Vidyo, which began shipping its videoconferencing-over-IP system in March, has just won the startup category in this year's Best Of Interop competition. Vidyo promises to make low-cost, high-quality videoconferencing an option for more companies.Two years in development, Vidyo unveiled its videoconferencing suite in January at the Demo conference. The line consists of a videoconferencing router, desktop client, portal, gateway, and room system. The router, client, and portal began shipping in March, while the gateway and room system are in beta testing and due for general availability in May.

Vidyo uses scalable video coding, or SVC, to deliver high-def video streaming over general-purpose IP networks. The VidyoRouter adapts to available bandwidth and sends end points only as many packets as they're capable of handling throughout a video session. One of the things we like about the system (I helped with the judging) is that it's easily extended to workers in branch and home offices, which means Vidyo's system should find regular and widespread use in a company. Cisco is licensing Vidyo's technology for use in its Unified Communications desktop products.

Since demoing its technology in January, Vidyo has been busy getting the various pieces out the door, while signing resellers and, in Europe, videoconferencing service providers. In the United States, among the organizations giving Vidyo a look are financial firms, consulting companies, government agencies, and universities. A major consumer products company also has expressed interest, says Marty Hollander, senior VP of marketing.

Vidyo's got a few things working in its favor. Its hardware employs Intel processors, not the DSP chips used in some other systems, so it benefits from the economics of the Intel model. And Vidyo has adopted subscription-based pricing ($30 per desktop per year), so there's no huge upfront investment.