Networking giant Cisco will start shipping its new video conferencing solution to India and other parts of the world, offering enterprises, especially small and medium sized firms, high quality connectivity and at lower cost of ownership.
The "SX10" is a video conferencing all-in-one unit, which can be used with any flat panel display to convert the television into a telepresence unit.
"The product was announced last week and we will start shipping soon and in the next few months. It will be available globally, including India. It offers tremendous affordability for small and medium-sized businesses, especially if they are just starting out with telepresence," Cisco Vice President Collaboration Solutions (Marketing) Peder Ulander told PTI.
The device is expected to be available for about USD 2,000 through different partners of Cisco, he added.
Typically, an enterprise (depending on the size and scale) has to invest about 40-50 per cent more on telepresence hardware and solutions.
"SX10 is not only cheaper but the cost of implementation is also lower. It can be easily connected and there is no requirement of specialised IT guys to set up telepresence using this solution. This will work very well for SMBs, who work across locations, including remote ones and have been staying away from telepresence because of fears of exorbitant costs," he said.
Ulander cited an example from Norway, where an operator has partnered with Cisco to deploy video conferencing rooms using this solution.
"The operator is offering services at about USD 30 a month, which is very economical," he said.
Ulander said the solution will help customers with mobile workers and teleworkers, especially in sectors like financial services, education and telemedicine.
The solution also has Cisco's proprietary "Intelligent Proximity" feature, which allows using iPhones and Android smartphones as a remote to control the SX10 solution.
"Intelligent Proximity automatically connects to the SX10 to allow users to use their Apple and Android smartphones as remotes. This was developed jointly across our R&D centres in India, China and the US. We will soon bring out an app for the Windows phones too," Ulander said.
According to a report by Infonetics Research, the global enterprise telepresence and videoconferencing market grew five per cent year-on-year to USD 3.2 billion in 2013 with Asia Pacific and EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa) as key growth regions, both up 8 per cent.
The global enterprise videoconferencing and telepresence revenue is expected to grow at a 3 per cent CAGR from 2013 to 2018 as more enterprises opt for real-time connectivity and containing travel costs using video conferencing solutions.
Cisco's competition in the space includes Polycom and Aavya. The California-based firm leads the video conferencing market with 50 per cent market share.
