Cisco Intros Personal TelePresence

May 12, 2008

Cisco unveiled its personal TelePresence system for use in individual offices and a large Cisco TelePresence room ideal for group training and cross-functional team meetings.

Cisco TelePresence System 500

Cisco TelePresence integrates advanced audio, high-definition video and interactive elements with the power of the underlying network to deliver an immersive meeting experience. Cisco TelePresence can help companies shorten sales and product-development cycles while improving operational efficiencies and supporting environmentally responsible business practices.

The two additions to the Cisco TelePresence portfolio are the Cisco TelePresence System 500 and Cisco TelePresence System 3200. They join the existing Cisco TelePresence System 1000 and 3000 endpoints, offering a portfolio that provides intercompany, multipoint and video conferencing interoperability capabilities to help customers scale virtual meetings across their organizations, simply, over a converged network.

This smaller form factor retains all the same qualities of the life-size, face-to-face Cisco TelePresence interaction while giving organizations the flexibility to support intimate, one-on-one meetings or enable employees to join larger group meetings from personal workspaces. The Cisco TelePresence System 500 also provides a lower-cost entry point for medium-sized businesses to experience telepresence in communication with partners, customers or suppliers.

The Cisco TelePresence System 500 integrates a 37-inch display, camera, an innovative microphone array, speakers and specially-designed lighting in a complete solution that can be placed on a desk, mounted on the wall or stand on a pedestal in a private office, creating one of the first high-definition telepresence experiences for personal use. Maintaining the Cisco TelePresence experience, it allows users to participate in virtual meetings as an equal participant, appearing life-size to participants in other Cisco TelePresence rooms. The Cisco TelePresence 500 can also be used as a second monitor in a personal office or as a digital sign through integration with the Cisco Digital Media System video technology for digital signage and desktop video streaming.

The Cisco TelePresence System 3200 builds on the success of the six-person Cisco TelePresence System 3000 by tripling the room capacity and augmenting the virtual table with a second row of seating for larger venues. Ideal for headquarters sites or large regional offices, the system allows large teams to meet and collaborate virtually with remote participants when much of the team is in one physical location, or conduct training or classroom applications easily with remote participants or presenters.

Cisco TelePresence System 3200

The Cisco TelePresence System 3200 is designed to provide the same high-quality audio and video experience to meeting participants in both rows, without requiring a raised row of second seating. With table configurations for either 12 or 18 participants, new camera lenses, microphones for back-row participants, and a new codec that supports data sharing at 30 fps, the Cisco TelePresence System 3200 embodies the sophisticated innovation that has become the standard for Cisco TelePresence.

"SAP is commited to delivering products and services that help accelerate business innovation for our customers," said Dietmar Bruder, vice president, SAP IT Infrastructure Services. "As a leading provider of business software solutions, we are constantly rethinking success and what it takes to be agile, integrated, and flexible to respond to change and complex pressures - to do more, and deliver more effectively to our customers. With Cisco TelePresence, we can work faster without sacrificing any of the face-to-face interaction that is so crucial to gaining consensus across teams. The CTS 3200 especially helps us scale training and handle larger meetings, it's a key addition to our Cisco TelePresence portfolio."

The recent introduction of intercompany Cisco TelePresence services will enable companies to meet in-person with partners, customers or suppliers with the same simplicity, security and experience as they can internally today. This breakthrough in video communications, combined with today's introduction of additional Cisco TelePresence endpoints, will help extend the power of the technology into a broader range of companies and meeting environments.

"Video is rapidly becoming the most effective way to communicate and share information," said Charles Stucki, vice president and general manager, TelePresence Systems business unit, Cisco. "TelePresence is much more than video. TelePresence puts you into the meeting in every important sense. With our recent developments in intercompany and interoperability with video conferencing and an expanded portfolio of solutions, we've dramatically increased the uses for and value of TelePresence. This will help accelerate the proliferation across organizations of all sizes."

Critical to delivering the innovative Cisco TelePresence experience are integrated services from certified partners and Cisco. Cisco offers new specific enhanced and streamlined services for Cisco TelePresence System 500 installation and configuration to rapidly and cost-effectively scale deployments.

Cisco also recently enhanced Cisco TelePresence multipoint capabilities with the ability to scale in a single meeting up to 48 sites, and has released interoperability with standards-based videoconferencing systems to help organizations scale Cisco TelePresence deployments.

The Cisco TelePresence System 500 has a list price of $33,900 USD; the Cisco TelePresence 3200 has a list price of $340,000 USD. Both ship in the third calendar quarter of 2008. A $90,000 USD list Cisco TelePresence System 3200 upgrade kit is also available for Cisco TelePresence System 3000 customers.