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.