Citrix Systems, makers of GotoMeeting, GotoWebinar and other video conferencing services has quietly acquired high definition voice conference provider Vapps for $26.6 million in cash. The details of the acquisition were released with Citrix’s November 14th SEC filings. Vapps had been a pioneer in the field of “HD” voice conferencing services, and has partnered with Skype, Adobe, Yahoo and MSN among other services providing high quality audio conferencing.

Vapps HD conferencing is audio that is sent on the 16 KHz “wideband” codec. This is twice the standard 8 KHz that most VoIP encoding (roughly what you’d get on a PSTN call) provides. Vapps services supports up to 500 callers on the line and provides a monthly flat rate service that encourages all day, continuous use. Vapps customers reportedly use roughly half a billion minutes per year.

Citrix will likely integrate Vapps technology into it’s current suite of collaboration services. In addition to the $26.6 million in cash, Vapps also has the usual “if they meet certain goals” incentives at a not-so-usual $4.4 million price tag. According to both companies, Vapps and Citrix have been negotiating the deal for “several months.”

Vapps had been financed solely by Azure Capital Partners, who will see a 3.6 times return on it’s initial VC investment that it staked only 18 months ago. Much shorter than the duration most VCs have to wait to see any it at all a return on their investment.

While video conferencing has long ben heralded as a perfect substitution for actually being in the meting, a recent study suggestions that it might not be as effective as actually being there. Video conferencing allows a presenter to present to multiple locations at a time, allowing reduced travel for the presenter and the participants, while saving time and money.

The study suggests that while video conferencing can be an effective communication tool, it distorts the interaction in small but important ways. The study found that while participants in a regular conference were likely to base their judgment of the presentation on the arguments and the materials, participants of the video conferences were more likely to judge the presentation on the charisma of the presenter.

The research was conducted by Carlos Ferran at Pennsylvania State University and Stephanie Watts at Boston University where they quizzed 44 medical professionals who took part in early morning medical seminars via business-quality video conferencing, and 99 peers who were in the room with the physical presenters. The subjects were asked about how likely they would be to refer a patient to the speaker at the seminar, and how likable they felt he or she was, among other things. The videoconference participants were more likely to report that it was hard to follow what the speaker was saying, and reported higher levels of stress during the seminars.

In their study published in the September issue of the journal Management Science, the researchers hypothesize that a videoconference is mentally more challenging than a face-to-face meeting. That leaves less brainpower left over to process the content of the presentation. Cues we use in conversation, such as looking at people’s gazes to figure out to whom they are talking, are harder to follow in a videoconference.

While Cisco’s telepresence solution has been very popular and praised by those who use it, the technology is still much too expensive for most small and even medium/large sized businesses. Starting at $35,000 and going all the way up to $350,000 per installation, the capital cost is too great for most companies to try the technology.

In an effort to promote their technology and the green concept of teleworking, Cisco has announced that they will set up public telepresence systems so even companies that can’t afford the full installation can try, use and experience this high-end video conferencing.

So far, Cisco has opened these public telePresence suites in London, Santa Clara, Boston, Gurgaon, Chennai, Bangalore, and Mumbai. These public telepresence suites are available to rent on an hourly basis. The London suite is located at the Taj Hotel on Buckingham Gate in central London and prices range from $300 for one or two participants, $500 for up to six participants and $900 for up to 18 participants in the telepresence meeting. These prices are expected to come down as the installations begin to pay for themselves.

Cisco plans to roll out a total of 100 public telepresence rooms in the near future, located in hotels and business centers throughout the world. Cisco has started to become more competitive in the telepresence arena after new competitors such as HP and now Lifesize have started offering similar products at much more competitive prices.

HSBC has begun implementing Cisco’s video conferencing and telepresence technology to conduct virtual meetings throughout the company’s disparate locations. The technology will allow instant face-to-face meetings around the globe.

Cisco’s video conferencing service provides life-size, high-definition video and recreates the “the interactivity, spontaneity and nuanced communications experience of an in-person meeting”, according to the company. The telepresence system provides a table that can include 6 people on the video conference, with displays, cameras, lighting and microphones, to simulate an actual meeting over the web.

HSBC CIOP, Ken Harvey:

Our current meeting and collaboration tools provide significant increases in productivity, but are no substitute for in-person meetings. Cisco Telepresence gives us the experience and benefit of actually being in the room with colleagues on the other side of the world, without having to pack a suitcase.

Initially, HSBC will install the video conferencing systems to connect locations in London, Chicago, Hong Kong, Mexico City, New York and Dubai. Cisco says the technology will save the bank thousands in travel costs and help promote a cleaner environment by reducing emissions spent through conventional business travel.

InstantPresenter, an industry leader in web conference, video conference and webinar services now offers expanded webconferencing and webinar registration services. These new registration services allow the online presenter to find out exactly what their audience is interested in before the presentation, and allows them to customize their presentation to their interests.

Registration features include fully customizable forms for invitations, RSVP information or any other information the presenter would like to collect about your audience prior to the event. Data can be exported and downloaded directly into Excel in .CSV format. InstantPresenter registration services start at only $29 per month.

Along with new registration services, InstantPresenter introduces its new Content Library. The InstantPresenter Content Library allows the online presenter to store up to 100MB of presentation material on InstantPresenter’s high speed web conferencing servers. Presenters can instantly switch between content that is already available and ready to be presented. The content library allows the presenter to store PowerPoint files, Flash presentation data, images, movies and audio files. Content is now always available and ready to present.

For more information about InstantPresenter and its services, contact:

Contact:
TJ Davis
Director of Sales
InstantPresenter.com
Phone: 714-890-3008

http://www.instantpresenter.com

Avistar Communications, a provider of video conferencing and communications services, announced that it has been granted two new U.S. patents: 7,398,296, issued on 08/08/08 and 7,412,482, issued on 08/12/08. These patents further expand Avistar’s intellectual property coverage in the areas of login-based Voice over IP services, video conferencing and text-based instant messaging.

Avistar, currently holds 82 patents covering presence-based interactions, wireless communications, desktop video, recorded and live media at the desktop, instant messaging, multimedia documents, data sharing and service-rich video network architectures. The two  new patents cover systems and methods for login-based routing of real-time communications, such as text instant messaging, VoIP and two-way video conferencing.

Avistar CEO, Simon Moss:

Basically, these two patents are designed to accommodate the way people communicate today, while addressing further convergence in the future. Without them, you would need a number of ways to reach colleagues, depending on the device and location they’re using — such as on a mobile phone, in the office or traveling with a laptop. These two patents enable users to click one button to contact another person and find that person no matter what device he or she is using or where he or she is. These two patents are significant to both the industry and Avistar for two key reasons. First, they describe the use of real-time text and audio, not just video. And they have a priority date of October 1993.

Avistar’s active licensing program makes its intellectual property available to potential partners and licensees. Inquiries for licensing these or any other Avistar patents may be directed to Paul D. Carmichael, Esq., (408) 252-7927.

A recent survey of 1400 Chief Information Officers by the staffing firm, Robert Hall Technology indicates that while CIOs appreciate and frequently use video conferencing, online training and collaboration software, they aren’t familiar with or very interested in web 2.0 apps such as blogs and wikis.

CIOs on Video Conferencing, Online Training, and Collaboration Tools

Of the 1400 CIOs who responded to the survey, 47% reported that they currently use online training, with another 13% planning to use it in the next five years. Among the same respondents, 34% said they use video conferencing software today with another 18% planning on using it in the next five years. Telepresence and collaborative workspaces are used by 24% of CIOs with another 19% planning on using those tools in the next five years.

CIOs on Web 2.0 Applications

While CIOs are using many of the larger, more prevalent online communication and online collaboration tools, the same can not be said for web 2.0 applications. Of the 1400 CIOs who responded to the survey, 67% have no intention of using tagging software in their websites, 72% aren’t planning to ever use blogs; 74% of the respondents do not even understand what a “wiki” is, and 84% of the same set of respondents have no plans on using or integrating “virtual worlds” into their systems.

It’s not surprising that CIOs don’t plan to use virtual worlds, and may not have time or interest in personal or company blogs, but it is surprising that they have a lack of interest in wikis. By design, wikis are perfect for IT departments to report lessons learned, track projects and report and correct errors in the system. It may be that the CIOs who reported that they don’t use wikis, just aren’t aware that their IT department does.

In the face of rising fuel costs, many companies are turning to online collaboration and video conferencing services to reduce travel costs and at the same time help protect the environment. This current push for video conference services have left many companies scrambling to find the appropriate IT solution for their company, and the Marriott Hotels are looking to provide the solution, or at least be a stop-gap solution for companies that need an immediate solution.

Marriott International Hotels are installing Hewlett Packard’s Halo telepresence centers in key hotels around the world. The Halo telepresence system is a complete video conference solution that has a physical semi-circle conference table, with large LCD television screens that make up the other half of the table. The result is what appears to be a round conference table, half with people physically present, and the other half at any other location that has a similar Halo setup. The technology allows very realistic conferencing, without the hassle and costs of conventional travel.

Marriott Spokesman, John Wolfe:

It’s an opportunity to open up a new line of business that we currently don’t have.

A study conducted by Orbitz Business and Business Traveller magazine found that 79% of corporate travel managers are feeling some pressure to cut travel expenditures and 42% are exploring alternatives to business travel, including web conferencing and video conferencing services.

Teleprescense systems like Hewlett Packard’s Halo can cost tens of thousands of dollars. The availability of these systems at key Marriott hotels will provide easy access to companies that only need to occassionaly use the technology, and for companies that plan to purchase the technology but would like to use it first. No date has been set on when Marriott and HP plan on rolling out the service.

Polycom, a web conferencing and video conferencing service provider, this week reported its second quarter results, which beat revenue estimates but missed earnings estimates by only a single cent. Revenue grew 16% to $271.6 million. Net income grew 77% to $17.8 million. Polycom is just one of many video conferencing service providers to see sales increase as the price of travel makes web conferencing and video conferencing an attractive alternative.

In a recent study, Gartner expects web conferencing and video conferencing solutions to generate $600 million in annual equipment revenue and $1.5 billion in revenue including services by 2010. In addition, in an IT budget priority survey for enterprises, online collaboration moved up two slots to number eight.

Web conference and video conference services are growing rapidly, most notably outside of the United States. North America revenues were up 7% for the year, Europe grew by 36%, Asia by 20%, and Latin America by 36%.

Polycom expects its telepresence and high definition video conference business to continue to benefit from the increasing costs of travel, particularly during this economic slowdown. It is also increasing its marketing and research spending to increase the financial benefits from the trend. For the third quarter, Polycom expects revenue to increase 3%.

Video conferencing services and web conferencing have become a vital part of many American and international companies. Video conferencing and web conferencing are convenient and lower operational costs.

Because of the millions of dollars that videoconferencing services have saved U.S. firms, the web conferencing and online collaboration industry expanded by about 30 percent in 2007. In 2008, the total income of all audio conferencing, video conferencing and web conferencing technologies is expected to hit $8 billion and is forecast to further increase to $10 billion by 2012.

Although videoconferencing services have been around for several years, during its early years early adopters of the technology claimed that in many cases the video quality was so poor or too choppy, and would often opt to meet important clients in person. New advances in high definition video conferencing services have remedied the issue.

Installing high definition videoconferencing services can be a major investment, with initial expenses for software and hardware averaging $200,000 and maintenance costs of 15 percent a year. However, with the ever-rising costs of fuel, and the related increase in travel, video conferencing technology can quickly pay for itself. Video conferencing also lowers the carbon footprint that companies create while using conventional travel.