Video conferenceing options continue to grow

One of the most exciting collaboration technologies is video conferencing. It has tons of potential, but has rarely managed to be realized, mostly due to high initial investment costs, high per-minute charges and interoperability issues. One by one these barriers are falling down, and some new developments seem to be taking things even further towards easy video conferencing for all.

Of the above barriers, two have been resolved over the past few years. Connectivity charges are down significantly thanks to the pervasive spread of IP-based solutions supplanting ISDN options. And the interoperability issues have been addressed through a move towards standards-based solutions and bridge services such as Courtroom Connect. That leaves initial investment as the main barrier to video conferencing.

Quanta and OoVoo, a hardware and software company, respectively, have teamed up to offer an HD video conferencing solution that is designed to be affordable and compatible with pretty much any HD display and internet connection. The device plugs in to an Ethernet connection, an HD monitor, a camera and a microphone and provides near-HD level quality at 512kbps. The goal is to provide the solution at a fraction of the ~$10K that a comparable Tandberg system costs, and they seem to be well on their way to doing so, though they haven't announced final pricing yet. The solution can also be terminated on a computer running the OoVoo software, making for a truly hybrid connectivity solution. Right now they seem to be marketing the system towards home users, but if it really works that easily and inexpensively there's a pretty good chance that it will show up in offices, too.

Also in the video conferencing space, Microsoft has a pretty cool product called RoundTable. RoundTable is a camera and phone device that allows for a 360° view of a conference table, with software that will activate the camera facing the person who is talking. It lets the remote side "see" everyone and always keep an eye on the person presenting. It is not as universal as the OoVoo/Quanta solution claims to be, but still pretty cool.

As remote collaboration continues to grow and the barriers continue to fall, solutions like these will become more and more common. This would seem to just be the start.