Post on 08-Mar-2023
SEMINAR
ON
Video-Conferencing and Telepresence
BY
OGUNREMI EMMANUEL OLUKAYODE
12N04/013
DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICAL SCIENCE
AJAYI CROWTHER UNIVERSITY, OYO.
BEING REQUIREMENT FOR:
CSC 4104 - SPECIAL TOPICS IN COMPUTER SCIENCE
INTRODUCTION
More than a decade after the first telepresence solution was introduced to the public, telepresence hit the limelight towards the end of calendar year 2006. With high technology giants gaining the attention of C-level customers, many conferencing and collaboration managers are beginning to look at this new class of enterprise communications system more closely and to examine their assumptions and perceptions around the concept of telepresence. A videoconference is a live connection between people in separate locations for the purpose of communication, usually involving audio and often text as well as video.
Videoconferencing is an interactive tool that incorporates audio, video, and computing, and communications technologies to allow people in different locations to electronically collaborate face-to-face, in real time, and share all types of information including data, documents, sound and picture. In essence videoconferencing removes the barrier of distance that separates us.
Telepresence refers to a set of technologies which allows a person to feel as if they were present, to give the appearance of been present, or to have an effect, via telerobotics, at a place other than their true location. Additionally, users may be given the ability to affect the remote location.
“What is the difference between telepresence and videoconferencing”?
Telepresence solutions use video and audio conferencing components as well
as other “arts and sciences” to create a two-way immersive communications
experience that simulates an in-person, interactive encounter.
To create the same-room illusion, telepresence solutions use a combination of
technology elements and environmental design and are often accompanied by
high levels of service and support. The telepresence “value-add” comes from a
combination of four elements.
High-quality audio and video
Simplicity
High reliability
Environmental excellence
All of these factors are important contributors to conference quality and
the telepresence experience. But they come at a cost. Telepresence systems
are expensive to buy. With high end compression engines, high quality
cameras, large flat panel displays, and carefully designed and integrated
furniture and room elements, telepresence system cost much more than
standard videoconferencing solutions.
Why Telepresence Works
Clearly, telepresence systems are delivering the remote meeting
experience, including audio-video quality, ease-of-use, and realistic face-to-
face environment that executives, product planners, and business managers
want. Whether used in business negotiations, candidate job interviews, sales
calls, or plain team meetings, telepresence systems are providing business
professionals the ability to reduce travel while attending more meetings at the
same time. The proof lies in the fact that companies who have deployed
telepresence solutions find their systems are used more heavily than is the
case for typical videoconferencing room systems. Although costly at first,
telepresence systems have successfully addressed the limitations of typical
videoconferencing designs.
Telepresence is an advanced video conferencing system
Advantages over normal video conferencing:
Very low latency Crisp video and audio quality Directional sound People appear life size Allows for direct eye contact
Video conferencing is the conduct of a video conference by a set of
telecommunication technologies which alllow two or more locations to
communicate by simultaneuos two-way video and audio transmitions.
A videoconference is a live connection between people in separate locations for
the purpose of communication, usually involving audio and often text as well as
video. At its simplest, videoconferencing provides transmission of static images
and text between two locations. At its most sophisticated, it provides
transmission of full-motion video images and high-quality audio between multiple
locations.
The Advantages of Video Conferencing
Save time by not travelling to meetings
Reduce your travel costs by working remotely
Increase productivity through collaborative working
Share presentations, data and media in an instant
Use it in the office, on the move or at home
Delivers a tangible return on investment (ROI)
The Technology
1080p High Definition plasma screens (variations in size and price)
Each screen requires 2 to 3Mbps of bandwidth
Two 1Gb Ethernet ports must be in the room
Requires low latency network with QoS for voice
Call setup and connection is managed by the System Call Manager backend
(installed locally)
Uses HD cameras, many microphones and speakers, and special lighting arrays
Benefits of Video Conferencing and telepresence
Based on conversations with customers, analysts, and value-added resellers,
listed below are the top benefits video conferencing delivers to most
organizations:
1. Reduced travel costs: In today’s globalized economy, travel is often a
prerequisite for leveraging new market opportunities. Journeying to distant
locales to engage in face-to-face interactions with customers, partners, and
colleagues. Nothing will ever replace the immediacy and impact of live
interactions. But a large percentage of routine or regular business trips — with
all their attendant expense — can be eliminated by communicating over video.
With vast improvements in quality, availability, and ease of use, and with the
ability to interact and share content in high definition, today’s video
conferencing is as close to “being there” as one can get without actually
making the trip.
2. Increased productivity across dispersed workforces and teams: Dispersed
work forces and project teams present many challenges, none more
misunderstood than lost, slow, or simply nonexistent communication between
individuals residing in different locations. Most teams interact using phone, e-
mail, instant messaging (IM), or workflow applications. However, with 80
percent of communication consisting of non-verbal visual cues, the ability of
teams to understand, process, and collaborate over distance using these
methods is at best halting, and at worst, severely impeded. Wherever video is
added to a meeting, participants are more likely to stay focused, because they
can be seen as well as heard. Expressions of satisfaction, concern, confusion,
understanding and so on, can easily be seen and addressed, speeding and
informing the group more effectively than myriad e-mails, voicemails, and IMs.
The result: decisions are made faster, projects completed sooner, and
productivity increased across the organization.
3. Improved hiring and retention of top talent: Organizations with video
conferencing systems in their offices can reduce expenses and time by bringing
candidates into the nearest facility and allowing interviews to be conducted
both in person and over video. Video interviews can also be recorded, enabling
persons unable to be part of the live interview process to see and evaluate the
candidate over video. Video communication impacts employee retention just
as positively.
4. Sustained competitive advantage: Video communication offers multiple paths
for creating and maintaining competitive advantage. Teams communicating
over video share knowledge more widely, resulting in faster and more
informed decisions that reduce the time to market for new products and
services. Support teams leverage video to create more personal, one-to-one
relationships with their customers, encouraging a loyalty far beyond the
capabilities of a traditional call center agent. Video conferencing and
telepresence provide a powerful way to enable conferences and other video
content to be streamed live or on demand around the world, employees,
customers, partners, and students can use video to communicate, engage and
interact with others across distance at any time, from wherever they are.
5. Support for environmental initiatives: Video conferencing is an obvious
“green” technology, allowing organizations to mitigate energy use by
dramatically reducing the need to travel. By communicating over video,
organizations can also substantially reduce their carbon footprint and help
ensure a basis for regulatory compliance.
APPLICATIONS OF VIDEO CONFERENCING AND TELEPRESENCE SYSTEMS
i. Educational Institutions: It enhances student and tutor participation in distant learning and remote lecture session in educational institutions.
ii. Journalism and News Media: News and media outfit deploy video conferencing system to communicate with work stations. Example are TV stations, Radio stations.
iii. Entertainment: Multimedia animations, sports analysis, videos and cinemas are recorded and transmitted with the use of video conferencing. It could be sited within entertainment industries.
iv. Medicine: Patients can consult medical doctors for medical service and support. It creates same room experience. Patients can interact with health centers remotely, at home, with convenience.
v. Industry: Telepresence systems are delivering the remote meeting experience, including audio-video quality, ease-of-use, and realistic face-to-face environment that executives, product planners, and business managers want. Information technology firms and telecommunication companies all over the world now deploy this facility to increase their productivity.
LIMITATIONS OF VIDEO CONFERENCING AND TELEPRESENCE
Based on interviews with many end users and videoconferencing managers, we believe that there are significant factors that contribute to the low utilization rate of most videoconferencing systems and the large percentage of infrequently used systems, including:
i. People who use videoconferencing infrequently find the systems hard to use, non- intuitive, and generally intimidating.
ii. Managers who have had meetings delayed or interrupted by connection difficulties, dropped calls, or poor audio quality are reluctant to use videoconferencing again.
iii. When more than three people are in a conference room on a video system, the images displayed on the far end are such that the faces are too small. Hence, the ability to check body language and sometimes even to perceive who is speaking is totally missing. The video sometimes detracts rather than adds to the meeting experience.
iv. Many video systems are installed in general purpose meeting rooms. When these rooms are being used for other meetings, the video systems are not available to others. Hence the actual available hours per month are less than the theoretical.
v. The deployment of personal systems (also known as executive systems) can be classified as either personal or small conference rooms systems expensive and are typically managed and monitored much like large conference room systems. They are relatively expensive and are typically managed and monitored much like large conference room systems. However, they are often deployed in individual offices where they are not shared and usage can be expected to be low.
Conclusion
The success exhibited by today’s deployments of telepresence solutions is a
demonstration of the utility of these systems – the power to satisfy people’s
needs despite the high purchase price and monthly operating costs of the
typical telepresence system. A careful consideration of the economics of
telepresence and videoconferencing will take into account not only the costs
of these solutions, but also the reality of their use. Many videoconferencing
systems deployed today are not delivering the benefits that were anticipated
for a variety of technical and human factor reasons – but the end result is that
the systems are not delivering benefits because they are not being used.
Hence, despite their relatively low costs, the return on investment for most
videoconferencing systems is limited. Telepresence systems, on the other
hand, typically experience higher demand and higher usage, and through this
usage deliver the benefits anticipated when the purchase decision was made.
Telepresence takes video conferencing to a whole new level, allowing for
unparalleled realism, which in turn makes remote collaboration more
comfortable and effective
Despite high costs, the ROI (Return On Investment) of Telepresence is very
high, most notably reducing travel costs
For businesses,educational institutions,financial
institutions,telecommunication firm,journalism Telepresence can both
improve efficiency and dramatically lower costs.