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.