Cisco and Logitech May Give Cellphone-Level Popularity to Videoconferencing

After years when the videoconferencing technology didn't have a good-enough broadband to take advantage of, the advances in networking (the Ethernet, for instance) may finally be able to provide enough resources for the worldwide spreading of videoconferencing solutions. Cisco and Logitech seem to be in a race to see which of them will be the first to lead the world away from the current glitchy, overpriced and complicated videoconferencing products. Both expect to acquire their own developer of such technology (Logitech wil buy LifeSize Communications and Cisco aims for Tandberg).

The main goal towards which the mainstream market seems to be headed is widespread and common videoconferencing, in tune with how cellphones have turned from a scarce privilege into a necessity, nowadays often used even by kids. Cisco is already increasing the popularity of such a technology through promoting the TelePresence. The TelePresence can help companies save up to $250,000 (and rising) per conference room. Cisco aims for Tandberg because it would offer a good opportunity to develop solutions for less expensive systems, not just the high-end segment.

"We want this to be the place people start their day, and where they spend most of their day," Cisco Senior Vice-President Tony Bates says. "We're in it to win it."

Unfortunately for Cisco, Logitech is in for the same goal. Although it's mostly known for its widespread peripherals, the enterprise has already concluded its negotiations with LifeSize Communications and intends to use its expertise towards increasing efficiency while lowering component prices, currently ranging from $2,500 (low-end products) to tens of thousands for the high-end products.

Price accessibility isn't the only thing on developers' minds, though. Reality mobile, for instance, aims to make the technology accessible in even the remotest of places, to be used by oil producers, for example. People familiar with Cisco's plans say that it will introduce its first consumer-aimed TelePresence at Las Vegas in January. Priced at $5,000, estimates suggest that over 200 million people will go into videoconferencing by 2015, mainly in the desktop-based kind. This idea is based on the fact that videoconferencing sales have gone up from $800 million in 2006 to $1.4 billion in 2008.

There are other hopefuls that aim to make their stand on the videoconferencing stage, it seems. Hackensack (N.J.)-based Vidyo has a software-only offering that, some analysts say, may put pressure on industry pricing. The technology automatically adjusts so each attendee of a conference gets the best picture possible and costs mere pennies on a per-minute basis, compared with dollars for TelePresence. Vidyo is already used by hundreds of IT staffers from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The goal is to spread it to most of the 52,000 missionaries, many of which are in remote locations.

"The places we need videoconferencing are the places it just doesn't work," Joel Dehlin, chief information officer for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, adds. "This has opened up the world to us."