Polycom Adds Bandwidth-Saving Technology and Mid-Range Telepresence System

The coming explosion of video conferencing will bring enterprises a lot of benefits. Employees will communicate better with each other, and eventually with employees of other enterprises. Savings on travel costs will be substantial. But the trend will also bring a lot of headaches. Chief among these will be an explosion of bandwidth needed to carry all the video traffic. A new effort by Polycom aims to halve the bandwidth video conferencing will require. Coincidentally, the company is introducing a more modestly priced immersive telepresence system as well.

The bandwidth reduction will result from Polycom's decision to build H.264 High Profile technology into all of its immersive and room telepresence products. High Profile supports high-definition video at as little as 512 kbps, and standard definition from 128 kbps. Polycom claims that can save a 1,500-employee enterprise with four immersive systems, 40 room systems and one bridge $59,000 per year. For a 5,000-employee enterprise with eight immersive and 150 room systems, also with a single bridge, the savings jump to $166,000. Though High Profile initially won't in the desktop HDX 4000 personal systems, eventually it will reach even low-end products, according to sales manager Jim Kruger. Desktop systems, he explains, "are where you get the real volumes and thus more savings."

The new equipment Polycom announced at the same time is the OTX (for Open Telepresence Experience) 300. It fits in the middle of Polycom's immersive telepresence line, below the flagship RPX systems and above the TPX and ATX products. The OTX 300 is a "room within a room" system incorporating three monitors, hidden cameras and a conference table with pop-up color touch displays that allow one-touch connection with other sites. It supports 1080p at 30 frames per second and 720p at 60 FPS. It employs Polycom's lost-packet recovery to maintain quality in the face of network problems.

The new system figures prominently in Polycom's claims to also offer big savings on equipment costs, which range from $544,000 with the 1,500-employee example to $1,945,000 for the 5,000-employee enterprise. Added to the bandwidth savings, Polycom claims total first-year savings for the two examples of from $603,000 to $2.1 million.