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Education Featured Article

July 29, 2009

Videoconferencing and Video Telepresence: Applications and Real Users

By TMCnet Special Guest
Donald Stuart, Market Research Specialist, T3i Group LLC


There are several common, and fairly obvious, applications for videoconferencing (and telepresence) that apply generally to all types of users in all types of market segments. In addition, certain market segments have developed or are using some applications that are more specific to their particular needs.

 
This report provides a general overview of all of these different applications currently in use today, some thoughts on additional applications not in such widespread use as yet, and then follow up with some specific details on actual installations and deployments of the technology, broken down by various vertical market segments with information on actual users.
 
General Applications
 
  • Executive Meetings (be they across a campus, across a city or state, or across the globe);
 
  • All Company Meetings (typically broadcast sessions from the headquarters office to all office locations, sometimes including desktop users);
 
  • Staff and Project Team Meetings (again be they across campus, across a city or state, or across the globe);
 
  • Remote Interviews (using the systems to interview a job candidate in a remote location);
 
  • Local Presence for Remote Assistant or Receptionist (using a videoconferencing terminal connected to an individual at a remote location who is serving as a local receptionist, secretary, or personal assistant);
 
  • Consultation with Remote Experts (to provide access to specialists within the company to employees at other locations);
 
  • Face-to-Face Customer Support (to facilitate direct face-to-face meetings with clients in remote locations, either for a sales to client meeting or to connect the client with other specialists within the company);
 
  • Corporate Training (a trainer or other specialist in a company can use video conferencing to provide training for remote staff members);
 
  • Seminars (staff seminars can provide seminars for remote personnel or clients).
 
Specialized Applications
 
  • Education: Distance Learning (to provide remote classroom instruction from a teacher in one location to class members in another location);
 
  • Education: Virtual Field Trips (to allow classrooms to travel “virtually” to a remote location and explore its surroundings);
 
  • Education: Virtual Lectures (to provide classrooms access to live or prerecorded “virtual” lectures from a remote host);
 
  • Medicine: Remote Diagnostics (allows a medical specialist to diagnose a patient at a remote location, often using videoconferencing (or telepresence) along with special medical equipment connected over the same link as the video);
 
  • Medicine: Remote Surgical Assistance (allows a specialized surgeon to provide remote assistance during a surgical procedure using videoconferencing (or telepresence) to provide them with an actual live view of the proceedings);
 
  • Medicine: Access to a Remote Specialist (remote clinics and hospitals often do not have specialists in all fields, so this type of remote access connects them with a medical specialist in a primary hospital or medical center to help assist local personnel);
 
  • Legal: Remote Depositions (allows participants in a legal case to present their depositions live via video conferencing rather than having to travel to a court to do so);
 
  • Legal: Remote Court Appearances or Hearings (allows prisoners or individuals testifying to appear in court “virtually” using videoconferencing (or telepresence), avoiding the need to transport prisoners unnecessarily or making other individuals travel unnecessarily).
 
Additional Applications
 
  • Mobile Videoconferencing (many videoconferencing multipoint systems now support the inclusion of mobile video phone endpoints, allowing remote staff to join a conference from wherever they are, and presumably provide live video content as well if there mobile phone is so equipped);
 
  • Video Robots (there are some companies already building robots that can be equipped with video conferencing capabilities and controlled from a remote location; numerous applications could be supported by such devices such as conducting security patrols, interfacing with customers in a store or trade show environment, entering areas that might be hostile to humans, etc.);
 
  • Video Concierge Services (in use to some extent in areas like office building receptionist, hotel concierge, etc, to provide services to clients via a remote individual displayed on a local video conferencing endpoint; but this could certainly be expanded to areas such as banking to equip remote teller/ATM endpoints with personalized video, at check in facilities for hotels or hospitals using videoconferencing endpoints possibly equipped with document scanners and credit card readers, etc.);
 
  • Home/Personal Telepresence (which Cisco (News - Alert) has already promised to introduce in the very near future; presumably equivalent of executive/personal telepresence level systems but at a lower price point for the home user be they a corporate executive or staff member; with more and more homes already being equipped with advanced technology HD TVs, it would be a logical next step to also equip set top boxes with audio/video codecs and offer good quality cameras to enable this capability; this could also be expanded to provide video security and monitoring services from within the home to a remote location or from a remote office or other location to a user at home).
 
Actual Users of Videoconferencing and Telepresence (News - Alert)
 
Banking and Financial Services
 
  • Wachovia deployed telepresence systems across multiple locations to enhance collaboration and productivity, while reducing travel time and expense; such systems are used for high level executive meetings as well as staff meetings. The company stated in November 2008 that they were saving US$70,000 per month in travel expenses just 1.5 years after starting deployments of the systems with 5 systems in 4 locations.
 
  • ABN AMRO deployed multiple telepresence systems at international locations to improve collaboration, quickly bring together experts and key business leaders when needed, and reduce travel expenses. The company also used the systems for employee training and development of new services.
 
  • Permira, a private equity firm based in England, deployed a 10-site videoconferencing network to connect its offices worldwide; videoconferencing is used for internal meetings and for meetings with clients, and to reduce travel expenses.
 
  • CAPTRUST financial advisers, with headquarters in Raleigh (NC), uses videoconferencing to connect to its branch offices throughout the southeastern U.S. to hold all company meetings, daily meetings, conduct hiring interviews, and reduce travel expenses.
 
  • HSBC installed telepresence systems in 9 offices worldwide.
 
  • Commerzbank AG installed over 40 videoconferencing systems worldwide for intra-company meetings, reduced travel time and expenses, meetings between equity and currency traders across different time zones, and for interviewing job candidates. Many bank branch offices also have video so clients can meet with financial specialists at other locations and branch managers can collaborate with other personnel; users are able to meet more frequently and get to know each other in the company on a better (face-to-face) level.
 
  • Zurich Financial Services (Switzerland) uses telepresence systems for global meetings, to reduce travel costs, improve productivity, accelerate decision making, and deliver competitive advantage.
 
  • SWIFT (Belgium), a global provider of financial messaging services, is using telepresence systems on a global basis to provide an immersive meeting experience, improve team interaction and collaboration, lower travel costs, improve efficiency and cost control, and reduce carbon emissions.
 
Education
 
  • Los Angeles Community college District uses videoconferencing to connect 9 campuses over an 882 square mile area. Videoconferencing is used for management team meetings, campus construction project meetings, and eventually for distance learning (so a professor in one location can teach a class at another location).
 
  • Case Western Reserve University uses videoconferencing to link staff at their Ohio and California facilities and to allow links to outside clients, to allow professionals to meet with students when they’re on different campuses. The university also partners with the University Hospital of Cleveland to allow surgeons at the hospital to broadcast training to students at Case Medical School. Videoconferencing also allows Case students to have remote interviews with potential employers and for distance learning access to attend classes from remote locations.
 
  • Gordon County School System (GA) with 9 K-12 schools (some over 40 miles apart) and an administrative office in rural Georgia uses videoconferencing for remote staff development training sessions, and department meetings. Videoconferencing will also be used for remote classroom instruction, to take students on virtual field trips, and to arrange for lectures and teaching sessions from partnerships with universities and others.
 
  • Pittsburgh State University (KS) uses videoconferencing for departmental meetings and distance learning applications.
 
  • Louden County Public Schools (VA) and Potomac Elementary School in Sterling, VA use videoconferencing to participate in free music lessons offered by the Manhattan School of Music and to go on virtual field trips sponsored by NASA and other organizations.
 
  • Manhattan School of Music (New York City) for Jazz Artists, as mentioned in the previous note, has a far reaching distance learning program that includes master classes, clinics, private lessons, workshops, telementoring, and more offered to other colleges as well as K-12 programs around the world; the school also uses videoconferencing to conduct remote auditions and for recruitment.
 
  • The Center for Interactive Learning and Collaboration (CILC) offers a wide range of programs (virtual field trips, classroom sessions, lectures, etc.) that are accessible via videoconferencing systems for school systems across the U.S.; launched in 2004, the center is a non-profit organization with over 10,000 member schools.
 
  • In Australia, Taree High School and Tironee Public School (K-6) are linked via videoconferencing and electronic whiteboards so teachers in one facility can teach classes to students at both facilities at the same time and share resources; the schools also plan to use the technology for virtual field trips in the future.
 
  • A U.S. middle school class used videoconferencing to link to a class in England so students could meet each other and discuss various issues and topics of the day.
 
  • In Ohio, several colleges and universities are interconnected via videoconferencing to share distance learning capabilities with teachers at various locations conducting classroom sessions with students at other locations. Included in the program are Youngstown State, University of Akron, Cleveland State, Kent State, Lorain County Community College, Cuyahoga Community college, Jefferson Community college, Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, and North Central State College.
 
  • University of Queensland (Australia) deployed a wireless network and video telepresence systems throughout its network that includes 774 buildings over 4 major campuses and another 45 sites; students can attend classes, download class sessions and recorded lecture materials, collaborate with others, and access a variety of university resources from wherever they are.
 
  • California State University (Fresno, CA) uses desktop videoconferencing to connect individuals at the university with others at 10 local community colleges, 9 high schools, and local business leaders in the community to hold regular meetings and discussions, collaboration, etc.
 
  • Australian State of New South Wales uses videoconferencing along with data collaboration to connect over 2,200 schools and TAFE (Technical and Further Educational Vocational) centers, each with its own video endpoint, to allow students to attend classes and lectures wherever they are, to allow users to interact and collaborate, host outside lecture guests, and take virtual field trips.
 
  • In Wales (UK), the Welsh Video Network project established videoconferencing facilities at Higher Education and Further Education locations across the country; approximately 35 sites are connected. Videoconferencing is used for general meetings, research meetings and discussions, presentations and lectures, classroom sessions, interviews, etc.
 
  • Indiana State University utilizes videoconferencing for distance learning and other applications.
  • University of California has the ARCAMUS project with over 35 videoconferencing systems used to improve communications, shorten project development times, reduce travel time (as well as travel stress and fatigue), reduce travel expenses, reduce meeting times, to provide immediacy of contact, support rapid face-to-face resolution of problems and urgent situations, and for faster and better decision making; the systems are used across campus and to connect to other institutions and research centers.
 
  • Cooperating School Districts of Greater St. Louis, a non-profit educational service agency that brings school districts together to share information, resources and ideas, serves a consortium of 65 school districts in the St. Louis metro area and some outlying counties; they use videoconferencing for virtual field trips, collaborative projects across school districts, to bring outside experts into the classroom, for administrative meetings, staff development, to allow students to attend classes remotely (at other schools or local community colleges), and provide connections to other institutions around the world.
 
  • Virginia Tech (VA) offers a number of online interactive videoconferencing courses (IVCs) that students can attend for full college credit; there are over 25 IVC video centers located across the state of Virginia, with additional systems also deployed to host staff meetings, some of which are also available for rental.
 
Government
 
  • U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) is using video telepresence to connect their 6 locations across the U.S. to support internal meetings and collaboration, to reduce travel expenses, and to reduce their carbon footprint.
 
  • Australian Federal Government is deploying telepresence across more than 20 government offices to help improve productivity, reduce travel costs, and lower carbon emissions.
  • National Labor Relations Board (U.S.) has over 50 locations connected via Glowpoint’s telepresence exchange network (TEN).
 
  • Videoconferencing and Telepresence systems are also used by the U.S. Military to connect command centers with field locations, for telemedicine (to provide interaction between specialists and filed medical locations) and to allow deployed soldiers to visit with their families back home.
 
  • The Norwegian Armed Forces (Norway) installed about 180 videoconferencing systems in its military bases across the country—in every air station, naval base and army camp, along with remote transportable units some installed in command vehicles. Videoconferencing is used for daily briefings, budget discussions, training exercises, and regular staff meetings.
 
Media/Entertainment
 
  • Hollywood studios use telepresence systems to connect multiple locations together for collaborative meetings during which they can also share, view and edit video file content.
  •  
  • Videoconferencing systems were used in the filming of Lord of the Rings so the Director could view actual footage as it was being filmed at multiple locations (as the movie was often doing simultaneous filming in up to 5 different locations), allowing the director to make live changes in things like lighting and camera angles during live shooting at the remote sites.
 
Legal/Criminal Justice
 
  • Cozen O’Connor, a law firm with 500 attorneys in 22 offices in the U.S., London and Toronto uses videoconferencing in all of its offices for meetings between attorneys and to provide legal expertise to clients when the attorney may be in a different office.
 
  • Thames Valley Police (UK) with 16 police stations covering an area of over 2,200 square miles sues videoconferencing for daily briefings between locations, and to communicate with the courts regarding prisoners and documents (without having to transport prisoners to the courts, saving time and money while reducing security risks).
 
  • Collin County Courtrooms (TX) uses videoconferencing to allow judges to hold remote arraignments of prisoners and to handle simple plea hearings remotely; it may also be used to allow police officers to testify online from their local police department facilities rather than having to actually appear in court.
 
  • India has undertaken a nationwide project to connect jails and district courts across the country via tele-justice videoconferencing systems that will eventually link about 300 jails and 2,000 courts and eliminate the need to transport prisoners to courtrooms to stand trial (greatly reducing expenses and improving security).
 
  • In Saskatchewan (Canada), videoconferencing will be used to let prisoners at the Regina Correctional Center to appear in court via video at the Regina Courthouse; it is also being used between the Saskatoon Correctional Center and the Saskatoon Provincial Court; between the Prince Albert Provincial Court and the Pelican Narrows RCMP detachment, and between the Meadow Lake Provincial Court and the LaLocke and Buffalo Narrows office buildings. Actual trials will still be conducted in person, but other court appearances can be handled via video.
 
  • In London (UK), 15 police stations are linked to the Magistrates Court by secure videoconferencing and a secure document transfer system so suspects can be charged within hours of arrest while still at the police station and can also be sentenced on the same day and a defense attorney can have a normal hearing if virtual court is deemed inappropriate.
 
  • Bedford County (PA) District Attorney is using videoconferencing for hearings with prison inmates so they don’t have to be transported to court; it is also used for arraignments and even sentencing.
 
Manufacturing
 
  • Qualcomm uses video telepresence to connect its headquarters location with its research facilities to improve collaboration.
 
  • Mercedes-Benz USA uses video telepresence to link its main campus location to field offices throughout the U.S. to foster collaboration.
 
  • SAP (News - Alert) AG is using video telepresence to conduct high-end internal meetings and improve collaboration at its offices on a global basis, as well as to enhance operational efficiency in the areas of product development and customer engagement.
 
  • Cisco uses its own collaborative tools (WebEx Webconferencing and telepresence systems) throughout its locations around the world, reducing internal travel expenses by hundreds of millions of dollars a year, and improving productivity and operating efficiency; such collaboration is also used to improve and increase contact with customers.
 
  • British American Tobacco (BAT) has deployed telepresence systems in multiple offices for staff meetings, increased collaboration, and saving millions of dollars per year on travel expenses while also reducing travel time losses and carbon footprint; during the past year alone, BAT has saved over 9 million Pounds on travel expenses and recovered 96,000 hours previously lost to travel time.
 
  • BAE Systems (News - Alert) is deploying telepresence systems at its facilities in the U.S. and UK, with plans to expand to Sweden, South Africa and other regions; the company plans to use the equipment for leadership and engineering teams for improved meeting experience and better collaboration.
  • Proctor and Gamble has telepresence systems deployed at over 40 sites globally for internal meetings, which has reduced travel by about 1,000 trips per month.
 
Medical/Healthcare
 
  • The San Carlos Apache Tribe (AZ), in June 2009, used videoconferencing equipment to link the Wellness Center on their reservation in San Carlos (AZ) to a psychiatrist in Phoenix (AZ) to enable live consultations with six Apache clients; the psychiatrist is also able to fax prescriptions to a local pharmacy via a secure link so patients can also pick up any needed medications the same day.
 
  • NuPhysicia (Houston, TX) delivers telemedicine services to workers on oil rigs and in other remote locations using special videoconferencing units equipped with a camera, display, video scope, electronic stethoscope and other electronic medical devices (using equipment from Polycom and AMD Global Telemedicine); InPlace Medical Solutions can provide expert healthcare to users anywhere, provided they are equipped with a video unit and a paramedic (or nurse practitioner) to work with the patient at the remote site.
 
  • Adena Health System (OH) uses videoconferencing to connect neonatal patients in rural Ohio to pediatric specialists in Colombus, OH.
 
  • JSA Health (TX) uses videoconferencing to provide telepsychiatry services to patients in remote areas; psychiatrists at the main location are able to meet with patients at hospitals, clinics and other locations.
 
  • New Mexico state’s Project Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes (Project ECHO) uses videoconferencing for a telemedicine program that provides healthcare information sessions to physicians in rural areas and in the prison system (via live broadcasts or accessible recorded sessions) and to provide access (by physicians) to university healthcare specialists.
 
  • Medical Missions for Children (MMFC) uses videoconferencing to connect specialist physicians in the U.S. to hospitals in developing countries around the world, serving hospitals in over 80 countries, to provide expertise to local medical staff and to remotely visit with patients.
  • Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust (UK) uses videoconferencing along with specialized Medical Conferencing Equipment from MultiSense Communications to allow physicians and surgeons around the globe to watch while an NHS surgeon performs an operation.
 
  • St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center (Phoenix, AZ) uses videoconferencing to connect specialist physicians at the hospital to referring physicians within the community and for delivering Continuing Medical Education programs to its physicians.
 
  • Hospitals in Wales (UK) are connecting to hospitals in England (UK) via videoconferencing so physicians in multiple locations can meet to discuss diagnoses and treatments via one-on-one or team meetings.
 
  • In Afghanistan, several hospitals are linked via videoconferencing in a telemedicine project to support diagnostics and training along with real-time access to specialist healthcare diagnosis, treatment and training expertise within the country and abroad; the project currently links the Bamyan Provincial Hospital, the Aga Khan University Hospital, the French Medical Institute for Children, and the Aga Khan Health Services facilities.
 
  • Cherokee Health Services (Servier County, TN) has a telemedicine program that links rural schools to the main medical facilities; using nurses at each school and two nurse practitioners at the medical facility, children throughout the school district can be provided with medical care including screenings, examinations, diagnosis, treatment and monitoring using equipment from Polycom and AMD Global Telemedicine.
 
  • John Hopkins International uses videoconferencing to facilitate research, education and patient care such as providing second opinions and consultations with other medical facilities, meeting with research and clinical trial teams worldwide, connecting its Minimally Invasive Surgical Training Center with other locations so physicians can demonstrate new procedures, and providing access to online lecture series to numerous locations (including Argentina, Colombia, Peru, Singapore and the Middle East).
 
  • Partners Telestroke Center links the Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Womens Hospital to other medical facilities in the state via videoconferencing, to provide them with access to stroke specialists for diagnosis and assistance in developing a plan of treatment and ongoing care; over 20 community hospitals are now connected to the network.
 
  • The Children’s Hospital at Westmead uses NSW TeleHealth, a telemedicine program in New South Wales (Australia) that connects hospitals and public health service facilities in over 160 locations across the region to provide medical diagnosis and treatment, along with access to specialists for patients in remote areas.
 
Religious
 
  • Church of Scotland is considering using virtual ministers to preach to congregations using videoconferencing, since there are churches that are not staffed with their own priests due a clergy shortage.
 
Telecom
 
  • Tata Communications is installing public telepresence rooms around the globe and offering managed telepresence services to private users as well; global office locations include Mumbai, Bangalore (2), Delhi, Hyderabad, Chennai, London, Boston, Manila, and Santa Clara (CA)(via Cisco), with more planned.
 
  • Rogers Communications has deployed telepresence systems in several Canadian office locations to improve productivity and collaboration.
 
  • Telstra (News - Alert) (Australia) has also deployed multiple telepresence systems.
 
  • BT-British Telecom (UK) has set up three telepresence demonstration centers located in London, New York, and Denver , each equipped with products from multiple vendors, so potential buyers can try out the technology; BT also uses videoconferencing internally.
 
Travel/Hospitality
 
  • TUI Nederland (the Netherlands) is a major tour operator in Europe that uses videoconferencing in several facilities for regular meetings, to reduce travel time between locations and to reduce travel expenses.
 
  • Marriott Hotels have deployed telepresence systems in a number of their hotels in leading cities around the world that are available for public meeting rentals.
 
  • Also, video concierge services can be offered by deploying a telepresence unit in a hotel lobby that allows guests to access a remote agent to help them with information.
 
Miscellaneous
 
  • Regus Group, a global provider of office space and meeting rooms to rent, has a global network of over 600 videoconferencing rooms to which it is adding telepresence suites at locations in world business capitals (including London, New York, San Francisco, Chicago, Manchester, Mumbai, Moscow, Frankfurt, Paris, Shanghai, Sydney, Hong Kong, Singapore and Tokyo).
 
  • Media-Saturn Group (Germany), a consumer electronics retailer throughout Europe, has deployed telepresence systems in 15 countries across Europe to enhance internal cross-border communications, reduce costs, and enhance interaction with business partners.
 
  • ClubCorp (TX), an owner/operator of private clubs (golf, country club, sports and business) across the U.S., has over 50 High Definition videoconferencing suites located in major markets across the U.S. that are available for business meetings; they are now partnering with Affinity VideoNet (MA), a global provider of audio/web/video conferencing services that has thousands of videoconferencing rooms available across the U.S. and in over 60 countries around the world, which are also available for rental.
 
For more information, contact:
Russell Horowitz
Market Research Specialist
T3i Group LLC
973-602-0134
[email protected]
www.t3igroupuc.com/details.html
www.t3igroup.com

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Edited by Michael Dinan


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