INSIGHT
“The video conferencing needs of SMBs have always been different to those of enterprise, but this has
not always been reflected in the products offered to them.”
Lee Sinclair, Founder and Director BNS Distribution UK
The Future for Conferencing
There is much activity in the market for conferencing such as 4K video, WebRTC, mobile apps and virtual reality
so here are Ian Hunter ‘s are snapshots from channel players on their views on what we can expect to see in the
coming year
According to Joel Price,
Vice President of Sales at
ScanSource, adding 4K
and surround sound will be
of high appeal to many but not
everyone has the money to spend
on such solutions yet.
“One of the real fights for
the future will be simplifying
the User Experience, making
the process of actually calling
more intuitive. Having solutions
where you don’t need to
remember any details, one that
knows where you are located
and instantly dials you into the
call will no doubt help adoption
of video. The benefits of video
once you are in a call is selfevident
– but the challenge is
the same as it always was for
videoconferencing. Remove
the barriers of entry. We are
getting there with easy dialling,
WebRTC, apps on mobiles and
tablets. Huge progress has been
made and suppliers will likely
keep working on making using
video a seamless experience.
In a similar vein, Simon
Hughes, Konftel Brand Manager
at Trust Distribution says that
current products on the market
will continue to grow and
develop becoming even easier,
quicker and more flexible.
“But you will also see with
increasing number of mobile
devices and teams apps being
used for video calls that this will
transfer and play greater role in
B2C communications.
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There is also the development
of virtual reality, so people
could soon be stepping in to a
completely immersive virtual
meeting space where users will
virtually interact as if they were
face to face.”
Steven Ansell, Architecture
Lead – Collaboration Solutions
at Comstor says that in a Cisco
world, you have video, audio,
sharing and immersive presence.
“IX5K room systems will
sit you at the table next to a
colleague in another location
and dimension! So, maybe
VR/AR will start to be seen?
However, there is a long way
to go with many current
innovations, for example
decoding in 8K is nowhere near
mainstream. Also, VR impacts
sensory perception. Many will
happily ‘sit’ next to a colleague
in an immersive system but,
I suspect a huge majority will
feel uncomfortable strapping
something to their face for a
meeting. Video-conferencing
has taken so long to be accepted
it’s wise to consider that, because
you can feasibly do something
doesn’t mean people will want to
or should. VR is still very niche,
despite being around for what
seems eons.
Lee Sinclair Founder and
Director BNS Distribution
UK, says that the latest video
conferencing developments
such as Android based devices
are much more in tune with
the video conferencing needs of
small and medium businesses,
recognising that their needs are
different to those of enterprise.
“The video conferencing
needs of SMBs have always been
different to those of enterprise,
but this has not always been
reflected in the products offered
to them. The truth is that the
SMB does not want or need a
cut down version of an enterprise
product. Latest trends in video
conferencing recognise the needs
to the different communities and
the introduction of cloud based
options and office based android
solutions are long overdue.
Enterprises need to
allow hundreds of people to
collaborate at any time and
for many meetings to occur
simultaneously. They also
require real-time management
of their collaboration solutions
and typically want to build,
customize and manage
their collaboration network
themselves.”
Ian Brindle, Nimans’ Head
of Sales, UC Devices, notes that
there’s a lot more interoperability
through cloud service providers.
“This will shape the market -
you can talk to multiple devices
through one cloud solution
and it’s becoming more of
an affordable OPEX model.
Historically, where people were
using on-premise bridges etc - an
OPEX cloud model now is far
more cost effective.
Overall there’s still lots of
healthy growth across all areas of
the market but especially huddle
room environments. This is
where we and our customers are
focusing lots of attention.”
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