Telepresence Becoming More Accessible to SMB’s

Cisco, Polycom, Vidyo and other telepresence providers are accelerating solution development and delivery to small-and-medium-sized businesses. SMB’s make up a substantial portion of the economy, particularly in the Federal, State, and Local government contracting markets – it’s good to see B2B telepresence capability extending to all stakeholders, whether big or small. Cisco, Polycom and Vidyo understand the value that Telepresence brings to meetings between large systems integrators and their numerous small, geographically-dispersed partners. With more affordable & scalable cloud and software-based offerings available, SMB’s are eager to adopt the same Telepresence solutions as their larger partners.

Read more below:

http://www.echannelline.com/usa/story.cfm?item=27250

Polycom Announces RealPresence Mobile App

Well, that was quick… In step with Vidyo, LifeSize, Radvision, and other telepresence providers, Polycom is aggressively pursuing its announced transition towards software-based technologies with the release of the first enterprise software solution for Apple, Motorola Mobility, and Samsung tablets “with more mobile devices to follow”, making good on its promise to extend telepresence rapidly to almost every significant mobile platform and device. Polycom’s initial offering of this sort came in March, when it announced an application that would deliver mobile telepresence on the MOTOROLA XOOM, and with this newest release of applications for the Apple iOS and Android platforms, it’s safe to say the flood gates of mobile telepresence have definitively swung wide open.

If you’ve been following the video market this year, all of this probably seems like the beginning of a massive race towards mobile telepresence. It is. With more and more companies entering the arena, Polycom is leading the charge, so you can expect to see mobile HD telepresence become ubiquitous over the next few years.

Mobile Telepresence Gaining Traction

The last few years’ frenzied proliferation of do-it-all mobile devices combined with mobile phone carriers’ hard charge towards expanding the speed and reach of mobile broadband is making mobile video a must-have feature for both business end users and regular consumers alike. The new iPhone’s recent unveiling – an annual bellwether for the mobile device industry – is already having a marked impact upon the video teleconferencing market. Radvision released its SCOPIA Mobile V3 app last week, which is available for download via the Apple Store. While specific to the new iPhone 4S’s (as well as iPad’s and MacBook’s) iOS operating system, Radvision is plotting a rapid rollout of apps similar to SCOPIA Mobile V3 for Android and other systems and devices. Others are following suit: Vidyo and LifeSize announced their own apps for the new iPhone 4S last week, and it’s safe to assume they’ll soon have available similar applications for the other predominant mobile operating systems such as Android.

It will merit much more than a glance from all the players in telepresence, including paradigm shifters such as Vidyo, who are banking significantly on mobile application development moving forward. Indeed, Cisco and Polycom – telepresence’s two most prominent names – have for some time been adapting their more traditional models of custom telepresence rooms towards standards-based, software-driven technologies. As we mentioned in a blog posting earlier this year (“Polycom Extends Mobile Telepresence to MOTOROLA XOOM“), the trend towards implementing true HD telepresence on mobile devices is just beginning, but with increasingly bigger and bolder investment it seems set to become the standard sooner rather than later.

Taking Telemedicine to the Next Level

Even before Cisco aired this commercial during the 2010 World Cup of Nova Scotia native Ellen Page unexpectedly chatting with her hometown doctor on his vacation in Copenhagen, telepresence had been a tool for delivering physician consultations and other “non-physical” medical services at an accelerating rate across the world.

Telemedicine appeals especially to those in rural, remote and developing regions for obvious reasons, as well as to the rest of us who dread the inevitable two-hour wait we endure to see our general practitioner for 15 minutes.  I’m all for it.  And now comes the next great step forward in telemedicine – telesurgery.  Yep, just last week doctors in Kenya, under the guidance and direction of doctors in India, performed several surgical procedures utilizing telepresence.

http://www.businessdailyafrica.com/Video+surgery+opens+the+next+frontier+in+e+health+/-/539546/1234600/-/item/0/-/rwai9qz/-/index.html

The basic rationale for telesurgery – cost savings on travel and accommodations – is much the same as it is for the broader practice of telemedicine.  But rather than just affording a convenience and increasing efficiency, telesurgery has the more dramatic potential to deliver life-saving procedures to people who otherwise would not receive them, while at the same time allowing the foremost experts in various fields of medicine located in any part of the world to provide critical, real-time, virtual “hands-on” training to doctors who can then leverage their expertise locally.  The positive impact upon medically underserved communities throughout the developing world – a market segment you might think would be one of the last to benefit from advanced telepresence – could be huge.

VSGi is Hiring an AV AutoCAD Drafter / Operator / Technician in NOVA / DC

VSGi is in search of an AV CAD Drafter/Operator/Technician in our office location in Mclean, VA. We would like you to join our team working on the latest in Low Voltage system designs, including Videoconferencing, Video wall Displays & Operations centers, Sound Systems, Houses of Worship, video streaming and Corporate Boardrooms, etc. We have multiple full-time permanent AutoCAD opportunities with an industry leading Video conferencing/Audio Visual design firm.

Job Summary:

The selected candidate will be responsible for developing engineered audio visual plans in an AutoCad  platform; receiving roughly designed concepts from engineers and transforming them into (CAD) working documents. In this role, you will prepare construction and schematic AV drawings, establish CADD standards, and create a block library. Ideal candidates will be skilled in CAD applications and have work experience ranging from 0 to 3 years in the field or in a related area. Candidates must be familiar with standard design layouts, practices and procedures within the AutoCAD industry.

Primary Duties and Responsibilities:

• Creating a preliminary and/or final plan using computer-assisted design/drafting equipment.

• Modifying drawings as directed by engineer or design coordinator

• Performing miscellaneous job-related duties as necessary.

Skills:

• 0-3 years of AutoCAD electrical design experience

• Audio Visual experience preferred

• Able to read and interpret architectural blueprints

• Familiar with standard design concepts, practices and procedures
• Experience with AutoCAD 2010+

• Experience with Microsoft Office and Microsoft Excel
• Proficiency in the use of Revit, sketch up and other 3D computer design programs preferred

• Knowledgeable of Xref, sheetset manager, Dimstyle, Scaling, etc

• Familiar with (IBC) International Building Code a plus

• Ability to communicate effectively with excellent oral and written communications skills

Apply by emailing cover letter, resume and salary requirements to: careers@vsgi.com. We look forward to hearing from you!