Enterprise Telepresence and Videoconferencing Forecast

 If you're like many multinational business leaders today, then your company exists within a complex network of vendors, customers and other collaborators. This business ecosystem is as vital to you as your employees and intellectual property. Keeping it healthy helps you maintain and grow your market share, navigate challenging economic conditions, and explore new business opportunities.

In many commercial scenarios, conducting international business and staying in touch with all your key stakeholders requires regular face-to-face communications. But sometimes you can accomplish your personal interaction objectives without the need to travel to distant places.

Infonetics Research released its current Enterprise Telepresence and Video Conferencing report, which provides insight and analysis of dedicated videoconference infrastructure and endpoints -- which includes the latest immersive telepresence applications.

Collaborating in a Global Distributed Organization

"Communicating via video continues to be one of the top trends, as evidenced by strong growth in the enterprise video market. Businesses worldwide are looking for richer means of communications with their employees, partners, and customers, and enterprise videoconferencing and telepresence solutions are a natural fit," said Matthias Machowinski, directing analyst for enterprise networks and video at Infonetics Research.

According to the findings from their latest market study, Infonetics says they believe that the biggest winners in the enterprise communications market will be those who offer solutions that are multi-modal, visual (video-based), and support the collaboration requirements of globally distributed organizations.

 Highlights of the Infonetics market study include:

• Annual enterprise video conferencing and telepresence system revenue grew 18 percent in 2010 to $2.2 billion worldwide.
• Infonetics expects the enterprise video conferencing and telepresence market to more than double by 2015, when it will reach $5.0 billion.
• Due to their versatility, multi-purpose room systems account for the majority of enterprise video conferencing equipment.
• Immersive telepresence systems are expected to have the highest growth rates of all video conferencing equipment.
• Based upon their low cost and availability on PBXs, software-based endpoints out-ship hardware by 10:1
• The acquisition of Tandberg propelled Cisco to the top position – based on the overall enterprise video conferencing market, with 50 percent of revenue in 2010.
• Polycom maintains its second position for revenue, and leads for units shipped.

Value-Added Benefits of Video Collaboration

You may recall, we've reported on the compelling cost savings associated with TelePresence service usage. It's proven to be a key motivator for increasing adoption. That said, a new market study has uncovered value-added benefits -- such as building trust, improving group collaboration, and increasing competitive advantage.

Cisco unveiled the findings of a global study of perceptions of video collaboration technologies in the workplace. The research, conducted by Ipsos Mori, polled an international sample of workers from across 12 countries and found that the benefits of TelePresence and video conferencing are extending well beyond the highly touted benefits of cost and travel reduction.

Among the key findings, 90 percent of respondents believe video collaboration saves them at least two hours of valuable work time a week. One-third of respondents who frequently use video collaboration solutions estimate they save close to one full day -- seven hours or more -- per week.

That adds up to more than two months of time a single employee can gain back over the course of a year.

The Ipsos Mori market study highlights include:

• Although both users and nonusers recognize the value of video collaboration technologies (76 vs. 60 percent, respectively), workers who frequently use the technology overwhelmingly value some of the qualitative benefits more than nonusers; for example, increasing competitive advantage (73 percent of frequent users vs. 42 percent of nonusers), bringing people closer together (71 percent of frequent users vs. 40 percent of nonusers), and improving work-life balance (70 percent of frequent users vs. 37 percent of nonusers).
• All respondents, including users and nonusers, agree that video collaboration enhances the communication experience when they are working from home (68 percent), helps maintain operations if work is disrupted (67 percent), improves group collaboration (67 percent), reduces confusion (67 percent), and projects a forward-looking view of an organization (64 percent).
• Globally, the highest percentage of workers who believe they can experience time savings of seven hours or more per week is China (46 percent). 20 percent of Russian workers report they are able to save more than seven hours per week through the use of video collaboration and telepresence.
• More than half (56 percent) of the respondents in China use video collaboration technology, more than double the respondents of any other country.
• More than two-thirds (68 percent) of all respondents perceive environmental benefits to using video collaboration technology, either through enhancing environmental responsibility or as a benefit of reduced travel. Across all 12 markets, at least half of the workers see some environmental benefit.
• One-third of those polled who are not currently using video collaboration solutions say they would be likely to do so if it were available to them. The percentage of workers who have the technology available but do not currently use it is much higher in France (54 percent) than other markets, such as the United States. (21 percent), Sweden (13 percent), Germany (13 percent) and Spain (13 percent).

The Cius Mobile Collaboration Business Tablet

In today's fast-paced world, the need to be constantly connected and always accessible has made mobility a strategic corporate asset across the enterprise. Business can come to a halt when employees do not have access to network services and when they cannot easily reach the people they need -- or be reached by the people who need them.

Cisco has unveiled Cisco Cius, a first-of-its-kind mobile collaboration business tablet that delivers virtual desktop integration with anywhere, anytime access to the full range of Cisco collaboration and communication applications, including HD video.

Cisco Cius is an ultra-portable device weighing just 1.15lbs (0.52kg) that extends the productivity benefits of Cisco collaboration applications to a highly secure mobile platform.


In addition to full telepresence interoperability, Cisco Cius offers HD video streaming and real-time video, multi-party conferencing, email, messaging, browsing, and the ability to produce, edit and share content stored locally or centrally in the cloud.

Based on the Android operating system, Cisco Cius is an open platform for communication and collaboration whose form factor and applications are designed to more securely connect employees on-the-go with the right people in real-time, and to provide those workers with the ability to access and share the content they need from any place on the network.

Cloud-based Collaboration and Communication Services
Cisco Cius offers IT professionals new options when it comes to equipping mobile workers with computing devices. Through virtual desktop integration, Cisco Cius offers flexible computing options with cloud-based services -- providing dramatically lower capital costs and cost-per-user for desktop maintenance.

Businesses can also tap into the growing Android developer community that is building business-class productivity applications with appropriate IT controls. The combination of applications and flexible computing options provides a compelling alternative to today's PC-on-every-desktop paradigm.

Cisco Cius provides support for the comprehensive suite of Cisco collaboration applications including Cisco Quad, Cisco Show and Share, Cisco WebEx Connect, Cisco WebEx Meeting Center, Cisco Presence, and interoperability with Cisco TelePresence.

Customer trials of Cisco Cius will begin in the third quarter of calendar year 2010, with general availability in the first quarter of calendar year 2011.

Cisco TelePresence via American Express vmX

American Express Business Travel and Cisco announced the global availability of public Cisco TelePresence Suites through American Express Business Travel's virtual meetings eXpert (vmX) solution.

This agreement provides corporate clients with virtual meeting consulting services which will enable clients to make better decisions about the best method of face-to-face collaboration -- by leveraging publicly-available Cisco TelePresence rooms and increase use of private, corporate-owned systems around the world.

Cisco TelePresence uses high-definition video and audio to create the experience of face-to-face meetings. People appear life-size around a virtual conference table, creating an environment where meeting participants feel as though they're sitting in the same room.

Public Cisco TelePresence Suites offer convenient access to organizations, travelers, remote workers or business partners to communicate and collaborate with colleagues, customers and partners. Public Cisco TelePresence Suites are currently available from a growing ecosystem of partners supported by Cisco in major business centers around the world.

These include, Marriott International, operated by AT&T, as well as the Tata Communications operated rooms at the Starwood and Taj Hotels and the Singapore public room at the Rendezvous Hotel.

Growing Demand for Online Collaboration
"As virtual meetings gain traction among corporations of all sizes, it is critical to offer a network of locations that companies can use to connect to and integrate virtual meetings into their overall travel and meetings program," said Lisa Durocher, senior vice president, American Express Business Travel.

"Cisco is a leading provider of telepresence technology and facilities and we are pleased to add its public Cisco TelePresence Suites to our solution. Our ultimate goal is to offer clients the guidance they need to optimize virtual meeting options while providing the widest coverage of publicly available rooms extending the reach of private rooms companies may already have available."

By combining the availability of public and private telepresence suites, virtual meetings eXpert offers companies a broader pool of virtual meeting options to help achieve corporate travel objectives and savings. The vmX platform is currently available through an offline reservation desk and is expected to be available online in 2011.

Announced last year, vmX is a unique, patent-pending, solution that serves as a central hub and aggregator of both publicly available telepresence facilities and private corporate facilities.

As a comprehensive virtual meetings solution, virtual meetings eXpert not only provides the necessary inventory, technology and physical locations to connect virtually, but also guides travelers through scenarios that determine whether to meet virtually or in person based on criteria such as price, trip duration, meeting purpose, environmental impact and more.

Managed Telepresence Gains New Converts

As the European aviation sector encountered major disruptions, online business meeting services attracted growing interest and new demand. Apparently, few traditional globetrotters plan for, or even anticipate, the effects of a natural disaster so many were searching for last-minute alternatives to international air travel.

Online visual collaboration platforms -- that enable just-in-time face-to-face meetings -- were a natural choice for the informed business travelers who, like most of us, only recently discovered that Iceland has an active volcano.

According to the latest market study by Frost & Sullivan, renewed awareness of videoconference solutions will create further opportunities for TelePresence service providers.

Telepresence Market Growth Predicted
Frost & Sullivan estimates the global Telepresence market value was $396.2 million for 2009, and forecasts this market to reach $825.9 million in 2015. Their research assessment included both ready-built Telepresence room solutions, and component parts that are used by third parties to construct customized Telepresence room solutions.

The effectiveness of the latest technologies and the impact of the global economic downturn are impelling businesses to re-assess Telepresence -- as a viable solution to facilitate reduced operation costs and create new sources of productivity increases.

"The volcano ash clouds from Iceland are just the latest in a long line of issues that have impacted business travel," says Frost & Sullivan principle analyst Dominic Dodd. "Telepresence in particular, has played a pivotal role over the last two to three years in helping build greater awareness and in re-focusing executive-level attention on visual collaboration."

Frost & Sullivan believes that Telepresence offers a unique proposition that can deliver effective and reliable visual communications. Its development and growth in popularity parallels advancements in other forms of collaboration as a service. Visual collaboration is also an essential part of a comprehensive Unified Communications (UC) strategy.

Immersive Experience will Accelerate Demand
The majority of Telepresence systems continue to rely on significant network bandwidth and quality of service management to perform up to their maximum potential. Globally, managed service offerings remain an essential ingredient for many users, as service providers continue to add new meeting room locations to their expanding networks.

Visual collaboration endpoints are expected to do well in the long term. Although, according to Frost & Sullivan, while the product format by which immersive Telepresence is delivered is likely to change, the overall demand for its unique features and benefits will continue to gain new user converts.

"While the latest research indicates that the market for today's ready-built systems will ultimately reach its upper-limit within the next five years, it also shows how growth demand for the immersive experience can accelerate as it is fed by other product sets such as high definition videoconferencing and custom Telepresence solutions," concludes Dodd.

Quest for Integrated Collaboration Service

Examining the ever-changing landscape of online collaboration, and assessing the growth of social networks, Cisco announced findings from a recent market study about end-user collaboration applications and individual preferences within the workplace.

Within the group of respondents using social networking for work, fifty-nine percent say that their usage of social media applications has increased over the past year. The study also found the most frequently used application for collaborating with others is email (91 percent).

However, what people want from their email application is changing -- the findings highlight the potential for email service evolution.

The market study, conducted by Harris Research, surveyed more than 1,000 end-users from across the United States and found that email is the preferred collaboration application at work for a variety of reasons.

Navigating within the Comfort Zone
Respondents like the fact that email provides an easily-accessible record of communication and the ability to communicate with many people at once. Users also rank email prominently among various online collaboration tools because there is a high-level of comfort in using the application to easily communicate with others inside and outside their organizations.

However, the poll showed there are many problems associated with the way most email solutions function today.

Many survey respondents complained they receive too much irrelevant email (40%) and that they lack the ability to collaborate in real time (32 percent). End users also dislike the fact that they have very limited storage (25 percent) and that large volumes of email come into their inbox with no organizational structure (21 percent).

In addition to email, the Harris poll found that other applications being used by respondents to collaborate with others in the workplace include shared spaces (66 percent), voice calls and teleconferencing (66 percent), web conferencing (55 percent), video conferencing (35 percent), instant messaging (34 percent), and social networking (17 percent).

Half of those using social networking for work by-pass IT restrictions to do so. The study participants who prefer to use social networks indicated they would like to have control over who sees their content as well as be able to share with groups of users using different tools.

Designing an Intuitive Collaboration Experience
The respondents also indicated the desire to collaborate in real time without having to open up an additional application.

To address the needs of end users, Cisco is focused on providing an integrated collaboration experience between its recently announced hosted email solution and a variety of the company's other collaboration offerings including enterprise social software, unified communications, IP telephony, instant messaging, and presence.

This collaboration platform combines various data sources and allows communications to turn into shared content. This new type of collaboration -- plus the evolution of email -- helps enable better teamwork, whether ad-hoc or formal, internal or external, and will deliver improved inbox efficiency, via topic organization, to accommodate growing email volume.