Marconi this week added new capabilities to its ViPr Virtual Presence System. The system has a form more similar to a video-phone than a PC, having no keyboard or mouse, and is meant to be added to the existing mix of tools on your desk. 

The SIP-based videoconferencing product eliminates the need for a multi-point control unit (MCU) for connecting multiple parties, eliminating one cause of voice transmission delays. These delays adversely affect the user' experience when video and audio become unsynchronized. The affect is like watching a foreign movie dubbed with another language. The ViPr system includes all equipment needed for a single multi-point videoconference of up to 15 parties for $10,995. For more details see the article Marconi extends videoconferencing (ZDNet News September 2, 2004) or the ViPr product brochure (PDF)

Marconi developed the product using 3M's touch screen technologies to solve an internally recognized problem - the need for collaboration between a geographically dispersed group of engineers. Here's an excerpt from the story, from Marconi’s ViPr Customers See Eye-to-Eye with 3M (3M's website, posted January 13, 2004).

'Some time ago, Marconi’s Broadband Routing & Switching group had a geographically-dispersed group of engineers who were on the same team and charged with tackling a common task. Some members of the group were in Pennsylvania, some in California, some in Texas, and some in the United Kingdom. Because of time zone differences and geographic distances, the group started looking at communication solutions such as traditional video conferencing systems and Web collaboration tools to help improve the efficiency of their problem-solving processes.

'“These solutions really didn’t get the job done. With the inherent delay in the video signals from existing products, they just didn’t work for meetings that required a high degree of visual collaboration and vigorous discussions,” recalls Fletcher. Despite these drawbacks in existing video-conferencing products, the engineering team completed the assigned task. However, that experience resulted in the Marconi’s decision to solve this communication problem in an effort to dramatically improve the capability of widely dispersed teams to work together more efficiently.

'So a team set out to discover what was needed to make telepresence actually work in the real world. They conducted extensive human factor studies to figure out why existing video conferencing, Web collaboration, and other remote presence technologies were unsuccessful. '

11:49:44 AM    
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