349 GBP / $5382 for a full day (8 hours) day. Traditional videoconferencing rooms where the call is received by the Regus end-point is priced at $219 / 150 GBP per hour. If the Regus site initiates the call then pricing is dependent on the cost of the ISDN charges to call the other location. Discounts are available for Regus virtual office customers, volume, and participation in their free Business World card program which provides a 10% discount on telepresence, videoconferencing, and meeting rooms.

Brands: Marriott Hotels & Resorts, JW Marriott Hotels & Resorts, and Renaissance Hotels & Resorts

Cities: New York, San Francisco, Washington, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Frankfurt and London

Details: Marriott will be deploying all six seat Cisco CTS 3000 telepresence systems. Their goal is not to take any existing conference center space or guest floor space but to find locations in public areas of the hotel. Final space will depend on the individual property and the initial sites are expected to be operational by October. Pricing will be $500 per hour. Marriott has partnered with AT&T who has built a managed service wrap around Cisco TelePresence with an inter-company telepresence capability and we assume that all public sites will eventually be able to reach and be reached by AT&T's enterprise telepresence clients.

Brands: Taj Hotels, Resorts, and Palaces, Confederation of Indian Industry (4 locations), Cisco TelePresence Suites (1 location),

Cities/Properties: India - Bangalore - Taj West End, Bangalore - Confederation of Indian Industry, Guindy, Chennai -Confederation of Indian Industry, Hyderabad -Confederation of Indian Industry Mumbai - Taj Mahal Tower, New Delhi - Confederation of Indian Industry

United Kingdom - London - Crowne Plaza-St. James Court

United States - Boston, MA - Taj Boston, Santa Clara, CA - Cisco TelePresence Suites

Asia Pacific - Manila, Philippines - Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT)

Future Cities/Properties: 40 + locations planned in Europe, The United States (6), Central America, South America, Asia Pac, Africa, and Australia

Pricing: India - C2 Locations: INR- 16,000, Taj Hotels Mumbai & Bangalore: INR - 20,000, Taj Boston USD $500 per hour, Taj London GBP 250, Cisco Suites Santa Clara: USD $299-$899 depending on # of seats/room size

Details: Tata Communications is an international networking company that is part of the Tata Group of companies in India that it frequently referred to as the "General Electric of India". Tata Communications is one of the leading telecommunications companies in the world and the first major network provider that "got it" and moved decisively into telepresence as both an internal business communications' tool and as a provider of enterprise Cisco TelePresence solutions, managed services, and network. The company is deploying publicly available Cisco CTS 3000 Telepresence end points in Tata Taj Hotels, Resorts, and Palaces and Conferederation of Indian Industry locations in four Indian cities. The network can also connect and rent time in Cisco's TelePresence Suites publicly available demonstration facility in Santa Clara, California.

Cisco's TelePresence Suites Publicly Available TelePresence Facility

In addition to selling Cisco TelePresence gear and providing public availability, Tata, like AT&T, is offering telepresence managed services and network connectivity to enterprise telepresence clients. They are also building their own telepresence exchange capability to provide inter-company and inter-carrier telepresence capabilites. Tata is also a "carrier's carrier" with a history of and capabilities for providing telephony services to other regional/ telepresence carriers including wholesale long distance, submarine cable capacity, and IP network. The company is developing a white-labeled telepresence offering that will allow other national and regional carriers to resell Tata's managed telepresence, publicly available and exchange services under their own brand. The Phillipines Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT) is an example of these partnerships and PLDT is both reselling managed telepresence services and has a publicly available Cisco CTS 3000 in Manilla that connected to the Tata publicly available network and reservation system.

Human Productivity Lab President Howard S. Lichtman's
Thoughts and Analysis

In 2006 I wrote a publication called Telepresence, Effective Visual Collaboration, and the Future of Global Business at the Speed of Light. In it I made a number of very public predictions: The rise of telepresence, the decline of the dollar, the collapse of the airline industry, the inter-connection of telepresence networks, and the growth and importance of inter-company telepresence (a term I coined). Out of all the predictions that I have made I none has received more heat and disagreement than the viability of publicly available telepresence. From videoconferencing industry CEOs, to other analysts, to what seems, on occasion, like the majority of the traditional videoconferencing industry, almost everyone outside of the telepresence industry itself (and some within) were united that publicly available telepresence was a bad idea.

The naysayers couldn't be more wrong... and this week's announcement by some of the biggest hospitality and telecommunications companies in the world reinforces publicly available telepresence's desirability. I have always looked at publicly available telepresence as a "No Brainer" for a number of reasons:

1. Ready Market for a Superior Offering - For all of videoconferencing's issues (lack of business-class consistency of quality, poor end-user acceptance, somewhat high cost, etc.) the alternatives are often worse especially for international business. Webconferencing and telephony are OK for certain types of meetings but when you are trying to build trust, rapport, and need the social focus that a face-to-face meeting provides then your options are physical travel which has enormous hard, soft, and opportunity costs... especially for international business. For these reasons there has existed a global network of 5,000+ publicly available videoconferencing systems that include big players like Kinkos and Regus but also thousands of individually owned systems that list their availability with videoconferencing service bureaus such as Affinity VideoNet, ACT Conferencing/Proximity, and MivNet that get paid for finding an available room and taking care of the details, network connection, bridging, and billing. The world is doing hundreds/thousands of publicly available videoconferencing calls per day. It isn't hard to see how dramatically improving the experience in a rapidly globalizing world with deteriorating airline convenience could improve usage and end-user satisfaction.

2. Growing Utility & Greater Adoption - The utility of telepresence (Who you can talk to and what you can do in telepresence environments) is set to dramatically hockey stick. Global organizations are deploying more and more systems whose utility has been steadily rising and headed sky-ward. Skyrocketing utility is coming from multiple angles:

Growing deployments means more endpoints can eventually be reached... More and more companies are deploying telepresence and HD videoconferencing systems in more and more locations. Cisco is up to 350 customers with 2300 systems of various types. Teliris just reported orders for 130 new systems, and while I have not heard official numbers from the other players I hear nothing but good things from my connections in Polycom and TANDBERG. I am also hearing about mondo elephant sized RFPs on the street including a Fortune 50 technology services company looking for 120 rooms and a Fortune 50 Commercial Bank looking for 200+ rooms. Telepresence customers have gone from sticking their toes in the water to jackknifes and cannonballs.

Inter-connection of telepresence networks & exchanges - As telepresence networks and exchanges develop companies will be able to reach more and more of their joint venture partners, vendors, and customers.

Examples:

Cisco-AT&T-BT-Tata Communications
Telx & IP-V Gateways, MASERGY & IP-V Gateways, Nortel & IP-V Gateways, etc.
Glowpoint, Polycom, AVI-SPL's Telepresence Exchange Network (TEN)

Interoperability of Telepresence Systems
Examples:
              1. TANDBERG demonstrated a call from a T3 to a Polycom RPX
              2. Cisco TelePresence Inter-operability with standards based VTC at HD
              3. Teliris' Dynamic Scenerio Manager and Telepresence Gateway

Growing network of Publicly Available Telepresence Systems
        Examples

Marriott, Sheraton, W Hotels, Renaissance, Taj Hotels, Regus, etc. (See above)
Other Publicly Available Telepresence Initiatives (See below)

Other Publicly Available Telepresence Start Ups and Business Models

There are a number of other entrepreneurs and companies that are looking to make telepresence systems publicly available in a variety of locales and business models.

Powwow Virtual - A 2006 design for a 6,000+ sq. ft. Powwow Virtual Super Center for deployment in a high-end retail environment in an international gateway city. The telepresence systems featured do not currently reflect the mix that we believe is optimal for success in 2009.

Powwow Virtual is the Human Productivity Lab's business model and technology roadmap for a global network of publicly available telepresence conferencing centers that double as showrooms/sales centers for corporate telepresence, video conferencing, and prosumer/consumer visual collaboration solutions. We are seeking $35MM to open 6-7 super centers in high-end retail/business/ mixed use locations such as Tysons Corner Galleria, Grand Central Station (Pan Am Building/200 Park Avenue) in New York, Phipps Plaza in Atlanta, or the Ferry Building in San Francisco. The 6-7 initial locations would prove the Reed's Law model I.E. that each additional location drives sales to the other locations in a virtuous cycle that grows geometrically with each additional location and then additional locations (8-50+) would be added through franchise partners or through another capital raise to open additional company-owned stores.

Each Powwow Virtual location would have multiple publicly available telepresence and videoconferencing systems from leading telepresence providers such as Cisco, Digital Video Enterprises, LifeSize, Polycom, TANDBERG, Telepresence Tech, Teliris, and Vidyo. Each super center location would feature best-of-breed telepresence environments from 1 seat to 28 seats that would be capable of communicating at the highest possible quality natively with other Powwow locations, corporate telepresence and videoconferencing systems on a variety of carrier networks, publicly available telepresence systems in Starwood, Marriott, Tata, and Regus locations globally, and the world's 5,000+ publicly available traditional videoconferencing rooms.

While the illustrative floor plan above is for a super center in an international gateway city, each featured telepresence/videoconferencing system would be its own "module" that could be deployed individually or be combined with any other module for smaller locations in mixed use office buildings, convention centers, hotels, coffee shops, etc. while sharing common branding, reservation system, information security procedures, and collaborative tools, etc.

Each Corporate solution will be completely compatible with the public telepresence network and will feature a shared directory with sophisticated reservation/meeting governance and 24x7 operator support.

We believe our business model has numerous advantages over locating publicly available telepresence in hotels:

A wider variety of systems of varying capacities and capabilities at superior price points
Better locations in the major international gateway cities with respect to consumer awareness and visibility
Overflow capacity for peak meeting times vs. onesie/twosie deployments
Ability to strongly brand the experience
Strong focus on the customer and the customer's ability to connect with the greatest number of telepresence and videoconferencing end points at the greatest possible quality vs. a single platform approach
Superior economics per site:

The ability to spread the cost of the network connection/managed service fees/labor over multiple end-points vs. 1-2 end-points
Price supported by sales of enterprise telepresence solutions
Price supported by retail sales

More food and beverage choices at better prices than world class hotels
Better visibility and brand/service awareness in each market than hotels can provide
Retail concept in the front of the house to drive traffic into the store & ability cross sell to virtual meeting participants on their way out
The ability to sell corporate telepresence solutions in a customer-focused environment which allows for a head-to-head comparison of price/performance
Human Productivity Lab Secret Sauce and Future-Proof Business Strategy

Powwow Virtual has:

A world-class technology team at arm's length
The right technology roadmap for success
The designs for the facilities and unique telepresence environments/solutions
Unique HPL pro-modifications to existing telepresence solutions
Relationships with the leading telepresence hardware vendors, telepresence managed service providers, carriers, and inter-networking providers in the world
A proven track record of success in predicting how the telepresence industry would develop and which telepresence technologies/systems would succeed
The largest audience in the world interested in telepresence

Our business model perfectly complements the publicly available telepresence efforts of AT&T, Cisco, F2F Biz Cafe, Marriott, MEETnHD, Polycom, Regus, and Tata

Powwow Virtual locations would be completely compatible with these efforts from Day 1
Powwow Virtual locations would offer overflow capacity to each of these locations and vice versa
Powwow Virtual locations would drive traffic to other publicly available telepresence networks and vice versa

Finally, we believe that Powwow offers a number of non-intuitive advantages for serious investors interested in telepresence opportunities:

International and Emerging Market Business Opportunity - Worried about the actuarially unsound US Dollar? Interested in putting some chips on the BRIC countries, Switzerland, or emerging markets? Powwow offers a unique ability to invest in these markets while maintaining your ability to manage your investment from any country in the world with a telepresence end-point.

Reduced Technology Risk - The Powwow business model has a more limited technology risk vs. other models. Powwow Virtual is the "Big Screen TV Store" of telepresence. We are pulling for everyone to be successful and are happy to help any of the vendors improve their offerings but if "Panasonic" is outselling "Magnovox" then we take out "Maganavox" and replace it with "Panasonic". If Company Y develops a new telepresence technology that revolutionizes the market then we replace what isn't selling with the latest and greatest. The customer is King at Powwow Virtual and the investment risk of betting on a failed technology is reduced.

Serious inquiries to HSL@HumanProductivityLab.com

F2F Biz Cafe is an effort led by serial entrepreneur Carter Rankin would locate single seat TANDBERG T1 and six seat TANDBERG T3 telepresence systems in a shared work environment with a european bistro feel. Each F2F Biz Cafe would be a professional office-like environment situated in a retail community or corporate corridor in a city or suburb, where Global 2000 and Midmarket professionals, entrepreneurs, mobile and telecommute workers can do business and utilize exceptionally high quality F2F communications. F2F Biz Cafes would provide a community space, a social environment and a convenient, hospitable location for access to business and technology.

With a subscription based membership model, which has already been proven by currently successful co-work facilities, revenue gains greater reliability with increased retention. A target membership of 1,000 minimum to 3,000 maximum, per cafe, is based both on the current market need and the quality and attractiveness of the associated amenities. Partnership opportunities with companies that could provide reciprocal membership, member discounts and services abound.

Individual, Small Business and Corporate memberships will include:

Free use of both business class and Mac workstations
Full access to cafe, lounge area
Free Wi-Fi accessibility throughout each Cafe
Free entry for 1 guest per visit per member
Complimentary coffee and teas in the Cafe
A range of fresh and healthy refreshments; again complimentary
Free access to monthly networking events and discussion forums
Complimentary periodicals and newspapers, Kindle e-book
Access to TANDBERG telepresence Systems (HD Video Conferencing)
Community Amphitheater- Local workshops and meetings

Cafe Interior
1. Upscale social environment; creating a social-hub experience
2. Tasteful furnishings - in the style of a world-class hotel lobby lounge
3. Street level, retail setting, large windows
4. Concierge/Host Desk- in each local Cafe
5. Community Amphitheater with screen, seating for 36, to push local to international workshops, seminars and meetings. The theatre will also be rented out to public and business organizations as well as topical experts.
6. High Definition Golf- state of the art virtual golf, featuring 50 world renowned golf courses.
7. An Internet Cafe Station- high top islands with Dell and Apple workstations (several of which will be equipped with 24" LCD screens) to allow members to shop products/services, check email and "connect" with others anywhere in the F2F Biz Cafe system while surfing the net.
8. Private Office Suite rentals for member's guests, clients, colleagues.
9. Complimentary Work Stations
10. Team Conference room with Telepresence system rentals
11. Executive Conference room rentals
12. Periodicals/Magazines/Newspapers- Local and International
13. Printer Station- providing color laser printing
14. Complimentary coffee and light biz-snacks'
15. Cafe Bar- beer, extensive wine list & wine club membership included, healthy light meals (small plates appetizers)
16. Signature Fireplace Lounge Area- a cozy social-connection area
17. Rotating Art Shows- monthly art shows featuring different and local artists
18. Upscale bathrooms- Resort-like, well appointed bathrooms

For more information contact Carter Rankin at carterrankin3(at)gmail(dot)com

MEETnHD is an effort that would locate immersive telepresence environments into shared tenant buildings either as an amenity subsidized by tenant rents or as a publicly available service paid for by the hour with volume discounts available. For additional information, visit www.meetnhd.com

Designing Telepresence Spaces - ARCHI-TECH Article by Human Productivity Lab President Howard S. Lichtman

Mon, 30 Mar 2009 10:52:41 -0500

Designing Telepresence Spaces

Improve the illusion of in-person experiences by creating a telepresence space for your clients

By Howard S. Lichtman, President - Human Productivity Lab

A short definition of "telepresence" for the uninitiated: It's the closest thing to virtual reality for business meetings and distance learning (or "videoconferencing on steroids and acid," depending on the age of the audience). A more formal definition: It's a visual collaboration environment that addresses the human factors of participants, and attempts to replicate, as closely as possible, an in-person experience. Telepresence spaces are rooms, installations, and "experiences" built by companies like Cisco Systems Inc., Digital Video Enterprises, LifeSize Communications, Musion, Polycom, TelePresence Tech, and Teliris, and are connected in real time to a similar site somewhere else in the world, where the remote participants are life-sized with fluid motion, accurate flesh tones, and superb acoustics. The result is an experience that feels like you're sitting in the same room with someone on the other side of the globe, or watching a life-sized version of someone on stage.

The Digital Video Enterprises Telepresence Stage

The first thing that you need to know about creating unique telepresence environments is that it's hard to create unique telepresence environments. Part of the magic of telepresence conferencing is that most telepresence systems create a "business-class consistency-of-quality" for intra-company and inter-company business. Unlike traditional videoconferencing systems, where virtually every deployment is different with respect to lighting, camera capture, acoustics, display, etc., the majority of telepresence systems create environments that mirror each other perfectly, which improves the illusion of being in the same physical space.

Creating a telepresence environment from off-the-shelf components might save some money for certain customers, but you'd lose some of the magic in communicating with other established, widely deployed telepresence systems. This doesn't mean that there isn't a market for creating unique telepresence environments, but, truth be told, it's small (but growing). So, what's the current market for unique telepresence solutions and environments, and how will architects and systems integrators participate?

Telepresence Group Systems

The HP Halo Meeting Room - Six Seat Telepresence Group System

This is the overwhelming majority of the market. Telepresence group systems usually hold 6 to 18-plus participants who face 3 to 4 screens, a video wall, or an angled piece of mirrored glass called a "beam splitter." Many systems will fit into a standard conference room, but some require make-ready, including moving air ducts whose noise may interfere with the acoustics in the room. For most corporations interested in deploying telepresence, the best time to take the plunge is when building new, renovating/upgrading existing facilities, and/or moving a facility. This is the time when the large cost of the telepresence system - and any make-ready - can be capitalized into the big spend for the new facility. Some installations require a custom design to accommodate uniquely shaped rooms or other requirements.

A Teliris Custom Installation for a Uniquely Shaped Board Room

Pro-Modifying Existing Telepresence Systems

There are many potential improvements that can be made to existing telepresence systems, and many modular telepresence systems can be made better by improving the environments.

Polycom RPX 408M Floor Plan and Image of the Environment Under Construction

The Human Productivity Lab recently created a design for "Pro-Modifying" a Polycom RPX environment for a Fortune 25 energy company that creates a stand-up presentation environment with a podium in the RPX environment. The HPL design would allow an instructor to teach standing up and address local and remote sites "in the round," sitting at the table and being conversant with the remote site, and/or standing at an interactive whiteboard. The design addressed a requirement from the client to replicate, as closely as possible, a traditional classroom setting for the continuing education of petrochemical professionals around the world.

A Standard Polycom 418M Telepresence Classroom

In addition to the environment, systems integrators and pro-AV professionals can help with integrating enhanced collaborative tools like visualizers, interactive whiteboards, and streaming encoders/decoders for high-resolution images and AV content. Telepresence vendors, such as Telanetix and LifeSize Communications, sell the basics (multi-camera/codec, control, and display), creating an opportunity for architects and pro-AV professionals to address the lighting, acoustics, color, and any company branding in the environment.

A LifeSize Conference 200
Ready for an Environment that Addresses Lighting, Acoustics,etc.

Specialty Telepresence Spaces

A 2006 Human Productivity Lab Design for Powwow Virtual

A Publicly Available Telepresence Conferencing Center

Telepresence environments are escaping from the C-suite and beginning to be integrated into publicly available spaces. Tata Communications recently launched a network of publicly available telepresence systems in Tata Taj Hotels.

Cisco recently built a proof-of-concept for a publicly available telepresence conferencing center in Santa Clara, CA: Cisco TelePresence Suites. Expect publicly available telepresence to grow as the economy drives more airlines into the ground, making commercial air travel more expensive and less convenient while globalization continues.

Cisco's TelePresence Suites

Telepresence Installations

The "Telectroscope" in New York City

Telepresence is even appearing in outdoor installations. The Telectroscope delighted crowds from London and New York City who could interact with each other across the pond for several months.

While telepresence systems, applications, and experiences are relatively expensive today, virtually every component, including cameras, codecs, display technology, and bandwidth, is dropping in price.

As an industry, we look forward with eager anticipation to seeing what the architectural and pro-AV community creates with the growing palette of telepresence tools.

Howard S. Lichtman is president at the Ashburn, VA-based Human Productivity Lab, the world's leading consultancy on telepresence, telepresence managed services, and telepresence inter-networking.

[via architechweb.com]

Other Telepresence Resources for Architects and Systems Integrators:

Which Telepresence System is Best - A Telepresence Buyer's Guide from the Human Productivity Lab

The Telepresence Options Telepresence Industry Website Directory

Telepresence People

Brad Boston, Senior Vice President of global government solutions and corporate security programs for Cisco Systems, took home Federal Computer Week's Eagle Award for industry excellence and for overseeing the installation of Cisco's Telepresence technology in Wal-Mart department stores in the United States so families could see and talk with their loved ones serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Speaking of Federal Government TelePresence, I just discovered that my buddy Kevin Giles, CEO of Vekner Consulting and former hard-hitting and "vocally enthusiastic" Wake Forest linebacker, is doing Cisco TelePresence installs for federal government clients. The world is one big telepresence hot tub!

Dennis Murphy, the former Executive Vice President of Managed Services at AVI-SPL, has been enjoying his time on the bench but is looking to get back into the game.

The New York Hall of Science received top honors as TANDBERG's "Video Champion of the Year." Other category winners included the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics, Cicero-North Syracuse High School, the University of Minnesota and Secure Telehealth.

Rose Klimovitch - Vice President of Product Development and Product Management at telx,

Umar Sear - Telepresence Architect at TANDBERG,

Rachel Book - Lead Consultant - Strategic Staffing Initiatives at AT&T,

Hymed Besrour - Sr. Mgr of Cisco's Unified communications/collaboration consulting practice in Emerging Markets,

Pam Wallwin - Lead Staffing Manager at AT&T,

Lisa Harvey - Senior Recruiter at Avesta Computer Services,

Mark Percival - Partner Account Director at aap3,

Chris Lapthorne - Business Development at Nortel Telepresence,

Jessy Chandran - Manager- Operations at Viva Communications,

Francois Rodrigue - Multimedia Manager at Nortel,

Daniel Wattenhofer - Owner of Cyberfish GmbH,

Manuel Gomes - VNOC Engineer at EasyNet,

Steven Nault - AV Systems Engineer at Polycom,

Sam Sealana - Video Engineer at Raytheon,

Gareth Gray - Audio Visual Product & Integration Sales Specialist at Computacenter

and John Geaney - Business Devt Manager at Hewlett-Packard (Switzerland),

All joined Telepresence Industry Professionals last week! Welcome to TIP!

Telepresence Industry Professionals (TIP) is our industry association on popular business networking site: Linked In. We are about to hit 650 members! In the TIP forum you can find stimulating industry discussions, the ability to network with telepresence industry professionals, and an active job board. AT&T recently posted an announcement on the TIP board looking to fill 26 telepresence positions!

Verizon Business Partners Nortel Services to Offer Managed Telepresence Services with HPL President Howard Lichtman's Thoughts and Analysis

Wed, 03 Dec 2008 00:00:51 -0500

In November Nortel and Verizon Business announced that Nortel Global Services had been selected by Verizon to deliver a new telepresence managed services offering. The deal would combine Verizon Business' global IP network that spans 110 countries with Nortel's global network of eight Multimedia Network Operations Centers (MNOCs). Here is an article on the partnership from Anamika Singh from TMCnet with Human Productivity Lab President Howard Lichtman's Thoughts and Analysis.

Verizon Business Partners with Nortel Services to Offer Managed Telepresence Service

By Anamika Singh, TMCnet

Verizon Business has teamed up with Nortel to offer a managed Telepresence service for their enterprises.

Telepresence refers to a set of technologies which allows a person to feel as if they were present at a location other than their true location. That means one can meet people without travel, thus saving time as well as money. The Telepresence service requires IP networks to transmit both image and voice in real time to give an "in-person" experience.

Through this partnership, the two companies will be able to leverage each others strength - expansive global private IP network of Verizon Business with Nortel managed Telepresence services.

Joel Hackney, president, Enterprise Solutions, Nortel stated, "The power of our joint telepresence solution with Verizon Business is of major value to customers. We're delivering the best possible user experience with an industry-unique model that supports standards-based telepresence, high definition, standard definition and desktop video conferencing platforms."

"This new Nortel based managed service addresses the growing demand for advanced video collaboration services among our multinational customers," said Nancy Gofus, senior vice president of global business products for Verizon.

"Combining Nortel's capabilities with the power of Verizon Private IP and leading video platforms enables us to deliver a high definition and high-performance meeting experience for our customers."

It brings significant improvement in people productivity, lowers operating cost and reduces environmental impact as well. Nortel estimates that a company spending as much as US$23 million annually on travel can use telepresence to recover as many as 385,000 hours of lost productivity, reduce its carbon footprint by up to 4,200 tons and save up to US$7 million.

The return on investment is quick too. Wachovia claimed to have saved $1.5 Million in T&E in a year and half on its investment of $1.5 million on Telepresence implementation.

The managed service ensures that complete set-up and management is taken care of including web-based reservations, pre-configured, pre-connected conferences, proactive testing, round-the-clock network performance monitoring, recording, on-demand playback and metrics reporting.

"Working with Verizon in this manner supports Nortel's goal to become the preferred partner in unifying all communications through leading products, software and services." Hackney concluded.

Anamika Singh is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To read more of Anamika's articles, please visit her columnist page.

[via TMCnet]

Human Productivity Lab President Howard Lichtman's Thoughts and Analysis

I have been meaning to post this article for a couple of weeks with my thoughts and analysis but have been covered up with a couple of consulting assignments, travel, and the start of the silly season. For those that missed the official announcement of Verizon and Nortel announcement you can find it here.

Verizon Business has partnered with Nortel to deliver telepresence managed services. This is a big announcement for a couple of reasons but primarily because, by my back of the napkin calculations, the Verizon/Nortel partnership potentially represents the largest salesforce incentivized to prospect for, identify, and hand-off/close telepresence managed services deals. I say "potentially" because even a partnership with the best of intentions can fail if the proper sales incentives, training, and procedures are not in place so we will have to wait and see if the companies get it right. Their closest competition would probably be AT&T which is a Cisco shop with a more limited portfolio and, as far as I can tell, less of a commitment to the space from a product strategy/product development roadmap. AT&T seems to be offering the basics but Nortel is developing some serious capabilities.

Nortel has been steadily investing in telepresence and hiring some heavy hitters. In the past year the company has brought on Phil Keenan, who was previously GM at Polycom, as VP Multimedia and Telepresence Services; John Lytle and Neil Suhre who were both co-founders at VSPAN (Acquired by WireOne who was acquired by BT Conferencing), Bob Henning from BT Conferencing, and Aaron Roe, who was VP of New Business Development at telepresence pioneers TeleSuite & Iformata. They join what was already an all-star line-up including GM Hugh McCullen and Chris Fidler (Martinez) led by Nortel's President of Global Services Dietmar Wendt who I have heard through the telepresence grapevine was the guy at Nortel who "Got It" and moved decisively into the space.

The strategy is paying off. The company has been winning major deals including managing telepresence and videoconferencing for Deloitte globally which was press released and I understand that they absolutely, positively have delivered a number of other big deals which have not yet been announced. My understanding is that they are also white labeling telepresence managed services for the international division of an global telecommunications carrier and a major telepresence and videoconferencing manufacturer.

And I haven't even really touched on the deal with Verizon yet... In addition to Verizon's global salesforce pushing Nortel's managed service offerings, the company should also have access to Verizon's global IP network to deliver services and their engineering resources to develop solutions especially in the area of inter-company telepresence / videoconferencing which I have long predicted will be the killer app for IP networking. This is where Verizon's bread get's buttered. There is simply no other application(s) with as much potential to fill up the pipes than telepresence and effective visual collaboration.

Here is my updated list of top 5 reasons that Telepresence is the Killer App for IP Networking which I originally published in an article entitled Arming Cisco's Commission Driven Mercenaries in August of 2006 :

Reason # 5 - No other widely applicable application uses as much bandwidth as telepresence/effective visual collaboration.
Individual corporate group systems average from 1.5MB-45MB per room, and an organization might have multiple rooms in a single facility. Telepresence executive and desktop solutions use between 384K and 1.54Mbps + to each desktop.

Reason # 4 - Telepresence demands quality ... not just quantity.
Because real-time video is delay-and-jitter intolerant, not just any old bandwidth will do. Telepresence requires true QoS at high bandwidths which is the most profitable and differentiated service the carriers sell.

Reason #3 - Telepresence is a big ticket application that requires a lot of networking gear.
Telepresence group systems and distance learning environments can run $50,000 - $500,000+ per room and include lots of IP gizmos: switches, premise routers, equipment racks, network drops at each position, and dozens of IP addressable devices from camera to codecs to audio mixers.The managed services and networks that support telepresence produce high-dollar recurring revenue from stable companies which is Wall Street's favorite kind of revenue.

Reason #2 - Telepresence has a strong hard/soft dollar ROI in avoided travel
For the majority of the Global Fortune 5000 with distributed workforces, Telepresence offers a one-year or less ROI in avoided travel, productivity, time-to-market advantage, and business effectiveness. Even better, the ROI of telepresence GROWS EXPONENTIALLY as other sites join effective visual collaboration networks and companies begin using their systems for Inter-company business with vendors, partners, and customers globally. This market will expand rapidly to smaller companies, SMEs, law firms, advertising agencies, consulting, public accountancy, etc. through public availability of telepresence environments and, ultimately, telepresence in the home.

Reason #1 - Telepresence and effective visual collaboration networks are primed to grow exponentially!
Right now there are less than 40 250 companies deploying less than ~~300~~ 2,000 telepresence group systems on a planet that has 700,000+ traditional videoconferencing endpoints that nobody likes and 25,000 executive aircraft that represent the next best alternative to effective face-to-face collaboration.

Here are some facts on Verizon's Global IP Network from the Verizon Website:

Global Network

Verizon owns and operates one of the most expansive IP backbone networks in the world.
The Verizon data network includes more than 446,000 route miles, including terrestrial and undersea cable, spanning six continents and access to another 187,000 route miles from Verizon Telecom.
Verizon Business provides voice, data and Internet services on its state-of-the-art fiber-optic network, reaching customers in more than 2,700 cities and 150 countries.
Verizon Business provides high-capacity connections to more than 120,000 buildings around the globe.
The Verizon network is large enough to circle the world 18 times.
With more than 1 Terabit of aggregated backbone capacity in North America, the Verizon network carries data traffic up to 10 Gbps in the United States and 2.5 Gbps in Europe.
Verizon Business currently operates eight satellite facilities located throughout the United States, Hawaii and Guam.
Verizon Business also operates satellite links to more than 200 teleports worldwide in approximately 110 countries, for both government and business customers.

Speeds

The Verizon network operates at speeds up to OC-192, the fastest available.
Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) is deployed on the OC-192/OC-48 North American and European IP backbone networks to improve traffic engineering and management.

Next-Generation Submarine Cable Network System

Verizon Business carries IP, data and voice customer traffic on its global IP global network, including traffic on more than 65 submarine cable networks worldwide.
Verizon Business is the only U.S.-based provider to be a charter member of a new consortium building the Trans-Pacific Express (TPE) optical cable network system that, when completed in 2008, will link the United States. and the China mainland.
Verizon Business is the only U.S. consortium member of the SEA-ME-WE-4 undersea cable network system that spans 20,000 kilometers and reaches 14 countries in Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Western Europe.
Verizon Business is the first to deploy undersea mesh technology - providing multiple diverse paths for voice and data traffic reliability - to connect three major submarine cable systems traversing the Atlantic Ocean. Verizon Business plans to offer the same mesh diversity for its Trans-Pacific customers.

Network Operations Centers

Verizon Business has five major global Network Operations Centers in the United States, Europe and Asia-Pacific.

Data Centers

Verizon Business supports more than 200 data centers in 22 countries across five continents.

Security Operations Centers

Verizon Business offers continuous security monitoring and management in 7 SOCs globally.

Enterprise Mobility

Verizon Business supports 1.7 million global dial modems connecting thousands of cities throughout the world.
Verizon Business offers a combination of IP dial, wireless and DSL access in more than 150 countries.
Verizon Business supports dial services for national, local or toll-free calls in many areas in over 150 countries around the world.

IP Leadership

Since research firm TeleGeography began tracking Internet backbone connectivity in 2001, the Verizon global IP network (formerly MCI) has ranked #1 as the most connected backbone each year (based on Autonomous System connections). This enables its business customers and ISPs to reach more destinations directly through its global IP backbone than any other carrier.
Verizon Business has a rich heritage developing the commercial Internet.

Global Customer Base

Verizon Business provides communications services for tens of thousands of businesses and government agencies around the globe, including a number of governmental agencies and 97 percent of the Fortune 500.
Verizon Business manages more than 3,600 networks in 149 countries, which includes overseeing 25,000+ non-Verizon Business connections from more than 60 network providers globally.
Verizon Business has a history of service and innovation in network management, recently exemplified by numerous awards and its patent-pending IMPACT Rapid Fault Isolation capabilities.

Customer Service

Verizon Business maintains a 24x7 global VPN Network Operations Center and regional operation centers providing escalation paths for all customer-facing local support staff.

Other:

Powwow Virtual Update

Ever since Cisco launched their publicly available telepresence initiative in October I have been getting a lot of calls inquiring about the Human Productivity Lab's business model for publicly available telepresence: Powwow Virtual. For those who are uninitiated with Powwow, the Human Producitivity Lab has a business model for multi-vendor publicly available telepresence conferencing centers that would double as showrooms for the enterprise sale of telepresence and videoconferencing solutions. As long term readers can attest we have been dead-on accurate with respect to how esentially the entire telepresence industry has developed and have been precient on the economy, the collapse of the airlines, the importance of inter-company telepresence, the growth of telepresence managed services, and publicly available telepresence. In short knowledge is specialized and we know what the future of publicly available telepresence is going to look like, we have the business model to capitalize on it, the technology roadmap to innovate where needed, designs for our own telepresence environments and "pro-modifications" to improve some of the existing solutions, we have a C-level team at arm's length ready to execute, relationships with essentially every major vendor and many of the "cool kids" who make this industry tick, and we have the largest audience in the world interested in telepresence to fill the seats and drive enterprise sales.

What we don't have is the bandwidth and the manpower to give our partnership and fundraising the effort it deserves. So I have decided to put the call out looking for a CEO or a partner that can help get us get Powwow off the ground.

Our ideal candidates:

CEO - A seasoned CEO from the visual communications or networking/managed services industry that is looking for the opportunity of a lifetime: A greenfield opportunity to revolutionize the way the world communicates globally in one of the few growth industrys that will thrive in a global economic depression. A big idea in a world of tiny incremental ideas. The right candidate will have a track record of success in raising investment and should be prepared to put some skin in the game. We estimate that it will take ~$30MM to do public availability right and build out enough locations/city pairs to prove the Reed's Law model of exponential growth. Serious inquires only!

Potential Partners/Investors:

The telepresence hardware vendors - Cisco, HP Halo, LifeSize Communications, Polycom, Tandberg, Telanetix, Teliris, etc. Public availability lowers the cost of sales, improves the utility of the offering, and establishes a global network of demonstration facilities that pay for themselves. For a more detailed treatment of the value to hardware vendors please review this article.

The telepresence network and managed service providers - AT&T, BT, Glowpoint, Iformata, MASERGY, Nortel Telepresence Services, Verizon Business, Wire One, They already possess 1/2 the equation: Much of the video network infrastructure, QoS IP network, scheduling tools, help desk, etc. needed to support a global network of publicly available telepresence conferencing centers. Who is interested in a global network of high-end sales centers for enterprise telepresence solutions that pay for themselves through rental income and dramatically improves the utility of your offering? Who wants to win and win big?

The Airlines - Are the airlines in the business of moving people around the globe in flying aluminum cylinders or in facilitating meetings and commerce? The airlines already have some of the best potential locations and owning the competition might keep them in business as a falling dollar (it'll be back in 3-6 months) and the declining global economy strain their existing business model of full planes and cheap flights.

The travel management companies - At one time the good folks at American Express Corporate Travel and Carson Wagonlit were both interested in the concept. If any of the big travel management companies could move a fraction of the meetings/flights they facilitate on a daily basis from physical travel to virtual travel they could keep a network of publicly available telepresence conferencing centers packed! It is a chance for them to keep doing what they are doing except with virtual travel they could own the "airplanes".

Private investors - This is a big idea in a world of tiny incremental ideas. This is an opportunity right for a visionary, deep pocketed technology investor. Calling Richard Branson, Paul Allen, Mark Cuban, Steve Jobs, etc.

A big franchise player - While it is important to build an initial number of centers (8-20+) in the right demographic locations to create a critical mass of the most profitable city pairs (I.E. NYC-LA, NYC-London, San Francisco - Tokyo, Seattle-San Francisco, etc.) filling in the rest could be a combination of company stores and franchise locations. Unlike a McDonalds where a new location in

So who out there wants to revolutionize the world?

Telepresence People

Kevin Kennedy has joined Avaya as President and CEO

Scott Wilcoxen has joined TANDBERG as Telepresence Solution Architect

Patrick Micalleff has been appointed the Australian and New Zealand country manager for LifeSize Communications

Bob Hennig has joined Nortel as Multimedia Services and Strategy Manager (months ago but I just found out today)

Shawn Deer has joined Video Guidance as Senior Account Manager

John Farr has joined Video Guidance as Lead Integration Specialist

Scott Swingle has joined Video Guidance as Conference Specialist

UPDATED - HP Halo Announces Alliance with Marriott, New telepresence system, New Customers

Sun, 16 Mar 2008 17:11:28 -0500

This morning, HP Halo has announced an alliance with Marriott to make HP Halo telepresence systems publicly available at Marriott properties. HP Halo also announced the new customers AstraZeneca, Dow Chemical and Toshiba, who are now available on the HP Halo Video Exchange Network (HVEN), which now extends to 22 countries on 5 continents. The new announcements from HP do not end there; they now offer a new executive / small group telepresence system called The HP Halo Collaboration Center. On top of all of this good news, HP revealed that 80% of HP Halo clients have purchased additional systems. After the jump, get Human Productivity Lab President Howard Lichtman's thoughts and analysis on the announcement.

New HP Telepresence System - The HP Halo Collaboration Center

HP has announced a new executive / small group telepresence system that seats 2-4 participants and compliments their HP Halo Collaboration Studio (.pdf) and HP Halo Meeting Room (.pdf) telepresence offerings. The Collaboration Center has a price tag of $120,000 with monthly recurring charges of $12,000 (network bandwidth, concierge class reservations and support, field maintenance, and technology refresh/upgrades). The new system is completely compatible with the other HP telepresence products. Below is a side profile of the new unit:

New Customers, Returning Customers

HP also announced that AstraZeneca, Dow Chemical and Toshiba are now Halo customers. These companies join ABN-AMRO, AIG, AMD, BHP Billiton, Canon, DreamWorks and Pepsico on the Halo Video Exchange Network or HVEN. HP's HVEN is quickly becoming one of the largest telepresence Community of Interest Networks (CoINs) in the world. Telepresence systems connected to a CoIN allow for secure conferencing between members, thereby improving the utility of each company's telepresence deployment. With the HVEN, HP Halo customers can connect beyond their own internal locations to joint venture partners, vendors, and customers.

HP Halo and Marriott to Bring Telepresence to the Public

The biggest announcement of the day from HP was an alliance with Marriott that will locate publicly available HP Halo Meeting Rooms in Marriott properties around the world. Members of the HP Halo Network will soon be able to add certain Marriot locations to the list of available Halo endpoints available across the Halo Network. Existing HP Halo customers that find themselves on the road now have a cutting edge collaboration option. The deal is similar to an announcement that Cisco made in March 2007 that would locate publicly available Cisco TelePresence systems in Regus office spaces, which has yet to gain much altitude.

Howard Lichtman's Thoughts and Analysis

On paper, this deal looks great for Marriott who improves the capabilities and amenities of their hotels. This should also make Marriott the destination of choice for some percentage of HP's 156,000 global employees, not to mention the employees of AIG, AMD, DreamWorks, Pepsico, GE, etc who are also on the Halo Network. HP gets an international hospitality partner with a great brand with superb properties in virtually every international gateway city in the world. While undoubtedly a win for both firms, the announcement raises more questions than it answers on how big a win it will be.

First, will these systems be located in retail areas of the hotel or will they be relegated to a conference room in the basement? One example of another great idea with unfortunate implementation is the publicly available Polycom RPX in the Waldorf-Astoria, NYC. It remains hidden in an old coat check, on a staff floor seldom visited by guests.

Additionally, where will Marriott come up with the physical space necessary for an HP Halo Meeting Room in each property? Consider that most of the existing conference space in hotels is reserved well in advance by large conferences or conventions. With a good sales team, the hotel will book the same conference every year, reserving the use of the available conference room. Does this include the Halo room? Does this preclude others from using it?

Finally, how much will the service cost? Will Halo time at the Marriot carry the same inflated price tags loathed on the room service menu? Plus, the value of being connected via telepresence goes up dramatically under certain circumstances (natural disasters, SARS, terrorism, false flag terrorism, bio terrorism, mergers, acquisitions, bailouts, work-outs, IPOs, war, currency crisis, etc.). Will companies be able to contract for a set amount of time each month? Lock up the prime time meeting slots? I know some commission driven mercenaries at Sungard that could pre-sell guaranteed access to a publicly available telepresence network in a disaster all day long.

Full disclosure: I am biased. I believe public availability is the killer app for telepresence and the most profitable opportunity in the industry. The lab has its own multi-vendor business model for publicly available telepresence, Powwow Virtual, for which we are seeking partners and investment.

On the new HP Halo Collaboration Center...

What we like:

Lower price point, smaller foot print
International reliability
Collaboration channel
HP GUI
Publicly available Halo Meeting Rooms at Marriott.

What we dont like:

Small display
The price - $120,000 upfront and $12,000 per month domestically.

Comparing Halo to its competition in the telepresence and high definition videoconferencing space, it is obvious that customers will be paying a premium for the HP Halo Collaboration Center.

While potential customers are buying more than the physical product, the cost difference between competitive offerings is vast. In HP's defense the company builds periodic technology refreshes into its pricing. Moving all the early HP Halo clients to multi-point for free is one example and, when the deal with Marriott gets off the ground, access to a growing network of publicly available locations will be another.

Organizations looking to invest in telepresence are investing as much or more in the vendor's business and technology roadmap as in the existing technology and capabilities. This is a textbook example of the balancing act organizations have to decide upon before making an informed telepresence decision.

See our Telepresence Buyer's Guide for more details.

On the HP HVEN - Halo's Telepresence Community of Interest Network (CoIN)

HP Halo's continued expansion of their Halo Video Exchange Network / Telepresence CoIN deserves recognition.

The Human Productivity Lab's recipe for a successful telepresence CoIN is:

Technology + Security + Culture Change + Marketing + Public Availability

HP is doing a better job in the kitchen than anyone in the industry right now. While the telepresence CoIN concept is still in its infancy and many of Halo's initial clients are scattered across too many diverse, unrelated industries take full advantage, HP is slowly building a tier-one network of Fortune 500 clients that are starting to connect more and more. HP itself is probably the best example with technology partners AMD and DreamWorks "right down the hall." More importantly they have gotten the overwhelming majority of their customers to buy into the concept allowing themselves and their corporate logos to be listed as members of the Halo Network. No small feat! While the Halo GUI still only lists three companies that can be connected ad-hoc (AMD, DreamWorks, and HP) all can be reached through the HP Halo concierge.

Congrats to HP and Marriott on what looks like a superb deal!

Other Publicly Available Telepresence Initiatives: Cisco and Regus, PangeAir lead by former TeleSuite / Destiny Conferencing Chairman David Allen that would locate telepresence systems in high end hotels and shared tenant office buildings. We interviewed PangeAir President Bob Briggs in January which can be found Here.

Telepresence Options Briefs:

The Telepresence Options Telegraph -

We have renamed The Art of Productivity, the HPL's occasional newsletter on telepresence and the telepresence industry, The Telepresence Options Telegraph. The newsletter has a new look, a more organized layout, and will be published on a more regular basis. We are up to 1732 subscribers and growing! Check out the new and improved Telegraph Here.

In our next issue we will be covering telepresence and the death of the dollar, a topic that we first covered in Telepresence, Effective Visual Collaboration, and the Future of Global Business at the Speed of Light. Quick Preview: Why smart organizations will be deploying telepresence to cut costs, get productive, and weather the storm that the death of the dollar is starting to inflict on global markets. Sign up Here to reserve your digital copy today!

Virtela joins Telepresence Options!

The Lab is pleased to welcome managed network and security provider Virtela as a sponsor of our multi-vendor survey of telepresence and effective visual collaboration, Telepresence Options 2008. To get a free hard copy of the Telepresence Options 2008 Yearbook and/or to subscribe to the Telepresence Options Telegraph sign up here: http://www.telepresenceoptions.com/syndication/

Virtela is a global managed services provider and solutions integrator, providing our partners with award-winning managed network, video, and security solutions. Virtela extends our partners reach through our Global Service Fabric spanning more than 190 countries and expands their portfolio of services including Enterprise Network Services, Enterprise Security Services, Remote Access Services, Device Monitoring & Management and Converged Services. More information at http://www.virtela.net

Broadband Properties covers Publicly Available Telepresence with HSL's Thoughts and Analysis

Mon, 28 Jan 2008 08:50:45 -0500

Publicly Available Telepresence Systems: Putting Local Business on the Map
by Masha Zager, Editor - Broadband Properties

Could high-end videoconferencing, operating over high-end networks, help to level the playing field for smaller cities? The verdict is still out

As business goes global, executives are traveling more and enjoying it less. The growing demand for business travel continues to drive up prices for airfare, hotels, car rentals and corporate meetings, according to both the National Business Travel Association and American Express. And higher prices don't even buy better service: Air travelers are encountering more flight delays and more lost luggage, Department of Transportation statistics show.

The businesses that are hardest hit may be those in smaller cities with limited access to air travel. These companies find travel even more expensive and less convenient than others do. A city's inaccessibility can put a damper on businesses locating or expanding there. Videoconferencing, though it has been available for years, has never managed to put a dent in business travel.

One reason is that traditional videoconferencing is far from user-friendly. "If you ask business people what they think about videoconferencing, eight or nine out of ten would say it's too much hassle, it's too painful to use, and they don't feel comfortable with it," says Tom Jackson, former CEO of TeleSuite, the first commercially successful telepresence company. "They'll say they'd rather make a phone call, and that if they really want to get to know someone, the only way to do that is to go there."

But this perception is out of date. Recent improvements in videoconferencing have made meetings easier to manage and more comfortable to participate in. Today's top-of-the-line technology, known as telepresence, features smooth, high-definition audio and video, matching conference rooms with large curved screens, and eye contact among participants. "People are startled by how realistic it is," Jackson says. "They'll laugh, joke, interrupt each other - all the things you do in a normal meeting, to the point that they'll get up and try to shake hands. Or a glass of water spills in the other room and you'll jump back." Telepresence is costly, however. Large conference rooms can easily run to $300,000, and the ultra-high-speed networks supporting them represent a major ongoing expense. To date, these systems have mainly been the prerogative of C-level executives in large corporations. Less awe-inspiring than telepresence is high-definition videoconferencing, which several vendors have introduced during the last two years. But though HD videoconferencing may be less likely than telepresence to make participants forget they're in separate rooms, it offers audio and video quality that most users consider acceptable, at a far lower price, and with more affordable connections. (For example, the LifeSize Room costs about $12,000 and requires 5 Mbps broadband access.)

Publicly Available Facilities

Hotels and other facilities have long rented videoconference meeting rooms by the hour or by the day to businesses that can't justify purchasing these assets themselves. But because many of these meeting rooms have been underused, much of the equipment in them has not been upgraded in years. A network of high-end videoconferencing systems available to the public could give businesses the first viable alternative to travel, and
could help overcome the economic disadvantages that smaller cities face. But will facility owners begin
investing in these high-end systems? At least one hotel - the Hyatt Regency in Irvine, California - has announced
the installation of a high-definition videoconferencing system from LifeSize (www.lifesize.com).

And last March, Cisco Systems, which markets a telepresence system called (somewhat confusingly) TelePresence, announced a deal with outsourced-workplace provider Regus to place TelePresence rooms in Regus facilities in New York, London, Tokyo, Sydney, Paris and elsewhere. (While the original announcement called for 50 rooms to be installed by the end of 2007, a Regus spokesperson now says the company's TelePresence program won't be launching until mid- to late 2008.) In addition, several startups have plans to launch chains of publicly available telepresence facilities. For example, an Indianapolis-area firm, PangeAir (www.pangeair.com), already has public telepresence locations up and running in New York, Indianapolis and Dayton; it hopes to open 20 to 25 more company-owned locations and to expand its network still further with franchised facilities. Another startup, Powwow Virtual (www.PowwowVirtual.com), a spinoff of the Human Productivity Lab, is seeking partners and investment to launch a telepresence network with between 10 and 50 facilities.

The LifeSize Room provides high-definition videoconferencing and audio conferencing for large conference rooms

Is There a Demand?

The results of these efforts remain to be seen, and industry veterans have conflicting opinions about them. One who has voiced doubts about publicly available telepresence is Todd Luttinger, cofounder of integrator Videre Conferencing (www.videreconferencing.com), who has installed videoconferencing equipment of all types for corporate clients and who operates a publicly available videoconference room as part of the Affinity VideoNet network. Luttinger says, "I'm skeptical about who could afford to deploy telepresence in a wide-scale way, how they would arrive at a price to charge, and who would use it." Luttinger points out that C-level executives, who are today's typical telepresence users, are unwilling to leave their "ivory towers" for a Regus or similar facility. Public facilities tend to be used not for executive meetings but for remote sales and interviews - applications that don't normally warrant the expense of high-end technology. He adds that hotel owners regard space as a precious commodity and would balk at committing significant amounts of square footage to an unproven service. Yet another challenge associated with publicly available telepresence systems is finding highly skilled technicians to operate them, and especially to set up meetings outside the network. It's possible to hire expertise, but hard to guarantee results. "Could a hotel in Nashville do a multipoint meeting?" Luttinger asks. "If I'm basing my profitability on the fact that someone could come in and use this room to connect to a corporate briefing center - well, it's not that easy." But even if telepresence is too challenging, Luttinger thinks high-definition videoconferencing - the next level down - is a possibility. A network of publicly available HD videoconferencing facilities "would have a real shot," he says. Because HD videoconferencing offers a comfortable experience at a lower price point, there could be opportunities for high-end hotel chains to install these systems
across the country and make a profit.

A "Yes" Vote for Telepresence Jackson argues, on the contrary, that there's no reason for telepresence to remain a playground for the wealthy. An advocate of publicly available telepresence, he believes smaller companies would welcome it once they've had a chance to experience it. "Ninety percent of businesses have less than 100 employees," he says, "but they may still do business all over the world. They don't have the luxury of capital-intensive systems... If there are enough [telepresence suites] available in your building or a few blocks away, how hard is it to go online and book a room? If I had a chance to go to Paris I might go there even without a good business purpose, but if I had to go there 10 times a year, some of those visits could be via telepresence. And if I'm doing business in China, which is difficult to get to, I'd use telepresence anytime."

Small businesses wouldn't be the only customers for publicly available telepresence; Jackson thinks large corporations have their own unmet demand. Mid-level managers who have participated in telepresence meetings but can't schedule time in the CEO's telepresence room will be happy to cross the street to a publicly available facility. "They'll get all the overflow crowd," Jackson says. Jackson also doesn't believe a publicly available telepresence facility would have to be busy 24/7 to be profitable. Twenty to thirty hours a month is all that's needed for viability, he thinks.

A Telepresence Checklist

But Jackson admits that succeeding at publicly available telepresence won't be easy. "I'm one of a handful of people who have put telepresence suites into public locations," he says. "I've been through the pain of what works
and what doesn't work." Here are some of the ingredients he thinks are needed to make such a business work:

A startup company completely focused on the project ("Is anyone's career riding on this?" Jackson asks), with a strong CEO who can attract funding.

A minimum of 10 to 20 points of connection at the outset. Ultimately, a network could include thousands of sites.

Prestigious locations, such as hotels or executive suites, that are already familiar to business users and convenient for them, with amenities such as parking.

Rooms with consistent decor, so that meeting participants feel they are sitting together in the same room.

A variety of rooms in different sizes and configurations (and probably with equipment from a variety of vendors) to accommodate different types of meetings.

Ancillary services such as catering and transcription services, as well as devices like copiers and scanners.

Collaboration tools integrated with the telepresence system, to allow for sharing of data, documents and photos and for whiteboarding during meetings.

[via Broadband Properties]

HSL's Thoughts and Analysis

I have realized the potential of publicly available telepresence since 2003 when one of my frequently changing jobs as Vice President of Business Development at TeleSuite was to re-evaluate our business model for publicly available TeleSuite Systems (Now the Polycom RPX). At the time TeleSuite had publicly available telepresence systems at The Waldorf=Astoria in New York City, The Savoy Hotel in London, the Ritz-Carlton in Phoenix, and the Grand Hotel in Oslo, Norway among other locations. At the time the experiment was both a spectacular success and a commercial failure. I believe the effort was successful in that we proved that the improved end-user acceptance of telepresence put "butts in seats" I.E. that business users were willing to leave their offices to connect with both colleagues and clients at publicly available telepresence facilities. We had happy, satisfied repeat clients from a variety of industries that were holding meetings that would have never been held using publicly available traditional videoconferencing systems: An international book launch for a New York Times best selling author, a meeting connecting New York and London for the British-American business association, the chief investment strategist for a global investment bank meeting with a dozen or so private clients representing billions of dollars in investable wealth in an event that ended with a virtual wine tasting, etc.

Early design for a publicly available telepresence center using the TeleSuite (Now Polycom RPX) Circa 2003

The service ended up being a commercial failure for a number of reasons:

The price ($595 an hour, per location) was too high for the majority of users

But a good value for large groups and important meetings

Limited number of cities to connect with
No overflow capacity for peak meeting times
Food & beverage too expensive in world-class hotels
No budget for adequate marketing and promotion
Systems "hidden" from public in obscure locations in each hotel

The lessons learned from the experience lead me to develop a business model for publicly available telepresence, Powwow Virtual, that addresses the problems with locating publicly available telepresence solutions in hotels and multi-tenant office buildings. As you can see in the illustrative floorplan from the article, our business model is a multi-vendor approach that would be located in high-end retail centers close to the right business demographics. While we used Cisco, HP Halo, and the Polycom RPX to illustrate what a publicly available telepresence conferencing center might look like, we are open to working with other major vendors that are interested in working with us.

We have unique designs, our own pro-modifications to improve existing telepresence systems, a "super-store" approach with a complimentary retail component, a networking strategy to cost-effectively reach the majority of telepresence Community of Interest Networks, and a technology roadmap that addresses the key problems with reservations, security, and inter-networking. We also have a strong Board of Advisors and a team at arm's length with deep expertise in telepresence, inter-networking, software development, and managed services. The business model itself has the true potential for exponential growth as a network of publicly available telepresence conference centers would be a Reed's Law model where each additional location would not only book itself but in most instances at least one (if not more) additional locations in the network creating a virtuous cycle where each additional location drives more traffic onto the network as a whole.

So the Lab is looking for partners and investors that share our vision. What kinds of companies might be interested in investing in publicly available telepresence?

The telepresence hardware vendors - Cisco, HP Halo, LifeSize Communications, Polycom, Tandberg, Telanetix, Teliris, etc. Public availability lowers the cost of sales, improves the utility of the offering, and establishes a global network of demonstration facilities that pays for itself. For a more detailed treatment see page 33 of Telepresence, Effective Visual Collaboration, and the Future of Global Business at the Speed of Light.

The telepresence network and managed service providers - AT&T, BT, Glowpoint, Iformata, MASERGY, Nortel Telepresence Services, Verizon Business, Wire One, They already possess 1/2 the equation: Much of the video network infrastructure, QoS IP network, scheduling tools, help desk, etc. needed to support a global network of publicly available telepresence conferencing centers.

The Airlines - Are the airlines in the business of moving people around the globe in flying aluminum cylinders or in facilitating meetings and commerce? The airlines already have some of the best potential locations and owning the competition might keep them in business as a falling dollar and declining US economy strain their existing business model of full planes and cheap flights.

The travel management companies - At one time the good folks at American Express Corporate Travel and Carson Wagonlit were both interested in the concept. If any of the big travel management companies could move a fraction of the meetings/flights they facilitate on a daily basis from physical travel to virtual travel they could keep a network of publicly available telepresence conferencing centers packed! It is a chance for them to keep doing what they are doing except with virtual travel they could own the "airplanes".

Private investors - This is a big idea in a world of tiny incremental ideas. This is an opportunity right for a visionary, deep pocketed technology investor. Calling Richard Branson, Paul Allen, Mark Cuban, Steve Jobs, etc.

A Big Franchise Player - While it is important to build an initial number of centers (8-20+) in the right demographic locations to create a critical mass of the most profitable city pairs (I.E. NYC-LA, NYC-London, San Francisco - LA, Seattle-San Francisco, etc.) filling in the rest could be a combination of company stores and franchise locations.

So as we look for the right partners and/or investors we continue to build the largest audience in the world of those interested in telepresence by providing the timeliest news and most thoughtful analysis of the telepresence industry around. We provide the sponsors of Telepresence Options with the most cost-effective and targeted vehicle available for reaching those interested in telepresence and inter-networking telepresence anywhere. Period. We have been honest and upfront about our business model for public availability with everyone from the start and have strived to be as fair as possible to all the industry participants. We get smarter and smarter on the technology, the players, and what is coming next waiting to find the right partner(s) that share our vision for revolutionizing global communications and accelerating commerce to the speed of light. Could it be you?

Other:

Telepresence People

Rick Ono has been promoted to President at Telanetix

Colin Buechler has joined LifeSize Communications as Senior Vice President of Marketing

Paul Marcoux is the new Green Czar at Cisco Systems

Jeff Connolly has joined Polycom as Director of Video Network Operation Center Services

Alfred Hui has joined Vidyo as VP of Sales, APAC

Yossi Massafi has joined Vidyo as VP of Worldwide Sales Operations

Ray Kenny has joined LifeSize Communications as Regional Sales Manager, UK & Ireland

Danny Rogers has joined LifeSize Communications as Strategic Account Manager

Sherri Moore from SPL has joined the Polycom User Group Board of Directors as an Alliance Liason

Better than the real thing? - CXO Magazine Europe talks Telepresence with HSL

Mon, 07 Jan 2008 09:20:10 -0500

Can telepresence provide a real alternative to business travel? The Human Productivity Lab's Howard Lichtman talks about its future impact.

CXO. Many of our readers are familiar with video conferencing. Can you explain how telepresence differs from standard video conferencing and what the main advantages are?

Telepresence describes visual collaboration solutions that address the human factors of meeting participants, and attempt to replicate as closely as possible an in-person experience. Traditional video conferencing until very recently has been what I have referred to as the plastic-camera-on-top-of-the-TV-set-on-top-of-the-dessert-cart, and has been primarily an observant experience where as properly designed telepresence environments and systems create immersive experiences that participants find more natural and enjoyable to use.

The human brain has innate preferences for interpersonal communication. It's used to talking to people that are life-sized, having eye contact and clear audio quality. Your brain has developed innate expectations with respect to interpersonal communications. In a traditional videoconference, it doesn't get many of them so it naturally objects to the experience. I believe there is kind of a dichotomy going on where the brain is trying to pay attention simultaneously to both the medium and the message. It's an unnatural experience trying to pay attention to the medium, the message and the nonverbal cues of communication. With a telepresence session, you're able to more faithfully represent a traditional in-person meeting so attention to the medium is reduced and you're able to have a much more natural experience.

Telepresence satisfies the user acceptance problem, which is for people to use it, they have to like to use it. The experience of telepresence early adopters demonstrated that once you get the human factors of the environment right, the usage goes to the moon. You see telepresence systems that get used 100 to even 150 plus hours per month per endpoint and you see people doing types of meeting in those telepresence environments that they never would have done with the plastic-camera-on-top -of-the-TV-set-on-top-of-the-dessert-cart. That extra usage is what companies want because you're actually getting the ROI that the videoconference guys promised but never delivered. You're actually keeping people off the planes, getting a time-to-market advantage and improving productivity.

CXO. How do organisations effectively measure ROI and what are ways to get the best out of the investment?

For years, video conferencing was promising ROI based on avoided travel - they had all these spreadsheets, wheels and graphs that said if you have all the new video conferencing systems, you will avoid this many trips a month and will save 'x' amount of dollars. But the problem was nobody ever really used the systems that much so they never really received all the advantages that they were promised.

Telepresence providers have proved hands-down that people will use this and will use it six to ten times more than traditional video. There's three ROIs: the hard dollar ROI, the soft dollar ROI and then what I consider to be the most kind of underrated ROI, which is the ROI of opportunity cost. Opportunity cost is a term in economics that refers to the cost of doing what you weren't doing while you were doing this other thing that you can now avoid. So now it's not only that you're avoiding the cost of the airline ticket and the time the executive spent cooling his heels in the airport but also the cost of that executive doing what he would have been doing if he hadn't been traveling. Then there are the other benefits and capabilities that telepresence offers: disaster recovery, the ability to hold meetings that would be impossible in any other format because you can't get all of the people there because of travel or other commitments. There's the ROI of being able to take more people to a meeting than you would have for less money. There's a lot of flexibility that these systems give you that you wouldn't have had otherwise which provides an ROI for business effectiveness which you actually get because these things are actually getting used.

CXO. Do you see any complications around telepresence - looking at how corporate networks may have to handle the extra bandwidth demands?

Probably the main thing that is holding most companies back from deploying telepresence is the hard cost of the systems. Companies need to quit comparing the costs to traditional videoconferencing and start comparing the systems to the cost of commercial and executive aviation, which I believe is the next best alternative to effective, flexible, face-to-face global collaboration. In addition, there is the cost of effectively internetworking telepresence which will often be much greater than the hard cost of the hardware. Telepresence often requires reengineering the network or deploying an overlay network solution or moving your telephone closet to a carrier hotel - and there are the often hidden costs associated with the architectural make-ready for some of the telepresence environments.

CXO. Looking towards the vendor market, can we expect to see vendor offerings giving these services on a "pay-to-play" basis or is it outright ownership?

Publicly available Telepresence is right around the corner and I think that the majority of people will experience telepresence in a publicly available setting before they'll use them in their own company.

Cisco recently announced a deal with Regus - a provider of shared tenant virtual and temporary office space who provides that service in 950 locations in 400 cities in 70 countries. They're going to be rolling out an initial 50 - these are just the first wave - of publicly available Cisco TelePresence systems where people will be able to walk into a Regus facility and either connect initially to another Regus location and eventually have the ability to connect to your enterprise corporate telepresence network or to your vendors, joint-venture partners and/or customers that are using Cisco TelePresence.

We have our own publicly available telepresence conferencing centre business model, Powwow Virtual, that we're trying to spin out of the Human Productivity Lab. It takes telepresence systems from all the major vendors and some of our own designs and makes them publicly available for both smaller companies to rent on a per-use basis. It also allows corporate telepresence users to extend their enterprise telepresence networks with a global network of secure publicly available locations. We have a superb team, an intellectual property strategy around making these centres secure and cost-effective, unique designs and budding partnerships. We are looking for the right investors for a business model with the true potential for exponential growth.

CXO. Video conferencing has been notoriously unreliable and oftentimes hard to use. What kind of reliability and ease-of-use can we expect from telepresence?

One of the reasons that video conferencing has been notoriously unreliable is that it has been historically networked over ISDN networks that would literally just drop calls or fail to connect. In the early days there was something like a five percent plus call failure rate. Now you're looking at IP network devices that run on an IP network. They're always up, reliable and easy-to-use.

Regarding ease-of-use, traditional videoconferencing has been all about the proprietary remote control that is different for every vendor and has required training for all users. Since Cisco deployed in October, they've done 3000 plus telepresence sessions and out of those 3000 sessions they've done no user training.[Editor's Note: This interview was conducted in the fall of 2007. Since then Cisco has conducted over 40,000+ internal meetings using Cisco telepresence] You simply walk into a room, dial the number of the room that you want to call, you're connected and if you want to share data, you plug into the laptop. One of my favourite quotes on the HP Halo Graphical User Interface was from an executive at PepsiCo who described it as "Fisher-Price Simple." With the HP, Polycom, Teliris and Iformata offer VNOC, reservation, & concierge services and help desk you simply call a number to tell them what city or company that you would like to talk to and walk into the room and the remote participants are sitting on the other side of the table. Teliris and Tandberg have an easy-to-use touch screen GUI to launch and schedule calls.

CXO. So what is it that really sets the telepresence experience apart from traditional video conferencing?

Probably the most important thing to understand is this is not video conferencing 2.0. In addition to the end user acceptance and quality of experience, some of the things that are different from traditional video conferencing include a consistency-of-quality among locations deploying the same telepresence systems. If you go into 50 different traditional video conferencing rooms today, you'd see they're all different. Some of them have the videoconferencing system in the corner, some of them have it at the head of the boardroom table, acoustics and lighting vary in quality. There's no consistency between different video conferencing rooms but telepresence actually establishes a business class consistency-of-quality between every location. Every single time a system connects to another system, the lighting is the same, the acoustics are the same, the camera placement is the same; and you're in the right kind of culturally correct position for a western European business meeting.

This consistency of quality is one of the factors driving what I call inter-company business. Ninety-five plus percent of video conferencing today is intra-company --it is the corporate headquarters talking with the remote office across the country or across the world. Very, very little video conferencing is done company to company or business to business. The reasons for this have been the poor quality of the experience, firewall traversal issues, networking issues and cost issues.

Many telepresence systems are being deployed over what I call effective visual collaboration Community of Interest Networks (COIN) that not only connect their enterprise networks together but connects them to other members of the COIN. What that means is people who have connectivity with HP Halo's HVEN, 'VNOC, Iformata, or Teliris' InfiNET can walk into their telepresence system and connect with their vendors, joint venture partners, and joint venture partners that are on the network.

This dynamic of effective inter-company business is going to be huge. Right now each of these COINs is an island chain. You can reach the other members of your island chain but you can't reach the other island chains. In the future we're going to be able to connect all the island chains or the overall vast majority of the island chains and you're going to be able to have a natural, comfortable productive meeting experience with almost every single company in the world using an enterprise telepresence system or a publicly available telepresence system.

The majority of the global 5000 will deploy these solutions in the next five to 10 years. You'll walk into a room and will think absolutely nothing of doing business with China, India, or even places like the Phillipines or eventually Antarctica - or all of them simultaneously - and it will be like the people are in the room with you. That is amazingly powerful and you're already seeing some of that. AOL is meeting with Deloitte for public accountancy and consulting using Polycom RPX over the Iformata network. HP and AMD are using HP Halo over the HVEN to design their next generation of servers and workstations. Cisco and Regus recently concluded their multi-million dollar deal for the initial purchase of 50 Cisco TelePresence Systems using the technology. So telepresence is already connecting companies globally to their supply chain and partners for effective collaborative work. In the coming years this capability is going to accelerate global business and innovation to a speed that will boggle the mind.

About the contributor

Howard S. Lichtman is a productivity-focused technologist and consultant with specialties in Telepresence and Visual Collaboration and Organizational and Personal Productivity. He is the founder and President of the Human Productivity Lab, an independent consultancy covering telepresence and effective visual collaboration industries and the publisher of Telepresence Options, a comprehensive multi-media survey of telepresence conferencing. Previously, Mr. Lichtman was the Vice President of Business Development at TeleSuite, the world's first commercially successful telepresence provider and an innovator in visual collaboration. He also ran the financial services sales organization at Savvis Communications, which built networks for the financial industry for market data and trading floor technology.

[via CXO Europe]

Other

European Financial Services Technology Summit

For European CXO's in the financial services industry, the Lab will be conducting a workshop on telepresence at the European Financial Services Technology Summit which will be held at the Westin Turnberry Resort in Scotland May 20-22nd. The summit is a superb event that brings together some of the top CXOs of the European banking community for three days of expert workshops, facilitated roundtables, and peer-to-peer networking.

Telepresence People

Bob Johnson has joined Teliris as SVP of Marketing.

David Martella has joined the Cisco Telepresence Business Unit as Director, Retail Operations and Strategy.

Jonathan Brust has joined Glowpoint as Vice President, Marketing & Business Development.

Mary Friel has joined Glowpoint as Territory Director of Sales for the Northeast Region.

Dave Moore has joined Glowpoint as Territory Director.

Larry Smagacz has joined Glowpoint as Territory Director.

HSL's YouTube Channel

HSL's YouTube Channel has surpassed 800,000+ views of our posted video content and over 140 subscribers.

Do you have video content on telepresence, videoconferencing, human computer interaction, or other technology topics that would be of interest to our audience? Send them via a large file download service like YouSendIt.com to Info@HumanProductivityLab.com .

Regus Group Selects Cisco in Largest Ever Global Lifesize Video Meetings Deal

Fri, 16 Mar 2007 12:12:13 -0500

March 16, 2007 - Regus (LON: RGU), the world's largest provider of outsourced workplaces, is delighted to announce that it will be the first to offer its clients and the public the facility to have real time meetings across the globe using Cisco TelePresence.

Regus has signed a deal with Cisco to provide 50 TelePresence systems, which will be rolled out over the coming weeks in the leading business cities around the world including New York, London, Tokyo, Sydney and Paris. It will be available to the growing number of companies utilising high definition video meetings to avoid expensive and time-consuming travel.

Market requirement

With the continued globalisation of business, regular meetings with international partners, colleagues and clients are still increasing. The costs involved, time required and implications on carbon emissions will mean that business managers will have to prioritise more.

TelePresence is the most advanced of a new generation of video collaboration technology that makes the meeting experience almost the same as being there in person. The deal announced today will enable business managers to:

Talk live as though they were in the room
Tie in with several different locations
Enter a meeting at the touch of a button
Use this product as easily as making a phone call

Mark Dixon, CEO of the Regus Group, said:

"We have long believed there was a gap for a premium electronic meeting room solution. There is a desire to eliminate unnecessary global travel due to the congestion of airports, cost of travel, demands on time and focus on green issues.

"As business becomes increasingly demanding, we need to be more productive. Electronic and virtual meetings are key to this. This is yet another product that Regus is offering its clients to enable them to work more flexibly, interact with their teams, protect the environment, keep costs down and work without boundaries."

Leading edge technology

New capabilities of Cisco's TelePresence solution will make public TelePresence possible and viable: It will enable Regus sites to connect to corporate sites; multiple rooms in a single meeting; and will provide a consistent quality of service to customers globally.

Cisco's quality, simplicity and architecture was the key to the selection.

Quality - life size, ultra high def video (1080p) and spatial audio make TelePresence's 'as good as being there'
Simplicity - one button to push call initiation and groupware scheduling (via Microsoft Outlook) enable self-service operation for low total cost of operation (TCO)
Architecture - Cisco's network as a platform enables reliability, security and rapid product evolution

Robert Lloyd, Senior Vice President, US and Canada, for Cisco said:

"Regus has developed a highly innovative service offering which will add considerable value to its business and that of its customers. The TelePresence solution will help Regus' clients improve existing business processes, speed time-to-market for developing new products and services, and help scale valuable resources. By taking advantage of the Cisco Services organisation, Regus and its customers will have the confidence that qualified network management is available to support the service globally."

For further information please contact:

Regus
Mark Dixon, Chief Executive Officer
Scott Goodwin, Managing Director IT & Services
0870 880 8484

Brunswick
Simon Sporborg / Robert Gardener
regus@brunswickgroup.com
020 7404 5959

About Regus

The Regus Group is the world's leading provider of pioneering workplace solutions, with products and services ranging from fully equipped offices to professional meeting rooms, business lounges and the worlds largest network of videoconferencing studios. The Regus Group delivers a new way to work, whether it's from home, on the road or from an office.

Clients such as Google, GlaxoSmithKline, IBM, Nokia and Accenture join thousands of growing small and medium businesses that benefit from outsourcing their office and workplace needs to The Regus Group, allowing them to focus on their core business.

Over 200,000 clients a day benefit from The Regus Group facilities spread across a global footprint of 950 locations, in 400 cities and 70 countries which allow individuals and companies to work wherever, however and whenever they want to.

For more information, visit regus.co.uk

About Cisco Systems

Cisco is the worldwide leader in networking that transforms how people connect, communicate and collaborate. Information about Cisco can be found at http://www.cisco.com. For ongoing news, please go to http://newsroom.cisco.com

Via [News@Cisco]

Industry vet seeks $25M for 'telepresence' venture

Fri, 19 Jan 2007 11:14:17 -0500

A veteran of the local communications scene is raising $25 million to develop a chain of videoconferencing facilities with new technology championed by several industry heavyweights.

Howard Lichtman, a former vice president with Internet protocol applications company Savvis Communications, had been advising clients on so-called "telepresence" technology, which uses high-definition audio and video feeds and life-size images to simulate face-to-face contact for business meetings or even medical consultations. He left Savvis in 2001, and after a series of other jobs in the industry launched Ashburn consulting firm Human Productivity Lab.

Lichtman plans to use the new funding to spin out Powwow Virtual. His goal is a chain of about 10 videoconferencing centers in major cities, the first in McLean inside Tysons Galleria. Powwow would also sell and license its own proprietary systems and technology that embeds cameras at eye level behind a screen to make conversations more lifelike. Suite rental runs about $100 an hour.

The facilities would act as showrooms for systems released in the last year by tech giants Hewlett-Packard, Cisco Systems, Polycom and others that Lichtman wants to partner with to assist large companies building internal telepresence systems. Equipment costs range from $20,000 to $600,000 depending on type of model. A full telepresence suite can easily run $1 million or more fully built out.

"Some of the vendors are interested in building a global network," Lichtman says. "People are just starting to realize this is a billion-dollar opportunity."

Lichtman is no stranger to working with large public companies.

He started and ran the financial industry sales force at Savvis, which delivered network services to almost 1,200 customers at the height of the Internet bubble. The Reston company raised $333 million for itself and $48 million for investors in a 2000 IPO before taking a hit along with the rest of the communications industry in 2001.

Powwow faces significant challenges though. New network technologies take a long time to gain widespread adoption because they're only as useful as the number of users online. Powwow's prospective partners are large public companies that often take a long time before committing to small startups, if they do at all. Also, Powwow has to convince corporate road warriors that spending on telepresence is a more cost-efficient alternative to traveling than existing videoconferencing technology.

Cisco's move into the telepresence space lends legitimacy to the new technology with corporate users, says analyst Robert Arnold, who wrote an October report for market research firm Current Analysis.

But initiatives by the major network hardware companies could prove a double-edged sword for Powwow and others with a lower-profile industry position.

"Rival telepresence developers themselves may now also become more attractive acquisition targets for Cisco competitors in the [Internet protocol] communications market," Arnold wrote. "Because of the high price point of the solution, the need for specialized network assessments, and the potential for sizable (and costly) infrastructure upgrades, the market for high-definition telepresence solutions may very well remain niche for a long time to come."

Lichtman is not alone in his quest at Powwow. He's recruited a high-profile team of advisers and says he has a chief technology officer, a chief information officer and two dozen people lined up for key positions to start "slamming and jamming on this as soon as someone signs a check."

Brent Houlahan, former CTO of NetSec, is an advisory board member and the self-described technologist behind some of Powwow's intellectual property.

He's now vice president of strategy and alliances for D.C. network communications software company Intelli7. Houlahan helped Lichtman secure an early 2007 meeting with Bethesda venture firm Novak Biddle Venture Partners, an Intelli7 investor, and says he'd consider joining Powwow after finding a buyer for Intelli7.

"We're going to build out the software stack and delivery model so if the customer wants to bite off a piece and have it in their facilities, we can do that," Houlahan says. "What you'll see coming out [of Powwow] is some intellectual property around a unique combination of technologies."

Building his tele-team

Howard Lichtman has assembled an impressive advisory board to support his goal of raising $25 million to set up telepresence videoconferencing centers. Members in public company executive posts include:

* Chris Van Waters: chief information officer of Reston healthcare information-technology company QuadraMed
* LeMoyne Zacherl: Reston-based CFO of educational IT company Learning Tree International
* Jeff Dalton: regional chief technology officer for public insurance and real estate information provider Stewart Information Services
* Tim Nielsen: vice president of sales for the financial vertical of business information software maker SunGard Data Systems
* Brent Houlahan: the former vice president of managed services for MCI

via [Washington Business Journal]