I returned to Boston from HIMSS to spend the day with my daughter on her 16th birthday. We had a great day cooking, hiking, and enjoying a fabulous Japanese meal as a family. However, I was also in Chicago for 2 hours, speaking with the press about the Stimulus Bill, Interoperability, and Decision Support.The press gathered at the Cisco booth on the floor of HIMSS and I welcomed them to my basement via Telepresence. We chatted for an hour with full life-sized 1080p real time video. Truly, there was no difference from sitting in a room together, other than the fact that my basement had a bubbling fish tank and 2 rabbits running around.
My Telepresence experience was different from traditional video conferencing in that it did not feel like a video conference. All the other units I've used in the past have had a small grainy picture with tinny sound, often displaying picture within a picture. Telepresence is just high definition video and audio with the feeling that you are in room with the other participants, not on a video conference.
All the eye contact, gestures, and common courtesy you'd use in an in person meeting are natural in Telepresence. I changed my body position, my eye focus and my voice direction as I spoke to various participants.
The technology worked perfectly over my home Verizon FIOS 20 megabit connection.
I really enjoyed using the technology to connect with HIMSS while being in Boston with my daughter. At 4am I'm heading back to HIMSS for a day of meetings with many stakeholders. I'm working on becoming 100% virtual, but our culture is not quite ready for that!
These systems should allow for a better life with less travel and easier collaboration.
ReplyDeleteWhat about the rest of the world who cannot afford the Cisco system.
well thats what the future should be like...
ReplyDeleteI wanted to respond to the question from Project regarding options for telepresence that are more cost effective than the system that was mentioned. There are many alternatives on the market that can provide a similar quality of experience (High Definition quality), but that are more affordable. I think that my employer, LifeSize Communications, stands out in building some of the highest quality video communication systems available, but that are flexible in bandwidth utilization and that are highly cost effective. We have HD systems available for as little as $4999.
ReplyDeleteThank you for posting your experience on how you think video communication can be beneficial. It's great to see new applications of this technology that can help people in their work and in their lives.
-Michael Helmbrecht
There are many alternatives on the market that can provide a similar quality of experience (High Definition quality), but that are more affordable. I think that my employer, LifeSize Communications, stands out in building some of the highest quality video communication systems available, but that are flexible in bandwidth utilization and that are highly cost effective. We have HD systems available for as little as $4999.
ReplyDeleteRecep Deniz MD
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