Modern man has developed various methods to improve the quality and efficiency of communication between people. Telephony allows people to communicate over large distances. Video telephony uses audio-video signals for communication between people over large distances. And the recent concept of Telepresence Videoconferencing allows audio-video communication of very high fidelity & quality.
However, what makes telepresence videoconferencing different from traditional videoconferencing is the effect and feel of an immersive environment – The placement of cameras, the surrondings, the colors and the furniture of the room, the tables and chairs – are all placed so as to give a feeling of the meeting being held in the same room. People can feel that everyone in present in the meeting even though they are attending the meeting from different parts of the world – hence, called telepresence.
Image Credit : TANDBERG Corporation (Cisco)
As can be seen in the image above, the colors and the placement of people, chairs and tables in the room together provide an immersive environment. And along with very high quality video and audio – form a Telepresence System. Hence, a telepresence videoconferencing system is composed of 3 components : High Quality Audio, High Quality Video & An Immersive Environment.
Telepresence technology involves development of technology for transmitting high quality audio and video as well as creating the immersive environment. Cisco Systems acquired Tanderberg in 2010 and is the leading Telepresence system developer. Cisco is developing a series of Telepresence solutions.
These systems are very easy to use by the end user and can be used by business people, other professionals as well as students. A demonstration of these systems can be seen in the videos that follow: