Reaction to Cisco’s Acquisition of Tandberg
October 7, 2009
On the recent news of Cisco’s acquisition of Tandberg, I wouldn’t want to break tradition and stay silent, what fun is there in that? I won’t deny its big news for the videoconferencing industry and as with any announcement there is an upside and a downside. To start on a positive note, and of course with a slightly selfish and possibly smug comment – I couldn’t help but sit back in my chair, look at the wonderful view of NY harbor from my office and breathe a sigh of contentment because when I read the news, my very first thought was wow, the small industry that I jumpstarted way back in 1999 has just been truly validated! This acquisition has helped prove telepresence is more than just a fad, it is here to stay. Not that i didnt know this already or that my customers haven’t told me continually how Teliris Telepresence has changed their business, saved them money and dramatically increased productivity. WE already knew this, but now EVERYONE can see it as clearly as I always have.
Now for the BIG BUT…(you knew I couldn’t spend this entire commentary being positive, right?). The big glaring hole here is in the details of this acquisition. This not only shows Cisco’s inability to innovate but also highlights the many inconsistencies between the two companies that will take years to reconcile. Cisco and Tandberg are stuck in the heavy, monolithic, high priced ‘video mainframe’ infrastructure mode and will find it very difficult to compete with Teliris 6G – a light software-based approach to telepresence. How can Cisco and Tandberg reconcile their ideas of how telepresence should work? Cisco’s switched video versus Tandberg’s MCU-centric view will present serious integration and migration challenges for both Cisco and Tandberg customers. Will Tandberg customers migrate to Cisco, or Cisco customers to Tandberg? Either way this will not be simple, especially when you consider the required change in direction which will inevitably conflict with promises both companies have made to their customers. Lastly, how far we have come since the days of Cisco’s declaration that there was no need for interoperability. With this acquisition, it will have to become front and center! Not to rub it in, but Teliris started interoperating way back in 2007 and made it clear that it would be of ultra importance. Of course, this is just a short synopsis of my thoughts, so click on my video and get all the details.
Take the Teliris 6G Challenge
July 16, 2009
Click here to take the Teliris 6G Challenge!
InfoComm Walk Through
July 8, 2009
This year’s InfoComm was not quite long enough, we were just getting warmed up over at the Teliris booth with our typical in-your-face, leave nothing to your imagination marketing campaign….if you have read my posts before, then you are definitely not surprised to hear that our efforts (I can’t deny it was all my idea) were aimed to hit Cisco directly in the face…I just could not resist, they make it way too easy!! Check out the banner from our booth below and yes it was in fact facing directly into Cisco’s booth! Ohhhh it kept such a smile on my face, especially every time an attendee laughed out loud long and hard.
Teliris Banner at InfoComm
So let me set the scene – my company, Teliris, launched what we believe is the BIGGEST leap for telepresence yet, and we came equipped with the product line to show it…we announced our 6G platform which basically allows telepresence for the first time to reach anywhere, everywhere, whenever…thats a pretty big statement but make no mistake its true…and how do we do this you may wonder? Well, very simply – over any general purpose network…yup, no more heavy, monolithic, QoS/CoS networks required and with that comes a HUGE cost reduction…when I say huge, I mean a 40% reduction in network costs.
So back to the show setup (although don’t miss my latest video entry for a walkthrough of our booth) we brought a wide array of product with us, we had it all – desktop, one, two, three screen systems placed around the booth with live people coming in from the UK, NYC, CT etc. And what did Cisco show?…well, they had some really comfy black leather couches, so I can’t be totally critical…other than that, they featured one single screen system. Thats it. Nothing else. Done. As i said, sometimes its just tooooo easy! Hold on to the handrails for my next entry…as I said, we are just getting started.
6G Telepresence
June 17, 2009
Visit www.teliris.com to read more about Teliris’ simple, affordable, agile new telepresence platform. I’ll be posting footage of the press conference and InfoComm soon, so keep checking back!
InfoComm
June 17, 2009
InfoComm starts today! Stay tuned for a very big announcement this morning and check out the LIVE webcam to watch the press conference and the Teliris booth (3573 for those of you at the show)!
http://www.teliris.com/6G-Teliris-Telepresence-Infocomm-Webcast
Telepresence & the Economy
January 22, 2009
We are all asking, and being asked, the same question – whether you lead a company, work for a corporation or even if you are self employed – everyone wants to know how others are faring in the economic hardships facing the world today. Certainly, we are all hopeful as we watched the inauguration of a new US president that things will turn around, but it doesn’t stop us as professionals in all sorts of businesses to hunker down, lay low and plan for the possibility of a long extension of an already long downturn. The interesting thing is that some assume that telepresence initiatives might be cut back as companies decrease capital expenditures. I decided to post about it because thats the thing about telepresence – we are in the business of SAVING companies money and finally that core fact has been understood and embraced!
Frost & Sullivan Telepresence Challenge Replay
November 20, 2008
If you didnt get a chance to dial in for the Frost & Sullivan Telepresence Challenge, we recorded it here. All the major players participated, with the exception of Cisco, so we heard from Joe Sigrist from Polycom, Hakon Dahle from Tandberg, Aaron McCormack from BT, and Ken Krangle from HP and obviously myself representing Teliris.
Frost & Sullivan Telepresence Challenge
November 18, 2008
I cant lie, I am really looking forward to an all out telepresence sparring match this Wed. Analyst firm Frost & Sullivan is hosting a webinar for all us fellow telepresence vendors to talk shop and though I’m sure this does not come as a shock for all of you that have been reading my blog, but I love nothing better than a good argument! In fact I think I thrive on it, so log onto www.visualwebcaster.com/event.asp?id=52387&pc=FSBT this Wed at noon and listen in. Although its interesting that Cisco conveniently declined to participate…what are they so afraid of if they are so sure they are leading the telepresence market???
The Next Big Leap
October 15, 2008
So here it is, the next big technology leap for telepresence – the world’s first multi-touch surface computing environment for telepresence that has real business applications (and real business value!). Yes, I know you probably already saw that this entry is over eight minutes long – what can I say, I can talk faster than any motor-mouthed New Yorker and this time I didnt even come up for air until minute eight. But I digress…I promised I would talk futures so let’s dive in. I am and have always been a technology dreamer. My bookcase is filled with titles like ‘Computer Architecture: A Quantitative Approach’ and ‘Society of the Mind’ – yup, I know that most people would consider this B-O-R-I-N-G. But to me, titles such as these are the basis for a long string of ideas (some more successful than others) that I run through at marathon pace and hope that my Teliris Telepresence Research Labs team can keep up and help me mature my thoughts into fully formed reality. One particular member of my team, interestingly enough the one who has been with me the longest, said ‘your dreams become my nightmares’ and after I laughed hard for a few minutes I realized its TRUE!
Teliris TouchTable on BMighty.com
October 9, 2008
Check out what Fredric Paul wrote about our TouchTable technology over at BMighty.com.
