HP Shows Off High-Tech Videoconferencing

Although I'm not a fan of the word "telepresence" -- for me it conjures up strange images of Teletubbies and seances -- a Wall Street executive told me last week that his firm was taking a serious look at telepresence, meaning a type of presence awareness technology. So when HP invited me to a telepresence demo they were running uptown this afternoon, I accepted. I was a bit surprised to be ushered into a soundproof studio and sit facing a wall of high-definition monitors broadcasting live images of HP executives in London, Georgia, and California, all staring straight at me (and vice versa). I was filled with questions (why did I wear this outfit? why did I agree to a videoconferencing demo when I have 17,000 things to do back at the office?), but I have to admit the technology was impressive. The video quality and display were extremely clear -- the California executives placed a bar chart under a document camera and I could read very small numbers on it. The sound and video were perfectly synchronized -- a welcome change from the last time I saw a videoconferencing demo, in which the voices and moving mouths were comically (and distractingly) misaligned. Several people could also talk at once in different locations and all be heard.

Posted by Penny Crosman at 02:14 PM

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