The Webtorials Editorial/Analyst Group just released the findings from the “2010 Next Generation Video Conferencing and Collaboration Report,” and the results show that perhaps we have finally – after almost 50 years of talking about video – reached the point where it is indeed time for video to become a mainstream part of your network.
The Webtorials Editorial/Analyst Group just released the findings from the “2010 Next Generation,” and the results show that perhaps we have finally – after almost 50 years of talking about video – reached the point where it is indeed time for video to become a mainstream part of your network.
Video Conferencing and Collaboration Report
As the report abstract noted as key findings:
• Videoconferencing is already a key part of intra-company collaboration.
• Scheduled conferences with special conference rooms are most common.
• Significant growth is seen for ad hoc and inter-company conferencing.
• Scheduled conferences both present challenges and are fairly well saturated.
• Major drivers include increased productivity as well as “hard” financial savings.
• The introduction of easy-to-use desktop videoconferencing will be a major driver for achieving goals and overcoming current obstacles.
• Major objections are met by emerging technologies and services.
It’s this last point that we see as being particularly relevant from a WAN services perspective. In particular, the primary obstacles to using videoconferencing today are “Equipment costs” (46% of respondents), “Have to go to a special room to use” (44%), and “Bandwidth costs” (37%).
Avaya CEO: How video will change business world
These three factors are integrally interrelated. Let’s start with “Equipment costs.” Purpose-build rooms are indeed expensive, so there is naturally a scheduling issue. However, the survey showed an explosion in HD conferencing from the desktop. (By this, we are referring to having a special purpose-built “phone” that includes HD-quality video.) For example, Avaya recently introduced it’s “Flare” product that should serve as a catalyst in fueling this usage. In particular, it comes in at an affordable price with desktop capabilities.
So this takes care of the first two objections. And now comes bandwidth costs. Many of us can remember the days when to took a full T-3 (or more) just to transmit SD quality video. But ten-plus years of enhanced codecs to optimize quality and lower bit rates and a continuing drop in the cost per bit-per-second are addressing this point quite well.
Our take-away from this is that you should expect to see a major increase in traffic over the next couple of years. However, the bandwidth costs will not be as important to address as making sure that you have appropriate management tools in place to ensure appropriate delivery for this traffic with low latency and excellent availability.
