Video Conferencing

An article in today’s LA Times tackles the techie topic of video conferencing in a post-9/11 world. The title tells all: Video Meetings Didn’t Take Off Despite Fear of Flying. In the days after the disaster, some pundits expected exponential long-term growth in the adoption of video conferencing technology. But it didn’t happen. While there was growth, in most cases, it was not monumental.

With employees reluctant to fly and shrunken travel budgets, video conferencing was positioned to take up the slack. But the immediate frenzy over video conferencing quickly dropped off as high prices kept many companies out of the video conference room and folks returned to the airways.

After a number of years, the video conferencing market has begun to heat up again.

Dramatically lower costs are driving much of the new interest in video conferencing. Following a variation of Moore’s Law, the cost of today’s typical video conferencing system might only be one-tenth of the cost for an equivalent system, half a decade ago. Today’s market suggest that the cost of a reasonably-positioned video conferencing system might be justified in just a day or two, with the elimination of one business trip.

That said, a mere five grand might still be too much of an investment for some firms. With some budget-minded companies, inexpensive web conferencing solutions and integrated video cameras (like Apple’s iSight) weigh heavily in the fray.

And then there are those that dream of super-heavy-duty six-figure conferencing systems like the fantastic Hewlett-Packard Halo. It’s as good as being there, or so they say, tho I couldn’t say, first hand … In the words of Joe Walsh, “Ain’t never been there, they tell me it’s nice.”