It's Alive! Or is it? The Return of Video Conferencing?

I thought video conferencing (VC) had died.  In fact at my last place of employment we issued a DNR (Do Not Resuscitate) order on the VC equipment.  Frankly, the technology just wasn't that good.  For anything other than a one-on-one meeting the television monitor just wasn't much help.  To view everyone on the other end you had to have such a wide view that the all important body language factor was pretty much lost.  There was no real eye contact. If you had more than one other location in the conference you would get the video and audio flipping back and forth with people talking over each other.  The audio lag especially on international calls was also very disconcerting.  People quickly learned simple audio conference calls coupled with Webinar technology was just as effective in addition to being less expensive.  Why pay all that money if you can't get that "human interaction factor" that was promised.  High-definition TV monitors and more plentiful bandwidth no doubt have improved it some but that human element is still missing.

I recently ran across a November 6th BusinessWeek UpFront article [Registration and subscription may be necessary to view] entitled "Are You Ready For Your Close-Up?" that talked about some new developments that may change all of this.  HP recently rolled out what they call their Halo system.  Polycom offers a similar product call RPX.  These appear to have captured that "human interaction factor" I mentioned.

• The people on-screen are life size
• There is no audio lag - lips move in sync with the audio
• There's eye contact
• To enhance the feeling of being in the same room the conference rooms are set up identically with the same tables and wall colors.

Click on the pictures (from the HP website) to get a larger view and better understanding of how this looks.  This is truly amazing technology (dare I say cool?)

VC vendors have historically touted travel savings are part of their cost justification.  Although cost savings are important, to me the bigger obstacle that VC can overcome is scheduling.  Working out the schedules of business executives for a few hours or a day for an important meeting is difficult.  Add in the travel time and it gets even tougher.  To me that is the real value of VC - you get people together much sooner and with this new technology almost as effectively as in real life.

The downside to all of this.  Cost.  BusinessWeek reported that the Halo system can cost (are you sitting down?) $425,000 plus $18,000 per month per location in operating cost.  Obviously this is much more than any but the largest corporations can afford.  However, as with all technology no doubt the cost will come down as it gets more widely accepted.  Additionally, I wouldn't be surprised if you see new VC "conference centers" spring up in major cities where you can rent the use of this for a few hours or days.

I don't know about you but I won't miss those trips to the airport all that much.