Video Conferencing Industry Leaders

By Lori Shepherd
Updated: February 18, 2011

Recent advances in video conferencing technology is taking traditional board room meetings into a new and vivid realm. Whether business owners of large or small companies seek first-rate image quality or simply good enough web cam and chat ability, industry leaders have expanded offerings in this market in ways that offer something for individuals and small-to-large size businesses of every kind, offerings which are more appealing than ever before.

Here are several of the top players in the telepresence market:

• Tandberg, a Cisco Systems division: a global leader in video conferencing and telepresence mainly for its complete range of solutions, each of which incorporate innovative technology, namely video and sound quality and ease of use.
• Polycom: known as the company which creates “location liberation” for its ability to deliver a highly visual and immersive unified communications experience for its customers.
• Panasonic Visual Communications System: one of the newer leaders on the block which comprising the high-quality video and audio quality the company’s brand is known for. Panasonic’s collaborative experience is touted for its ability to give remote colleagues the sense they are in the same room together.
• HP, Halo: Hewlett Packard’s foray into the video conferencing market is substantial. Its immersive telepresence solution is experienced through Halo rooms where systems capable of HD, full screen, full motion, and high quality audio provides a physical studio build out, unlike what traditional boardroom solutions.

Hosted platforms are ideal for businesses of all sizes, but do tend to offer small business owners the greatest flexibility in terms of accommodating fewer staff members and requiring less upfront investment. In this space, these are the top players:

• Cisco, WebEx: for many, WebEx may be the first online meeting solution experience people recall given its years in the market and its proven ability to perform consistently and to offer security options to allow only designated attendees to participate in meetings. Business owners won’t need to worry about hardware installation or software maintenance.
• Megameeting: highly flexible and designed to provide marketing tools that allow various businesses of all sizes to make best use of face-to-face video conferencing. Some nice additional features lets up to 16 simultaneous participates, unlimited logins, and no contracts.
• PGI NetspokeWeb Conferencing: Visual presentation and audience involvement are supreme with this solution. Its ability to handle small member meetings and large web debates involving up to 125 participants is ideal for flexible environments.
• Microsoft Office Live: Live Meeting offers numerous convenient, features with exceptional range of system requirements. One of the solutions offering “per use” structure and one that is considered quite easy to set up.

Buyers will need to analyze the feasibility of web hosting versus on-premise telepresence solutions, as well as, the level of administrative capabilities for each. Overall, what makes a perfect conferencing solution for one business may be entirely different for another.