On the heels of Cisco’s announced acquisition of Tandberg ASA, IBM announced a new “managed telepresence solution”. Using its inimitable naming or branding convention, Big Blue refers to its new service as “IBM Converged Communications Services – Managed Telepresence”. The range of professional services offered includes: design, implementation, concierge and help desk, integration with client calendaring application, remote operations, and maintenance and support. In addition, given that these are six- or seven-figure projects and installations, billing and financing arrangements can be made through IBM Global Financing.

Meanwhile, Cisco’s acquisition of Tandberg expands its roster of Telepresence endpoints into the mass market. In the 2nd quarter of 2009, alone Tandberg sold 15,663 “endpoint units” and generated nearly $206 million (US) in revenues. Yet, while Cisco markets high-end, dedicated Telepresence centers tightly coupled with Cisco’s broadband IP routers and switches, Tandberg has found success in more modest installations that work with IP-routing infrastructure from multiple vendors and had recently forged partnerships with the likes of Siemens (in support of OpenScape’s multi-vendor routing) and Microsoft (in support of videoconferencing in conjunction with the Office Communication Server (OCS).

Video teleconferencing is definitely on an upward trajectory as employees in large companies discover how easy it is to initiate a video conference. In some cases they need to book time in a dedicated “Telepresence” facility. But a growing percentage are growing comfortable with the idea of toggling from text-based “chat” to desktop video at the click of a mouse. Tandberg has built its market share by bringing lower-cost telepresence centers to the the high end of medium and large enterprises. That’s also where Mitel comes into the picture with the latest roll-out of its Series X package. Among the products in its UC suite is a telepresence package that offers the same three-screen, hi-def, feel-like-you’re-in-the-same-room quality of the mid-six-figure Cisco Telepresence center.

The fact that Cisco values Tandberg at $3 billion says that enterprise video is about to hit an uptick, built on more affordable equipment and broader distribution. Outside the enterprise, we expect to see an uptick of equal proportions in user-generated video through uploads and peer-to-peer video chats.

Categories: Articles

Tags: Recombinant Telephony, Cisco, IP telephony, IBM