HP Provides High-Def Video Conferencing Products

HP has announced that new visual collaboration products have been made available. They can work for desktop and conference rooms, providing a high-definition video experience anywhere and at any time.

The HP Visual Collaboration offerings are software-based, and are designed to reduce the need for travel, thus saving expenses and reducing carbon emissions that come from transportation. Expanding upon HP Halo high-end studios, the solutions let customers run video conferencing over a managed network or their own for flexible collaboration.

HP Visual Collaboration products use software-based scalable video coding technology from Vidyo Inc to reduce network requirements and bandwidth needs while providing HD-quality videos. The new solutions include the HP Visual Collaboration Desktop software client, the HP Visual Collaboration Executive Desktop, and the HP Visual Collaboration Room 100 and Room 220.

"This announcement is based on an agreement HP reached with Vidyo, which uses a proprietary version of the internet-friendly Scalable Video Coding (SVC) technology to reliably deliver high(er)-quality videoconferences over less-than-pristine packet networks, and to adapt to changes in the network gracefully (for instance, changes in end-end latency and packet loss)," says UCStrategies UC Expert Lisa Pierce. "Thus, it is complementary to, not competitive with, HP's Halo solution. Vidyo's technology can be employed in both desktop and room-based videoconferencing applications. HP's agreement with Vidyo clearly demonstrates HP's recognition of both the size of the desktop and down-market opportunity, and the urgency to quickly bring a solution to the marketplace (buy vs. build a product). But solutions that are early to market also often come with offsetting costs."

Pierce explains, "In this case, companies currently must employ a Vidyo router (HP's Visual Collaboration Router), even for in-network conferences. Since virtually all companies that use these capabilities will require connectivity to non-Vidyo solutions, they also must employ a Vidyo gateway (HP's Visual Collaboration Gateway). Depending on the mix of traffic, companies may also find they must make accommodations for increased traffic on their LANs (due to significant, unanticipated growth in the use of desktop videoconferencing).

Pierce recommends that this can be a cost-effective solution, but business customers must clearly first understand and quantify their current and future videoconferencing traffic patterns and volumes-both for room and desktop based systems. Identify all system and end-end network requirements, and establish and maintain appropriate use policies.

For more information, visit www.hp.com.