Cisco's Telepresence Technology Connects The World

The ultimate in videoconferencing is telepresence.  Some have even observed that Cisco’s Telepresence system is an entirely different league than the run-of-the-mill videoconference experience.  In a telepresence meeting, participants are life-sized with no delay when moving or talking.  You can actually look them in the eye and make the mistake of trying to pass them a piece of paper through the screen because they seem to be across the table from you.

Cisco has come up with a lot of options for those who need a high-quality interaction with remote team members.  This saves more than money: It reduces your carbon footprint by lowering the amount of resources spent on travel and increases productivity by allowing your team members to be flexible in their workspace and schedule.  You can call a quick meeting or have efficient regular updates with employees, clients, customers, and colleagues.  Your communication is excellent with telepresence because all the nuances of expression, tone of voice, and body language are available so you do not sacrifice quality for efficiency.

The new benchmark for telepresence is Cisco’s TX9000 Series, a three-screen, immersive audio/visual experience that plans for future expansion into “high-intensity collaboration” allowing a dynamic interaction with content not previously possible.  This system also helps reduce the total cost of ownership, a welcome factor in investing in the technology a business needs to stay current.  There are two products, the one-row system seating up to six people and the two-row system seating up to 18 people.  The three video streams and one high-definition, full-motion content-sharing stream deliver “the ultimate immersive telepresence experience.”

Cisco’s Telepresence MCU 5300 Series is a standards-based, stackable system allowing your initial investment in videoconferencing services to be upgraded as needed and configured as your business develops.  It offers a low-risk and cost-effective solution for communicating effectively with multiple colleagues.

You can enhance your communication with partners and customers with the Cisco TelePresence VCS solution.  This supports a variety of devices and works in unifying systems transparently, facilitating your videoconferencing needs in a simple and efficient manner to bring high-quality telepresence services to a mass audience.

Looking to enhance your current conference table or room?  The Cisco Telepresence TX1300 Series is a single-screen, three-camera system that is designed for different environments and room sizes with limited space or bandwidth.  All meeting participants are life-size on the screen, illuminated by integrated lighting (no weird shadows!) and interaction is automatic, voice-activated, and natural.  Another option, the SX20 Quick Set easily turns a flat panel display into a telepresence system with three camera choices, dual screen options, and multipoint support for three additional callers.

The military, emergency response teams, construction, oil, or gas industries are all examples of extreme outdoor fields that can use Cisco Telepresence VX Tactical systems in their work.  This is portable and rugged, weather/impact resistant with a screen optimized for outdoor viewing and is easily carried.  A secondary camera and display can even be set up in a shelter to create a room-based telepresence environment in extremely remote locations.

With Public Cisco TelePresence Suites, pay-by-the-hour facilities are available world-wide.  There are subscription-based services available with Cisco technology as well.  This brings the advantages of face-to-face interaction with far-flung associates within reach for less than the cost of airfare and hotel. 

Any enterprise that involves people can be benefited by one of Cisco’s TelePresence options.

Telepresence Rooms Must Be Properly Designed

When you're using telepresence rooms it's important to have an immersive experience. You want the best and most natural meeting experience possible so your contacts, clients and employees can have a predictable participatory discussion that is free from distractions. This includes the design of the telepresence rooms, which must have excellent lighting and audio components, meet recommended dimensions, adequate power, and HVAC requirements as well.

Small distractions can build up when human beings are in uncomfortable surroundings. You may even want to go so far as to include certain colors on the walls, framed art, and pay special attention to the fabrics and textures of the furniture and flooring as well. This gives the telepresence rooms an overall look and feel that is in keeping with the branding and image of your company.

When discussing important and critical business through telepresence meetings face-to-face, the communication and interaction should be as clear and natural as possible. This creates the greatest chance of overall understanding of what has been discussed so everyone at the meeting is on the same page. There are some elements of the room that should be in place that will help with this seamless experience.

Make sure the room has been treated with the best acoustical materials and architectural interior design. The lighting must be optimal for reading and viewing video without being irritating to the eyes. When these principle elements are applied it's called “room remediation.” The company that provides the telepresence rooms should be able to tell you exactly what the rooms include to make your meeting as distraction-free as possible. Having said this, there should be room for flexibility as well.

Know if anyone attending the meeting has special needs of any kind. Perhaps one of the attendees is physically challenged or has trouble with their vision. Take these conditions into consideration. Something as simple as incorrect or insufficient lighting can create poor video quality, which can be an interference.

Ultimately, you want everyone on both sides of the telepresence meeting to feel like they are having a real face-to-face meeting. This will engage everyone to a greater degree, which can only provide a higher level of energy and creativity to the task at hand. Instead of feeling inhibited by the sense that the more they move and talk the less will be heard and understood, your participants can freely contribute.

Scientific studies show that as human beings we gain most of our understanding and communication through physical cues and facial expressions when we speak to each other. If you can't be in the same room for a meeting, then finding the best telepresence rooms with the best equipment is the next best thing.

There are a number of successful and meticulous companies who offer this service. Make sure you check to see if they have rooms in areas near where your participants can gather. If the participants need to travel too long of a distance to get to the meeting, it can defeat the entire purpose of why you set up the meeting via telepresence. Know where your people are and where they can meet. It's good business.

Calendar Sync Applications Are Your Best Friend

The toughest part about a telepresence meeting is getting everyone there who needs to be there at the right time and the right place. After that it's usually a breeze. There’s calendar sync software that many telepresence facilities use which helps you set appointments, send invitations to participants and make sure the rooms are booked at the right time. It's important though that everyone who is supposed to attend check the calendar regularly before the scheduled time for any updates.

Most calendar sync systems are compatible with all the major operating systems, so that’s not usually an issue for the participants of the meeting. Determine which software application host has the most current and relevant meeting information. This will help to avoid any potential problems down the line. Once you've determined the calendar sync system you want to use, keep a backup of the schedule. Knowing you have this data will allow you to keep everyone informed of the meeting details and any updates at any time.

The best way to do this is to have everyone who will be participating in the meeting log into the calendar sync application on the telepresence facility's website. There is usually a choice as to which server you want to access the program from, which eliminates calendar sync troubles.

Once you book the room and lock in the time, everyone who is part of the meeting will get a confirmation message instantly. Of course, the calendar sync system can bring people together from all over the world. No matter where your participants are situated around the world, the calendar sync application gets everyone to the meeting on time and engaged.

The synchronization operations area of the telepresence facility's website will show you when any information in the server database was last updated as well as updated meetings, schedules for a time and date and any other information you need to relay to your participants. You can also call the telepresence facility's help center to verify any details.

You can then go back into the calendar sync application and make any necessary changes to the schedule. The calendar sync application is a complex technological system that makes scheduling very convenient for teleconference meetings.

For the best experience in the scheduling and calendar sync sections of a telepresence website, use it efficiently. If you are the one responsible for organizing the meeting, then be thoroughly prepared before you actually book the room for the smoothest and most pleasant conference experience.

Other advantages to using a calendar sync system at the same telepresence facility each time is the ability to allow the system to remember your company information. That way you don’t have to re-enter it as well as allowing the system to present your company branding when participants are checking the data. An added bonus is the elimination of excessive phone calls to confirm appointments between participants and no need for faxes. The calendar sync application does all this for you. 

Using Telepresence Facilities Saves Time and Money

Telepresence is the new generation of video conferencing. Most companies can benefit from this technology that employs very high bandwidth networks. For security reasons, it's vital that the telepresence conference be conducted through a private network. Depending on where your employees or contact people are, this can be a problem. That's why there are telepresence facilities across the nation and in various parts of the world.

Many telepresence facilities will provide you with a private meeting room with tasteful décor and comfortable furniture as well as one or more large HD screens to have an immersion experience. You'll need to make sure that the equipment offered at the telepresence facilities is compatible with the transmitting equipment.

For example, it will depend on the software that enables interoperability between existing pieces of equipment. Some software is now integrated into certain brands of audio and video equipment and other brands of equipment currently do not have compatibility with any other vendor or video conferencing system.

You'll need to examine the type of network that's offered by the telepresence facility. If it's a closed network, you may only be able to link within that network and then hire other facilities to connect with everyone in your meeting unless you use an immersive telepresence system. If it is an open network, you'll be able to connect via a gateway service. In addition to a full service telepresence facility, you may also need to bring in a variety of independent suppliers. The independent suppliers will be able to link up from your own telepresence equipment in your facility to someone else's equipment in another location.

Within many large corporations, video conferencing is well established and the capabilities are growing all the time. In fact, there are millions of video conferencing systems in use throughout the world today. Using an advanced network of public video conferencing and telepresence facilities your company can link to them all.

There are almost endless ways to employ this technology that you may not have thought of. You can interview new recruits, used in high legal courts, in-house business presentations when offices are in different locations, product training demonstrations, sales presentations, product launches, business assessment, B2B consultancy services, castings and auditions for TV production and there are some hotels that have this type of technology in virtual meeting rooms.

Ultimately, telepresence and video conferencing are the way of the future. It's an extremely convenient and cost efficient alternative to sending your employees to various parts of the country or around the world. This way you avoid putting your company and your people through any travel hassles, flight delays, over-priced airfares and accommodation needs.

Besides all this, there's usually a very fast and easy way to book the telepresence facilities. Most companies who provide this service will allow their users to book the rooms and equipment they need right on their website. The steps are usually laid out for you including pricing, pictures of the rooms and exact addresses and directions to the facilities. This only increases the level of productivity within your company and reduces the carbon footprint your company leaves behind. It also improves staff morale by allowing them to have a better balanced work and home life! With a telepresence system, everyone wins!

How Whygo Makes Telepresence Technology Seamless

The human side of business, the visceral connection that develops with personal interaction, is the soil that enables business transactions to grow and bear fruit. A business that limits its clientele to local residents has this asset naturally, but those who wish to expand their range must use a variety of tools to maintain that personal contact. In the past, representatives of a company needed to travel to another location so they could have face-to-face contact with a prospective client. The relationship would then be maintained by various limited ways until the traveling rep could schedule another visit. That human contact would strengthen bonds nurturing the seeds of potential business relationships. Unfortunately, sending staff on regular business trips has become increasingly costly. Airfare has risen, time involved with travel has increased, and the personal cost has affected morale by upsetting the work-life balance essential to being effective.

One Company That Provides Telepresence Facilities

Telepresence is an impressive tool for cultivating relationships with team members and clients to reap a harvest of opportunity for your goals. If you have an IT team and facility with the proper resources, then you can do this in-house, but most businesses would rather invest themselves in the actual connections with client and team. An ideal video-conferencing tool would be worldwide, utilize technology that is current and consistent for all involved, be available at all hours for multiple time zones, and have instant support for any issues. Maintaining this type of facility for a single business would be prohibitively costly since you must also ensure equal technological access for the other party. Whygo is an excellent way to achieve the goals of human connection in business. With this tool, a company can access all the benefits of an in-house video conferencing facility for all parties with very little trouble. According to their website, Whygo offers multiple options for you to book public video conferencing facilities. This will allow you to increase productivity and strengthen your staff morale by providing a better work-life balance as well as reducing your carbon footprint. Regular users can have branded systems that help schedule bookings including links from your own website.

Whygo's World Class VC And Telepresence Operation

There are 4 global operation centers enabling your business to function globally. The centers work together to give seamless service. The website is clearly laid out with a mere 4 steps to book a video conferencing room:

• find a location,
• select a center,
• customize your meeting,
• and confirm.

Telepresence, the ‘Rolls Royce’ of video conferencing, is a seamless high-definition life-size video combined with high-fidelity acoustics in a room built to give the experience of realism. This ‘absolute best option’ is ideal for complete communication of facial expression, body language, and voice inflection. You will feel that every participant is sitting in the same room or at the same table. Many lesser forms of communication lose some of the detail that telepresence captures. If you do not need that ultimate level of communication, Whygo offers other video conferencing services as well. You can choose the tools that will help your business become firmly planted in the soil of human connection and reap an abundant harvest.