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Telepresence Doesn't Have To Cost A Fortune

The concept of "telepresence" is brilliant when it comes to meeting your peers face-to-face without ever having to step foot on an airplane. But not many companies are willing to shell out $300,000 to put such a system in place. That's why one startup, called LifeSize, caught my attention at Interop when it showed off its affordable high definition videoconferencing system.

I was walking around the Interop show floor when a woman sitting at a desk waved to me and said "hi." I also greeted her and only then realized that I was talking to a HDTV screen. The woman turned out to be a LifeSize employee, demonstrating the company's videoconferencing system from Texas through a live 1 Mbps Internet link.

What’s most appealing about LifeSize is the affordable price and much better quality than standard Web-based conferencing systems. While LifeSize claims to offer "telepresence" quality, I must say that it depends on the screen you buy and surrounding environmental factors. A large HD screen can create an illusion of a person being present in a room with you. But a smaller screen with multiple outputs doesn't always deliver realistic colors and a clear picture.

Cisco requires customers to build an entire studio for its telepresence system, so that the lighting, sound, and picture appear very lifelike. Cisco's three-screen system can cost around $300,000. A system from Hewlett-Packard starts at $200,000. As a comparison, you can get a LifeSize system for $6,000 plus the cost of a HD screen.

LifeSize this week expanded its HD video product line with three new offerings: LifeSize Express, which does point-to-point video, supports up to 1.5 Mbps, and costs $6,000; LifeSize Team MP, which does multipoint video, supports up to 2.5 Mbps, and costs $9,000; and LifeSize Conference, which uses multiple monitors and has a telepresence configuration, supports up to 15 Mbps, and costs $45,000.

Price definitely has been a deterrent for smaller companies interested in implementing telepresence. Looks like change is right around the corner as more affordable options like LifeSize become available.

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