Cisco's expensive TelePresence may be out of reach to most companies for now, but it's still a fascinating piece of technology that could change the way we work across time and space. Compared to traditional video conferencing, you'll feel that that the person you're talking to is just right in front of you in a telepresence session. I experienced it myself for the first time at Cisco's Singapore office, where a group of journalists spoke to some folks from Cisco Hong Kong.
One of the criticisms against teleworking is the need for us to interact with real people in the flesh. There's just something lacking in current video conferencing products that just doesn't deliver that kind of experience. The telepresence market has great potential. Apart from Cisco, other players like Polycom, Tanberg and HP are offering similar solutions. But until prices (a few hundred thousand USD for a single installation) comes down, it's still cheaper to fly your employees across the globe.
Recently, I came across this video where Cisco CEO John Chambers demo-ed his telepresence product on stage in Bangalore last year. The demo made use of London-based Musion System's display technology, a transparent foil stretched across the stage. Chambers beamed his San Jose-based colleagues, who appeared as holograms that were so real you couldn't even tell the difference that they were located somewhere else.
Labels: conferences, technology
