Cisco TelePresence

For all you republican/anti government subsidizing national broadband people out there, things like THIS for companies and the increase in efficiency and productivity of business that comes with it IS the reason why we need to get our national broadband act on with faster and more affordable broadband everywhere. Not everyone needs this.. but eventually it will be everywhere IF the network technology is available for it.

This would be a reason to have a very high quality internet connection I think. :) Very high speed on the order of 100mpbs and extremely low latency. :)

Telepresence also includes more than the video streams. It also has a presentation system with a projector under the table and projects information from computers on either side. That way you can project a presentation, numbers or what not onto a small screen that is below the 3 big HD screens.

One interesting thing I considered about this technology is that they have 3 2 way 1080P video streams for a total of six 1080 HD streams. Talk about massive bandwidth usage. Yet while I was experiencing it there was never once a stutter or a lost frame or anything it was amazing. I imagine that the streams are transmitted using H.264/MPEG4 which means about 20mpbs X 3 each way. So you would have to have at least 60mpbs upstream and 60 mpbs downstream for it to work!

People do not really seem to realize how incredible Cisco's telepresence system is. This commercial does not even do it justice. You have to experience it to understand what I am talking about. A regular videoconference system is NOTHING like this. I visited the Cisco office in Charlotte not long ago and experienced a telepresence connection to their office in Research Triangle Park. It really is ALMOST like being there at the table with the other people on the other side. Its that GOOD!

I saw something much better at the MIT Media Labs way back in 1999. It was called "Magic Mirror" and used a blue ball to manipulate any artifact you had access to through an internet connection. If you spoke, your image became opaque. If you were not speaking, your image became more transparent over time. It takes a large multi-national like Cisco to ruin good ideas by seeking realism as the ultimate goal.

my brother works for cisco too, hes tried it out and says it rocks!

It's not available to the publc, yet i think, my dad works for cisco and he's seen it. Says it's awesome

I don't think that it's not available to the public, just the average person cant afford the 100 000 dollar price tag on top of the 50 k a year to run it :)

I want that!