Thread: Technical specs

Almost all Telepresence systems out there use SIP or H.323 as the standard protocols for audio-visual communication. Out of these SIP of late has been the standard of choice for most communication equipment vendors and it makes sense to go with telepresence equipment based on SIP to avoid incompatibility issues in
future. Apart from this basic requirement here's a list of other key requirements:

• H .264 video codecs to offer highest quality compression.

• Native nop and 1080p high-definition cameras with pan, tilt and zoom functionality.

• 65" inch plasma screens.

• Native nop and 1080p high-definition encoding/decoding of audio/video signals.

• IP-based conference phone with call scheduling and presence detection abilities.

• Low-latency architecture and low bandwidth utilization to ensure error free transmission of data.

• Wideband advanced audio coding with low delay (AAC LD).

• Multichannel spatial audio with echo cancellation and interference filters to eliminate feedback from mobile devices such as cell phones.

• Ability to project whiteboarding, presentations, docs and spreadsheets, and play DVDs.

The telepresence systems run on integrated voice/video/data. network over a secure VPN tunnel. This ensures quality of service (QoS), security, reliability and high availability. These systems are scalable in nature and bandwidth requirements depend on the number of communication channels. This depends on the number of participants per meeting. A typical telepresence solution that facilitates conference for six persons requires anywhere between 15-20 Mbps of bandwidth.



As collaboration is the USP of telepresence systems, you expect them to be compatible with IP-based phones and call-processing systems from other telecommunication vendors. Also, integration with enterprise groupware solutions (such as MS Outlook) accommodates easy scheduling of meetings and access to corporate information.

Where you save
We've seen what TelePresence is all about and the minimum requirements for deploying such a solution. However, the deployment costs are pretty steep and the payback in the long term depends on how much and how well you use it. For one, at current rates (a typical six-seater conference room could) only organizations that have large travel bills find it easy to create the business case for adoption. But that's not the end of the story. There could be other indirect benefits that might interest you. Here are some of the areas where you are bound to benefit:

1. Savings on travel and associated services: This is the most tangible benefit of all and probably the most alluring one. Use of video conferencing saw limited success but TelePresence is fundamentally different as it con¬jures up the'face-to-face' meeting ex¬perience in the virtual space. Sage Re¬search's findings on the usage of a particular telepresence solution suggest that an enterprise could save on travel by executive per month.

2. Improved Collaboration amongst employees: One of the biggest drawbacks of frequent travel by top-level executives is a reduced focus on in house activity. For a better part of the month, junior colleagues find their boss' cabin deserted and run helterskelter searching for guidance on critical issues. Sage Research further states that around 78% of companies feel a solution such as telepresence would increase the quality of interaction amongst headquarters and branch offices.

3. Employee productivity benefits: Frequent employee travel not just costs a conwaoy in monetary terms but alsovcauses a considerable wastage of time spent waiting at airports, the time spent away from office on road, checking in and out of hotels and the risk of missed flights or delays. All this translates into loss of employee productivity. Imagine attending meetings form the com fort of you r office
and the amount of valueable time it would save for other more profitable activities.