Some of the hard-working folks from IPeak Networks just returned from Interop Las Vegas.  They report a smaller crowd than in previous years on both the floor-walking and the vendor side of things.  I guess this is to be expected.  They also report a big push on the part of the network gear vendors into the booming business of Internet videoconferencing.  Here’s a snippet from the Interop Las Vegas notes made by our VP Product Management, Dave Teed:

… videoconferencing over IP requirements are growing rapidly… major hole in the deployment(s)… branch offices which use the internet cannot be properly served today… all agreed that this is the next major hurdle to be overcome to make video a broadly used service…

This is a popular theme around our offices: how to enable truly usable videoconferencing beyond the controlled network, where dedicated lines and MPLS cannot reach, at the outer limits.  In a variation on the same theme, we also ask how you can use videoconferencing between parties that may each be within metro limits, for instance, but not on the same network.  For instance, how can you get a good quality videoconference going between your sales team and your customers and prospects?

If you’re trying to or want to use videoconferencing to reduce your travel costs and your carbon footprint, you have to be able to reach the folks at the outer limits.

We’ve heard a few different answers to these questions but the one I want to address with this post is the so-called telepresence room-for-hire.  It seems to me that this kind of telepresence—I say this kind because the term telepresence does seem to be taking on a couple of different definitions, with a potential for confusion that I might come back to in a future post—is the wrong answer for several reasons.  For one, these rooms are only located in population centers of a certain size.  That seems to fly in the face of our need to get videoconferencing going beyond the controlled network.  For another thing, a rented room won’t do much for day-to-day needs that could be met very nicely if videoconferencing over the Internet were more reliable and truly usable.  Finally, to put a particularly self-serving twist on the term, I ask you this: is it still real-time if you have to book a room in advance and organize the drive across town.  Can you really expect your clients and prospects to get in the car to get to your videoconference sales call?

No.  It doesn’t look like a telepresence or high definition videoconferencing room for rent is at all suited in the industry’s quest to reach you at the outer limits.