Attempting to tap in to the demand by extended organisations to
improve business
efficiency by deploying
IT that enhances collaboration and cuts costs, Verizon Business
has unveiled a high definition video conferencing service.
The network provider believes that its service will see use at
customers who are turning to video conferencing as an alternative
to face-to-face meetings to boost productivity, trim business
travel costs and help reduce carbon emissions associated with
business travel.
According to a study conducted in 2006 by Frost & Sullivan
(sponsored by Verizon Business and Microsoft),
collaboration is
a key driver of business performance. The study also found that
IT professionals around the world see their collaborative efforts
as highly productive and believe that collaboration through
communications technologies can provide a competitive
advantage.
Running over the Verizon Business global public and Private
IP network, the HD video conferencing is designed to provide
images with finer resolution and a sharper, clearer picture than
videoconferencing services using standard definition (SD) video.
The HD video conferencing experience supported by Verizon offers a
screen resolution frame size of 1,280 x 720 pixels and a
transmission speed of 30 frames per second.
To take advantage of the offering, customer equipment must
support high definition at each location participating in HD
meetings. The access may be provided through the public Internet or
over Verizon Private IP service, with four access speeds
available: 1,152kbps, 1,472kbps, 1,536kbps and 1,920kbps.
Despite incurring a noticeable cost compared with SD services,
HD video conferencing solutions are of such quality, says Verizon,
that they can vastly improve the video-conferencing experience by
to provide a clearer, crisper and higher-quality video picture for
customers with high-definition-capable video equipment.
"A key benefit to video conferencing is the leader's ability to
know participants are engaging in the topic, since the leader can
see them and visually interact;" said Mike Marcellin, vice
president of Product Marketing for Verizon Business. "HD video
enriches the collaboration session by delivering a more realistic
and lifelike experience than previously available with standard
video conferencing. As organisations continue to consider use of
immersive video conferencing in the longer term, high-definition
video conferencing offers an improved, immediate and cost-effective
alternative to in-person meetings.'”