The Bose brand is best known for its hi-fi equipment, but its Bose Work family of products is designed to provide fully rounded communications solutions, and the Videobar VB1 is its first all-in-one videconferencing solution.

The design is classy: the VB1 takes the form of a sleek brushed-graphite bar that can be mounted under a meeting room monitor or placed on a desk using the sturdy metal stand included in the kit. Wherever you choose to put it, its 48mm height means it won’t get in the way.

Happily, the low profile doesn’t come at the cost of features. The VB1 sports a central 4K camera and a powerful 20W speaker at each end. Six microphones along its length pick up audio and take care of speaker tracking, while both Gigabit Ethernet and 802.11ac wireless are built in for easy connection to your network. Bluetooth is available for mobile access too, while USB Type-C 3 and HDMI ports handle host computer and meeting-room display connections.

One clever feature of the VB1 is its support for DisplayLink: other VC bars require a HDMI connection to show your meetings on the big screen, but Bose uses a USB cable instead, to ensure compatibility with the widest possible range of devices. We tested this on a Windows 10 PC loaded with the DisplayLink driver and Microsoft DisplayLink Manager app, and found we could easily swap between local and VB1 monitors, or mirror our local screen to the VB1.

Performance was good during meetings. Speaker tracking was suitably quick, with the camera consistently snapping to the correct speaker within about three seconds, and we were impressed with the unit’s ability to transmit clear human voices while excluding other extraneous sounds. We confirmed this for ourselves by setting up a Teams meeting between our VB1 host and another system at the far end of the lab, and making distracting sounds such as hand clapping, paper rustling and keyboard tapping. Through all this the receiving station remained entirely silent, while spoken words were conveyed flawlessly. Indeed, our testers remarked on how clear and natural speech sounded, even when speakers were seated as far as four metres away from the VB1.

Bose’s experience of designing loudspeakers is just as much in evidence. The VB1 projects the best sound quality we’ve heard from a room bar, and it’s great for music too, so you could use it to provide background music for events.

As for video quality, we’ve no complaints. The camera’s wide field of view allows it to work in larger meeting rooms; our only issue is with the digital zoom. This nominally offers 5x magnification, but when the auto-tracking feature zooms in close to a speaker’s face, the image quality conspicuously deteriorates.

PTZ can also be controlled from the supplied remote handset, along with audio volume and Bluetooth controls. Adjusting the camera settings disables the auto-framing feature, but you can instantly turn this back on by hitting the button in the centre.

Bose’s Work Configuration web console provides remote access to all video and audio features, plus a choice of backlight-compensation levels. We particularly like the way the microphone page shows a visualisation of the mic array audio beams, allowing you to change between dynamic and static modes and define custom speaking areas for the room.

Control apps are also offered for Windows, macOS, iOS and Android, which mirror the remote handset controls. And if you have multiple VB1s, you can use the Bose Work Management app for Windows to manage them all from one console.

It’s far from the cheapest VC bar on the market, but Bose’s Videobar VB1 is a class act for huddle spaces and meeting rooms. It’s easy to set up and use, with smart auto-framing features, and its audio quality is a cut above the rest.

Bose Videobar VB1 specifications

Every laptop these days comes with a built-in webcam that can be used for online meetings, but Poly’s Studio P15 is aimed at those that wanting to project a more professional image. It takes many of the features found in Poly’s meeting-room solutions and presents them in a compact bar that clips neatly to the top of your monitor.

Those include a 4K UHD camera with a mechanical privacy shutter, an 8W internal speaker and a beamforming triple-microphone array. The latter is used to provide the same type of speaker-tracking as found in conference-room setups, taking advantage of the camera’s decent 90° field of view and 4x digital zoom, which means the Studio P15 could also work for a small huddle room. With Poly’s custom audio-processing technologies on hand to detect and remove unwanted sounds, background noise shouldn’t be a problem, either.

At the rear you’ll find a connector for the external power supply and a USB Type-C port for connection to a host computer. There are also two USB Type-A ports, which allow the P15 to function as a USB hub.

The installation process is almost nonexistent. The provided clamp affixed the Studio P15 firmly to our 27in Full HD monitor, and as soon as we connected the USB cable to our Windows 10 Pro workstation, the various audiovisual components were picked up and made available to our VC apps. Poly’s free Lens Desktop app for Windows and macOS provides tools for manually configuring the camera’s video and audio feeds, changing the tracking speed and upgrading firmware.

When speaker-tracking is disabled, you can also use the app to control the digital pan, tilt and zoom functions – and to help stave off meeting fatigue the app can remind you at custom intervals to rest your eyes and take hydration breaks. It can even play soothing background soundscapes when not in use.

The desktop app links to the Poly Lens cloud service too, which makes it possible to remotely manage a whole fleet of Studio P15 units. An inventory view shows where in the world each user is located, and camera settings can be remotely configured from the portal.

Image quality is generally good; the focus on the default setting was a little soft for our liking, but the Lens app let us improve matters by dialling up the sharpness setting. The backlight compensation setting works well with moderate light levels, but doesn’t cope with bright sunlight.

The single speaker is fine, too. It delivered clear sound with a warm bass, and we found a volume level of 50% was more than loud enough when we were sitting right in front of the computer. Our remote meeting participants were happy with the microphone quality, reporting that they could hear us clearly even when we wandered around the room.

On that note, we were pleased to see that the speaker-tracking did a good job of framing us at the start of the meeting, and following us around when we felt the need to stretch our legs. If we quickly stepped outside the current field of view, however, it took three or four seconds to work out where we were and snap the view around to the right position.

The Poly Studio P15 is a lot pricier than a consumer webcam, but it offers a high–quality, simple-to-use conferencing solution for home workers and small huddle rooms. Audio quality is good, speaker-tracking works well and the remote management option will be attractive to businesses of all sizes.

Poly Studio P15 specifications

The Maxhub UC S10 is one of the most flexible videconferencing (VC) bars around. It can be connected to a host computer over USB, or function as a fully independent Android-based conferencing system. It also offers wireless screen-sharing services for up to four simultaneous users, and can even serve as a meeting-room wireless hotspot.

Its lightweight design brings together a 4K camera, a single internal speaker, a six-microphone beamforming array and an HDMI port for connecting a display. Automatic framing and audio tracking are also used to zero in on the current speaker using digital PTZ functions.

In appliance mode, the UC S10 is powered by an Android 8-based embedded OS, with a selection of built-in system apps and 16GB of storage for additional packages and downloads. Both 100Mbits/sec Ethernet and 802.11ac Wi-Fi are on hand, along with USB Type-A and Type-C ports for computer connections, input devices and external storage.

We didn’t find the UC S10 the easiest bar to set up, as the package was short on helpful documentation, but you can’t go far wrong. After connecting the power, network and monitor cables, we simply had to wait for a minute for Android to boot up.

We were then presented with Maxhub’s smart user interface on our main display. This offers nice clear icons for loading the Chrome browser, browsing local storage, modifying system settings, upgrading the firmware and, of course, launching various conferencing apps. Maxhub only allows certified packages to run on the appliance, but a good selection of conferencing platforms is supported. Cisco WebEx Meet, Microsoft Teams, RingCentral MVP, Skype, Skype for Business and Zoom can all be installed on demand, so most businesses will find their needs covered.

For getting around the interface a remote handset is included in the box, but we found it easier to plug in a USB keyboard and mouse. Bear in mind that, since there’s only one USB Type-A input port available, you’ll need to use a desktop set with a unified receiver, or plug in a USB hub. The same applies if you want to attach external storage. These aren’t expensive extras, though, especially considering the reasonable cost of the unit itself.

In everyday use the UC S10 is as simple as you could ask for: you just need to choose an app, enter your account details and start your meeting. We tested the Teams, Skype and Zoom apps, and in all cases we found it effortless to set up meetings and invite participants. The camera’s wide 120° field of view allows it to cover a large meeting room, and our remote attendees praised its sharp image and clear sound quality from the mic array.

Auto-tracking is fast, too: it took only around two seconds for the UC S10 to zoom in on the speaker, after which it easily kept up with them as they walked around the meeting room. The single 8W speaker was equally satisfactory – we found 50% volume was quite enough for our 24-square-metre meeting room.

To use the screen-sharing feature you just need to install the companion app on the relevant Windows, macOS, Android or iOS devices, and connect by entering a five-character security code. We had no problem getting Windows and iPad screens to appear side by side on our room monitor, and using the local VC app’s screen-sharing service to present them to all meeting participants.

The Maxhub UC S10 might be a little fiddly out of the box, but once you’ve set it up and connected a keyboard and mouse you’ll have no complaints. It works as either a connected solution or a standalone one, with great video and audio quality, flawless speaker tracking and support for a wide range of popular cloud videoconferencing apps.

Maxhub UC S10 specifications

Setting up a videoconferencing system for a medium-sized or large meeting room can be a messy business: often you have to deal with multiple components, connected by a mess of wires draped across the floor. Logitech’s Rally Bar is a far tidier proposition, combining everything into a single unit that can be mounted on a desk or wall.

While the design is appealingly simple, it’s not exactly discreet. The bar measures nearly a whole metre across and weighs a hefty 7kg. The centrepiece of the unit is a big 4K camera offering motorised pan, tilt and zoom (PTZ) functions, and a six-microphone beamforming array extending to either side allows the software to auto-frame active meeting participants.

You’ll also notice a smaller lens beside the main camera; this is Logitech’s AI Viewfinder, which improves framing and focus accuracy, as well as providing people-counting and occupancy analytics, via Logitech’s Sync cloud service. At each end, 8W speakers deliver a big soundscape, while an internal anti-vibration system helps keep things clear even when both sides of the connection are talking at once.

The last notable feature is more low tech, but still welcome: a cable-management panel at the rear protects and organises the power, USB, network and HDMI connectors under a metal cover.

The Rally Bar can be used in two different operating modes. In BYOD mode you connect the Bar via USB to a host computer; this makes the camera, microphones and speakers available to any UVC-compliant videoconferencing app. After cabling a Windows 10 PC to the HDMI-in port, we were immediately able to view its screen on the monitor, and start meetings using the Teams, Skype and Zoom apps installed on the PC.

Alternatively, you can use the bar in appliance mode; this turns it into a standalone VC system built on Logitech’s Android-based CollabOS platform. A selection of certified apps can be run directly on the Rally Bar hardware, including RingCentral Rooms, Microsoft Teams Rooms and Zoom Rooms. We chose Teams from the onscreen wizard, logged in to our account and

were right away presented with the familiar Teams interface, ready to start or join an online meeting.

Video quality is excellent: the large camera delivers superbly sharp images and great colour balance, while Logitech’s RightLight feature does a top-notch job of compensating for brightly lit backgrounds.

The twin speakers deliver a clean sound, too, with enough audio clout to fill our 24-square-metre meeting room at only half volume. Remote participants felt that the microphones delivered clear sound quality; the only disappointment was the slow video tracking speed. This is because the Rally Bar can’t instantly whip the camera around to the active speaker, like a digital PTZ system can. In a socially distanced meeting room with people spread out, we found it could take as long as eight seconds for the Rally Bar to achieve the desired view.

Another slight caveat is that if you want to use the Rally Bar in appliance mode, we’d recommend connecting a USB keyboard and mouse: you can do everything you need to with the supplied Bluetooth remote, but it can feel a bit laborious. Or, you could invest in Logitech’s optional Tap controller panel, which provides a colour touchscreen from which you can set up meetings with a few taps.

If you need a videoconferencing solution that will work for big, busy meetings, the Rally Bar puts everything you need into a single convenient package. Speaker tracking can be slow at times, but video and audio quality are beyond reproach, and the choice of operating modes makes it highly versatile.

Logitech Rally Bar specifications

Telememory, a telehealth startup that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to power its digital reminiscence technology, is partnering with Delmar Gardens Enterprises to create an Alpha testing program to connect memory care patients and families to their legacies. The program will also track patients’ emotional responses to help improve their health and happiness.

"Telememory is on a mission to harness the healing power of life stories,” said Eliot Arnold, CEO, Telememory. “Stimulating long-term memory recall, keeping people connected to their legacies by way of emotionally engaging and informative digital experiences has a significant impact on everyone. We are helping families collect, curate, and reminisce together privately and securely with our next-generation software."

The monthlong program will use Telememory’s Reminisce+ technology to collect information about a patient’s life to create a digital biography and curate personalized images, music, video and art to promote emotional responses, long-term memory recall and information sharing. Families can also stream and share content through narrowcasting and telepresence technology. The technology then gauges a patient’s recall by analyzing their emotional and biometric responses to the memories and provides appropriate content recommendations and alerts.

"COVID-19 has accelerated the need for more telehealth solutions that connect family and friends to our residents," said Kathy Gilmore, senior vice president, Delmar Gardens Enterprises.

"We pride ourselves on offering the latest and greatest technology to help our residents stay happy, healthy and engaged. Telememory is developing a groundbreaking solution that may be able to offer non-pharmacological means of improving mood, reducing anxiety and feelings of isolation."

Telememory’s Reminisce+ technology provides patients’ friends and family with a digital means to remotely relive their experiences while measuring memory recollection and overall engagement. The partnership will provide Telememory with access to expertise in memory care, a means to measure the benefits of digital reminiscence and the ability to incorporate findings and feedback from the program into its beta features.

"When my father was diagnosed with dementia, I realized there was no technology purpose-built to help him stay connected to his life interests: art, music, bridge, family, friends,” added Arnold.

“I started Telememory to address this challenge, as well as find non-pharmacological solutions for my dad to improve his mood, slow cognitive decline and stay engaged and fulfilled."

The caregivers at Delmar Gardens Enterprises will use Telememory’s technology to understand patients and their families’ needs better and scale their therapeutic solutions without increasing associated costs.

HP and Jabra have teamed up to create a video conferencing bundle designed especially for meetings in the new normal.

The bundle includes the Jabra Panacast, a plug-and-play 4K video camera with panoramic, 180-degree viewing. HP provides its Elite Slice control panel, which offers one-touch controls for Zoom and Microsoft Teams.

The Jabra Panacast camera allows teams to sit in one room while remaining socially-distanced. The camera’s Intelligent Zoom feature automatically adjusts the zoom as attendees come and go so everyone’s in the frame without moving the camera.

The Jabra x Elite Slice bundle is Microsoft Teams Rooms and Zoom Rooms certified and boasts simple setup and operation. It also allows for remote operation and tech support, which can benefit companies with remote IT departments.

"The launch of the Jabra x HP Elite Slice bundle comes at an exciting time for businesses worldwide as they are optimizing workspaces to the new normal of hybrid work, and provisioning safe and productive environments," said Aurangzeb Khan, SVP of Intelligent Vision Systems at Jabra.

"We are thrilled to be working with HP to offer users a no-compromise, one-stop solution to meeting room setups. We are certain that the top-of-the-class products that make this bundle will help businesses take their conferencing and collaboration capabilities to new heights."

"Businesses are constantly looking for ways to simplify the video conference experience," said Loretta Li-Sevilla, sr. director worldwide office of the future and collaboration business, HP. "Pairing our versatile meeting room system, HP Elite Slice, with the Jabra PanaCast for the Jabra x HP Elite Slice bundle, customers can improve productivity and collaboration in a seamless all-in-one, easily managed solution.".

Jabra’s been relatively busy in the collaboration space, as teamed up with 8x8 in April to create a new line of headsets that improve remote workers’ call clarity.

As many companies continue moving toward hybrid working, with some team members in the office and others working remotely, optimizing conference rooms for video meetings is a new challenge.

The Jabra z HP Elite Slice Bundle looks to make this process a little easier, and it will be available through select distributors starting in mid-October.

Some 20 years ago, organisations such as the Telework Association and BT started to promote the idea of remote working. New technologies, such as the Windows PC and ISDN lines, were going mainstream.

Computer technology was falling in price, and becoming easier to use. Tools such as video conferencing running over those ISDN connections was becoming viable. People, especially knowledge workers, could work from home, or from specially-designed telework centres. New life would be breathed into rural areas and small towns, and we would all be spared the daily commute.

Field-based staff in areas such as sales and engineering often feel better connected to colleagues than they did before. They might not be in the canteen, but Twitter is a very effective conduit for gossip.

However, that is not exactly how it has worked out. The Telework Association is still going, as is BT. But there has not been a flux of workers, or employers, to rural areas.

In fact, as the Mayor's office points out, London's population has grown every year since 1988, and is expected to do so until 2031. Other cities including Manchester, Leeds and Bristol have seen their urban populations grow, as industrial areas have been regenerated and turned into housing.

Much of this is down to social and demographic factors, but technology has also played its part. Back in mid early 1990s, the vogue among companies was for large, self-contained teleworking projects. Staff would essentially carry out the same tasks as before, but either from a remote branch office, or from home. Unsurprisingly, many of those projects were not a great success, and one reason was that the technology was not quite ready.

But large, formal teleworking projects have given away to the idea of remote or flexible working. Here, technology has been more successful: Wi-Fi, smartphones, and remote access make ad-hoc remote working practical.

It suits people who need to work on the move far better than the old-style, PC-based teleworking schemes, and it is on a much more human scale. Whilst some teleworking projects fell down because staff felt alienated, in companies with good flexible working schemes, field-based staff in areas such as sales and engineering often feel better connected to colleagues than they did before. They might not be in the canteen, but Twitter is a very effective conduit for gossip.

None the less, the telecommunications industry continues to talk in terms of revolutions, rather than incremental change. An example is a report, called Work 3.0, compiled by vendor Mitel.

In it, the vendor argues that resources, including property and people, will be virtualised in much the way IT has been. Companies can scale these resources up and down according to demand. The workforce, the authors suggest, will become a " human cloud".

Virtualising IT, and breaking the link between information and physical resources, such as office space or PCs, does make this possible. And there are some markets software development is one, call centre staff another that already are global.

But when it comes to more general, office work there is still a long way to go. Statistics from Mitel's research found that half of employees, for example, "rarely or never" work from home; 34 per cent of those that do, cited social interaction as the main advantage of the office. But administrative aspects, such as a dedicated space to work (28 per cent) or even easier access to HR and accounts (22 per cent) were also a reason for going in to the office.

It might not be faster broadband that will encourage homeworking; perhaps IT's first task should be a web-based system for filing those expense claims.

Stephen Pritchard is a contributing editor at IT Pro.

Demand for videoconferencing technology is going from strength to strength thanks to a particularly strong quarter at the end of last year, according to research published this week by IDC.

Videoconferencing revenue for the entire year shot up by a fifth to $2.7 billion, fueled by a 24.6 per cent year-on-year growth in Q4 revenue and a 19 per cent quarter-on-quarter rise.

Advances in technology and the falling cost of network bandwidth means the opportunity to embrace video conferencing and develop innovative uses exists now more than ever before.

"Growth has been spurred on by more well-defined video use cases among organisations across a range of vertical market segments, including healthcare, higher education, financial services, legal, law enforcement, manufacturing, and retail," said Rich Costello, senior analyst at IDC's Enterprise Communications Infrastructure division.

"We also expect growth over the next several years to be bolstered by the impact of video integrated with vendors' unified communications and collaboration portfolios, and increasing video usage among small workgroups, desktop users, and mobile device users."

The growth rate has positive implications for future business opportunities as well, according to other industry experts.

"It is promising to see video conferencing revenues growing, as companies begin to recognise the business benefits that video conferencing can bring," said Chris Argent, financial services consultant at ICT consultancy Hudson & Yorke.

Argent explained the possibility for exploring videoconferencing for customer-facing services instead of just internal, employee-focused activities.

"As consumers are growing used to socialising, banking and shopping in a virtual way, many would be happy to discuss and buy financial products and other services from a video agent," Argent said.

"Advances in technology and the falling cost of network bandwidth means the opportunity to embrace video conferencing and develop innovative uses exists now more than ever before."

Cisco held the top spot during the fourth quarter of 2011 with 35.5 per cent year-on-year growth and holds 54.3 per cent of the market.

Polycom's revenue also increased 15.2 per cent year-on-year, with annual growth figures of just over 20 per cent.

BT and Orange Business Services are to allow each others' customers to hold telepresence meetings with one another, using Cisco's TelePresence technology.

The service has already been trialled with a number of major enterprise partners and is available for BT and Orange Telepresence Community customers from today.

BT and Orange have already committed to breaking down the barriers between providers' networks. BT said it wanted to "enlarge the global telepresence community."

"This agreement is the latest addition to the expansion of the video industry's connectivity capabilities and is an important step forward," said Rich Lowe, CEO of BT Conferencing.

"It demonstrates our commitment to increasing the network of accessible telepresence locations for our customers and increasing the return on their investments."

Customers will have to contact their provider to learn about using the inter-company service and there will be no additional cost, as their contracts will remain with the same vendor.

"The broader the range of companies that customers can connect with through telepresence, the higher the return on investment in collaborative technology," added Andrew McFadzen, head of international network solutions at Orange Business Services.

The unified communications (UC) market is worth 3.6 billion in EMEA, according to IDC, the industry analysts. But unified communications is no longer the priority it was.

The market is expected to grow to around 10 billion by 2015 but deploying unified communications technology ranks only fifth in an IDC survey of CIO priorities.

Unified communications has failed to overcome some initial hurdles.

This represents a turnaround from just a few years ago, when businesses were expected to invest heavily in unified communications, and related technologies such as video conferencing or telepresence. UC would improve collaboration, make for more efficient business processes and reduce costs for companies that deployed it.

But unified communications has failed to overcome some initial hurdles. Systems such as Microsoft's Lync and Cisco's IP telephony have done well replacing conventional phone lines, but too few companies are seeing the full benefits of UC.

There are a couple of possible explanations. The technology requires upfront investment, especially where companies need to replace on-premise communications equipment, such as PBX systems, and install higher-capacity internet connections. In the last few years, that investment has been hard to come by.

Then there is the complexity of UC communications itself. At a recent IDC summit on the technology, analyst John Neville identified no fewer than 13 different components of unified communications. With that level of complexity, even the most dedicated IT department would struggle to identify the UC capabilities they need, let alone the right mix of vendors and products.

Neville suggests that IT departments have also moved, over the last couple of years, from a return on investment (ROI) model to a total cost of ownership model. This, too, goes against deploying technologies such as UC which are both complex, and which rely at least in part on "soft" benefits to bring a payback to the business.

Companies can measure hard savings, such as cutting on phone line rental costs or system maintenance, but it is more difficult to put a cash figure on improvements in, say, customer service, let alone in a better work-life balance for employees.

The answer, IDC suggests, is to move away from the vendor speak and to break UC back down into components. The "communications" side of UC is more important than the "unified" side for most employees.

John Neville cites the example of a company that was able to use fixed-mobile convergence, one of the unified communications technologies, to forward landline calls to its security guards' mobile phones. That was all the UC that organisation needed, and it made it that much easier to prove the business case.

Modelling employees' job roles before deploying unified communications helps to remove complexity and cost from UC deployment, not least because much of the functionality is now in software. So, if someone's job changes, or the organisation's needs change, the IT team can switch on new features later.

It is still early days for UC so if businesses want to capture the benefits, it pays to start small, and build both knowledge and capabilities.

Stephen Pritchard is a contributing editor at IT Pro

Orange has launched its Telepresence Community solution in collaboration with Cisco, as the companies look to bring the benefits of video conferencing to a wider audience.

The deal will enable Orange Business Service customers to access Cisco's 800 private and public Telepresence rooms across the world. They will also be able to enjoy the solution free of charge until 1 April 2011 without having to commit to a contract.

Orange said it is looking for other partnerships to expand customer connectivity with Telepresence so they can contact people on other networks.

"We aim to have at least three major interconnections in place before the end of the year and will continue adding to the community as required by the demands of our growing customer base," explained Marc Blanchet, senior vice president of global communication services at Orange Business Services.

"Through Telepresence Community, our B2B Telepresence solution, opening our network and customer base to work with enterprises connected to other operators' networks will create a global video community."

Orange is also working on a pay-as-you-go model for Telepresence and is looking to the cloud to provide this service. The telecoms firm believes this will provide customers with better value.

Cisco is set to take on a range of new products from its previous competitor Tandberg, after today saw the final stages of its offer being completed.

When the deal is done, Cisco will have purchased all of the outstanding shares of Tandberg for 170 Norwegian kroner (18.74) per share, amounting to approximately 19 billion Norwegian kroner altogether. This compulsory acquisition will see Cisco as the only shareholders.

The chief executive of Tandberg, Fredrik Halvorsen, will become senior vice president and leader of the new TelePresence Technology Group formed within Cisco whilst the two separate technology portfolios are brought together to make one joint offering.

"Today we are celebrating a very important step for our customers in the journey to put people at the centre of collaboration and change the way we work," said Marthin De Beer, senior vice president of the Emerging Technologies Business Group at Cisco, in a statement.

"We strongly believe that telepresence the next generation of videoconferencing along with Cisco's entire rich collaboration portfolio, powers this new way of working where everyone, everywhere, can be more productive through the pervasive use of video and face-to-face collaboration."

The networking firm has been making a big push into the HD video conferencing market with telepresence over the past few years and by adding Tandberg to its books, it will be seen as an even bigger challenge to HP's Halo alternative.

Cisco would not confirm the date it expected the acquisition to be completed by.

HP has unveiled SkyRoom, a low-cost flexible telepresence system for the desktop.

HP said the $149 SkyRoom "hits the sweet spot inbetween" expensive but high quality telepresence rooms and free but unpredictable online tools.

SkyRoom is as easy as using instant messaging, HP claimed, and can import buddy lists from IM clients so users just click a name to be connected making it easier to use than telepresence, which needs to be scheduled.

Jeff Wood, the marketing head for HP workstations, said at a press conference at Intel's Developer Forum (IDF) in San Francisco that SkyRoom was as easy as making a phone call or starting an IM conversation.

Developed in HP Labs, SkyRoom offers real-time, rich media application collaboration, which means users can share streaming video, 3D applications, and more without the choppiness of some free systems.

"The secret sauce is a high def codec that we can use to take inforormation from the source system, highly compress it and send it over a standard network and redisplay it at the remote sites," Wood said. "This codec has been used by Nasa to send images back from Mars for the Mars rover programme."

During the IDF demo, the HP spokespeople held a conversation over video conferencing, with shared video running on one desktop and a 3D rendering running on another.

The system can be used to conference in four people, and runs on Windows XP or Vista using standard hardware. Applications running on desktops can be shared, and the video conferencing can be expanded to full screen mode. SkyRoom is available for download today from the HP website, and will be included free on HP Workstations, while other HP notebooks and desktops will get a free trial.

Click here for more news from Intel Developers Forum 2009.

A 3D hologram, as previously seen only in Star Trek and Star Wars, has been beamed live from London to the US in what the company behind it, Musion, claims is a world first.

Musion performed the live transmission of a 3D hologram from its London studios direct to a stage at Infocom 09 in Orlando, Florida. A speaker in London appeared on stage as a life-sized image, and the speaker and the audience were able to see each other and respond and interact in real-time.

The technique has been used previously with pre-recorded 3D images, for example, by Madonna at the 2006 Grammys.

Musion, which owns the patents to the 3D technology and has developed the system, said that it is so realistic that audiences cannot tell the difference between holograms on stage and real-life presenters.

The effect was witnessed by IT PRO and we can report that the effect is astonishingly lifelike, with characters and graphics appearing as 3D in open space and appearing to hang in the air, with real depth and vibrancy.

Musion is working with network partner Masergy to provide the bandwidth.

John Dumbleton, Masergy's UK managing director, explained that the system captures the subject with a conventional 2D high definition camera and uses a patented technology called Eyeliner to create the holographic effect.

James Rock, director of Musion explained to IT PRO that the effect was based on a Victorian technique called Pepper's Ghost, which uses a special glass and lightening effect to create illusory figures. Rock dubbed the system, as Goggle-free 3D', referring to the fact that current 3D technology as used in movies such as Monsters and Aliens require the audience to wear glasses.

The modern version uses a combination of technologies, involving an HD camera to capture the subject, a bright HD projector, a plastic foil rather than glass and advanced network technology to broadcast it.

Dumbleton said that the system is much more efficient than multiple codec telepresence systems as only one codec is required to capture the whole performance, no matter how many individual characters are included.

"With existing large telepresence deployments you are utilising three codecs and thus need three times the bandwidth, it's exactly linear. This system utilises a single codec and thus can be much more efficient."

The Infocom broadcast used a 6Mbps stream in both directions, with extra for audio.

Dumbleton said that the system would allow for much more open conversations than were currently possible as people could move around rather than have to sit at a table and look directly into a camera.

Rock said that this technology has a range of applications such as stage speakers for trade shows, entertainers and eventually as a sophisticated conference calling, beyond current systems such as Cisco's telepresence.

While the system is being initially aimed at enterprise customers, Rock says he sees this eventually moving into the consumer space as a regular videophone and as a future means of entertainment.

Other potential uses include car retailing, where customers could see a full size lifelike selection of the options of their choice and change them on the fly.

Rock said that it could not announce any customers for its technology but that it was in close talks with a major record label and a major TV broadcaster.

Nestl offices around the world plan to communicate via video conferencing rather than travelling to meetings, reducing both costs and environmental impact.

The company, known for some of the UK's popular brands, including Nescaf, KitKat and Shredded Wheat, has called on BT to help roll out the technology from Cisco.

It's claimed that high definition (HD) video and multi-dimensional sound will give Nestl employees the feeling of being in the same room as other workers around the globe.

To do this, Cisco TelePresence technology will run on BT's Multi Protocol Switching (MPLS) network.

Nestl also expects the system to reduce travel costs as well as improve productivity thanks to better collaboration among teams in different countries.

Recently, BT Business opened three HD telepresence centres in London, New York and Denver, showcasing software that allowed different companies to connect with each other using Cisco Telepresence connections.

Polycom, the telepresence specialist, is looking to cash in on the worldwide economic downturn by releasing a relatively low-cost video conferencing system.

The Polycom QDX 6000 system will cost 2,499, but will still offer DVD-quality video, even over low bandwidth links of only 256Kbps. Rivals such as Lifesize offer full high definition video conferencing solutions, but this requires faster connections and costs in excess of 10,000.

"You won't find another video conferencing system in the market today near this price point that delivers the level of voice, video and content quality or the features and performance delivered by the Polycom QDX 6000," said Joe Sigrist, senior vice president and general manager of video solutions at Polycom.

Video conferencing is becoming very appealing to companies looking to cut costs by reducing international travel. Sigrist claimed that business will recoup the cost buying two QDX 6000 units with just two or three uses that would otherwise have required the time and expense of air travel.

Polycom said that QDX 6000 will integrate seamlessly with many systems already in place in organisations, as it's based on established video conferencing standards. It can produce 480p video at 30fps and has AES encryption for call security.

It supports 16:9 widescreen by default but will also work on 4:3 monitors and offers a pan/tilt/zoom camera with 12x zoom capabilities. Dual monitors are supported, and it can take input from five video sources, which helps with collaboration.

A key feature is the use of Lost Packet Recovery technology, which is designed to deliver solid, smooth call quality even on networks that are prone to congestion. It works by reserving a small part of the bandwidth available for Forward Error Correction (FEC). Polycom said the QDX 6000 is the only product in its class that supports such a feature.

The system will be available worldwide later this month.

Cisco has begun renting out high-definition video conferencing rooms to the public, hoping to widen the use of a system that helps executives cut back on travel.

Cisco said it was now renting out rooms equipped with its TelePresence high-definition video screens with built-in microphone and camera lenses for 171 ($299) to 513 ($899) an hour.

The rooms will be available in Santa Clara, California, as well as in some Taj Hotels in India, Boston and London through a partnership with Taj Hotels and Tata Communications.

The price depends on the size of the room, the largest of which can accommodate 18 people. Companies currently can buy TelePresence units for around 18,416 ($34,000) to 171,321 ($300,000) each.

There will be more than 100 rooms available by the end of 2009, including in New York's Pierre Hotel, Cisco said.