Recently in Telepresence Category

Phil Edholm has been writing an extended blog about his concept of Communications Dimensions.

In his recent posting, Phil Edholm wrote that "telepresence systems have four distinct disadvantages; the cost of the base system, the cost of bandwidth and operation, the challenges to interoperability among vendors, and eye contact."

The first three are well understood, which is why telepresence solutions have become the executive jets of the board room.

But the last point exposed for me a key current limitation of these systems- even though they use HD full size video, the lack of eye contact creates a large barrier to effective interpersonal communications. In fact, my experience has been that a sense of lack of connectedness and aloofness is created when a remote speaker is talking to you with his eyes looking somewhere else.

This is clearly an opportunity for eye ball processing technology research.

But then, you don't want the system to automatically adjust a speaker's eyes when he's lying through his teeth by NOT looking you in the eye!

Deloitte has chosen Nortel as a global managed services provider for telepresence, video conferencing and associated multimedia services, across 130 sites globally. It's a big deal.

The business value of these capabilities includes lower travel cost, increased productivity and reduced carbon footprint. This value comes as much from the technology as it does from the service dimension.

A Service-powered solution makes meeting with a client remotely as easy as walking into a conference room. You have got to love this if you are Deloitte consultant. The service is supported by eight Nortel Multimedia Network Operations Centers (MNOC's), providing 24x7x365 concierge-level service.

But you're not as big and global as Deloitte? No problem, just enter your typical travel costs for meetings with colleagues and customers, and you'll see your ROI as well as a positive impact on the environment.