Teleport to Your Next Meeting

Steve Knutson

Chief Information Officer

Marco, Inc.

marconet.com

Topic: Technology

Ask business travelers to share a time when they wished they could teleport back to their enterprise and you will get more than one evocative experience.  The costly, time-consuming nature of traveling can make even the most seasoned traveler wish for “Beam me up, Scotty” capabilities.

Certainly technology has evolved since Captain Kirk first shared those words with his chief engineer in the television series “Star Trek” in the late 60s. Even as recent as 10 years ago, the premise still was considered futuristic. 

But a combination of recent advancements in video, audio and internet capabilities is quickly changing what professionals once thought was impossible. New telepresence technology is bringing businesses a 21st century-take on the teleporting concept made popular in science fiction. 

Telepresence enables groups to meet and collaborate in multiple locations worldwide in real time.  By combining high-definition video, real-time audio and interior design, groups feel as if they are actually gathered together in the same room across a virtual table – without even stepping foot on an airplane.

Within Reach

The technology is by no means new to the market, but compression capabilities and new IP standards are making it more accessible for organizations to access. New standards-based video compression technology recently released by manufacturer Polycom alone allow telepresence to operate with half the bandwidth today than it did a month ago.

Earlier this year, Mariott announced the opening of its first telepresence meeting space at its hotels in Washington DC and New York. The hotel chain quickly rolled it out worldwide and expects to have more than a dozen locations offering the technology by the end of the year. 

Business leaders gain access to Mariott’s $250,000 rooms for $500 an hour – considered a bargain for many professionals who once spent time and money traveling.

Marco’s new Minneapolis office, opening in September, will feature its own telepresence meeting space that will be available to local professionals for an hourly fee. The room also provides a way for leaders to see and use the technology firsthand before deciding to integrate it into their organizations. 

Organizations find they do not need to start from scratch. They can integrate telepresence into their existing SD or HD video conferencing systems. The move allows them to bring up to 48 locations together in one meeting and bodes additional capabilities when combined with other collaboration tools such as Cisco’s WebEx Center. 

What’s Next?

The technology continues to evolve and grab the interest and attention of the IT industry.  A recent international information technology conference in Las Vegas devoted an entire wing to telepresence. 

Doting its 3D capabilities, some spinoffs of the technology incorporate holograms, mirrors and ultra, high-definition projection. In one instance, a combination of technology and mirrors made a head of a person teleporting for the meeting float at eye level.  

While it will take some getting used to, the face-to-face collaboration and productivity benefits of telepresence are expected to accelerate its adoption in the business world. Welcome to the future.