Cisco Systems’ TelePresence video conferencing products

Cisco Systems’ TelePresence video conferencing products over the past five years have been praised for
helping businesses save money on travel costs and improving employee
productivity, but also have been criticized for being expensive and closed.

Image via CrunchBase

Cisco officials are looking to answer those criticisms with new and enhanced TelePresence offerings designed
to expand the reach of the technology to
smaller businesses and enable more people to leverage the technology.

With the new products unveiled Oct. 26, the company is looking to grow its market lead over a growing
number of aggressive rivals that include Polycom, Logitech’s LifeSize Communications, VIdyo and Radvision. They’re all trying to get a better
foothold in a rapidly expanding market that market research firm Infonetics has
said will see double-digit growth into 2015.

“With 52 percent global market share, Cisco TelePresence has been forging the path for new ways of
working together, where everyone, everywhere can be ‘present’ to make better and
faster decisions,” O.J. Winge, senior vice president and general manager of
Cisco’s TelePresence Technology Group, said in a statement. “The next phase of
TelePresence will democratize the in-person experience for people in all sizes
and types of organizations.”

Among the new technologies is an SMB offering that leverages cloud computing. Through a hosted service
called Cisco TelePresence Callway, businesses can buy or lease select
multipurpose or personal endpoints, which can be connected to the service. Cisco
manages the Callway service, which is sold through channel partners starting at
$99 a month. Using Callway, businesses get unlimited calls to any TelePresence
endpoint or standards-based video device from other vendors, a key move in
opening up what rivals have called a proprietary system. Up to 12 people can
participate in the call.

It also takes away some of the expense and complexity, which Cisco officials said have been hurdles to SMBs
adopting the technology. The Callway service is available immediately.

Cisco also is offering endpoints enable businesses to offer TelePresence capabilities outside of
conference rooms. With Cisco’s Jabber Video for TelePresence software, users can
invite others to join TelePresence calls from such devices as desktop and laptop
PCs as well
as tablets. Users can go to a Website to send invitations to join a TelePresence
call. Cisco will roll out a beta program for the offering in the first quarter
of 2012.

Related articles

• As Cisco TelePresence Turns 5, New Flavors (informationweek.com)
• Cisco TelePresence: Unlocking the Full Power of Video Collaboration (blogs.cisco.com)