Cultivating the Visual Communication Market

With Beau Wardak, General Manager for TANDBERG Middle East

BM. The benefits of collaboration technologies in terms of cost/time-savings have been well documented, but how can such solutions help improve elements such as decision-making and creativity?
BW. TANDBERG’s mission is to change the way people communicate. Our vision of the future anticipates a world in which all communication is completely natural, unencumbered by technology. Natural communication is the ability to interact with someone – a co-worker, customer or supplier — as if you were in the same room.

Videoconferencing is a powerful multimedia tool that improves communication and increases productivity. Along with e-mail, instant messaging, web conferencing and other collaboration technologies, video is part of a unified communication strategy for any organisation looking to improve its competitive positioning and the quality of life of its employees. With a unified communication approach, all communication tools work seamlessly together, allowing users to move from one form of communication to the next without a break in the flow of conversation. Imagine an instant message between two co-workers escalating to a real-time video meeting over IP, then patching in a supplier on his 3G mobile phone, and later streaming over the web to those who couldn’t make the live call.

BM. There’s been a good deal of excitement surrounding telepresence technologies. How does telepresence differ from traditional videoconferencing solutions?
BW. Telepresence is a video communication experience creating the perception that remote participants are sitting right across the table in the same room. It is not a new concept, but it is all about the experience. We don’t see much difference between videoconferencing and telepresence, and the only difference is that telepresence caters to high-end boardroom and CXO-level users and a traditional videoconferencing solution is more focused on meeting room and desktop solutions. TANDBERG shipped its first telepresence unit in 1985. Simply put: telepresence is the use of video communication technology to create a lifelike meeting experience.

BM.Will this be a big part of your strategy going forward?
BW. TANDBERG has a serious commitment to develop and cultivate the high-end Telepresence market. TANDBERG is at the forefront of the video industry, consistently the first to deliver fresh functionality and realise new applications for multimedia collaboration. Our approach to research and development is designed to help customers be more productive. Through innovation, integration and a commitment to our customers, we have set the pace for this dynamic industry. Our strategy is to continue to focus on developing innovative, end-to-end visual communications products that interoperate and integrate with any voice and video end-points along with personal computers as a unified communication infrastructure.

Telepresence can help our customers realise productivity gains and cost savings by improving the quality of collaboration between distant teams and individuals, and reducing reliance on travel. It can rejuvenate and restore the reputation of visual communications, and in doing so help companies leverage under-utilised video conferencing systems. And telepresence can help organisations reduce their environmental impact, cutting carbon emissions and enhancing their image at the same time.

BM. The telecommunications infrastructure in the Middle East region is still thought of as a ‘work in progress’ by some commentators. To what extent do you agree with this, and what challenges remain to be overcome for the region to boast of a truly world-class communications network?
BW. The current deregulation of the telecommunication market in the Middle East is great news for us all. Even greater news is that TANDBERG visual communications products make use of a lot less bandwidth than any of our competitors in the market. We deliver high quality video and sound on extremely low bandwidth such as 384K, and that differentiates TANDBERG from our competitors. With telepresence more than any other form of visual communications, the design and construction of the network is critical. Because of the high-quality images and sound, and the large number of screens and cameras deployed, telepresence has high-end bandwidth requirements, with 4Mbps regarded as a baseline. Our competitors require higher bandwidth, with between 8Mbps and 12Mbps generally stated as the requirement for the majority of multi-screen systems on the market today.