Tandberg T3 Reaction
September 19, 2008
As you get to know me, you will find there is NOTHING that excites me more than poking my competitors. Call it competitive, slightly biased and certainly not playing by the corporate rules, but why have a blog if you can’t say what you’re thinking? So today, I cannot keep quiet for one more second on an announcement that Tandberg will apparently make on Monday on their latest and greatest telepresence product. It’s not that I am intent on preempting their announcement or ruining their PR plans for Monday, its that this newest release is one more example of the ongoing problem for the telepresence industry today – ITS NOT TRUE TELEPRESENCE. Yes, it has the life-size images, HD video, the same look and feel in all the rooms, but they have constructed an artificial environment. Don’t get me wrong, the Tandberg Experia T3 has a sleek and cool physique – meaning the tables and chairs are stylish in the truest Euro sense of the word, the table is connected to the screens, there is apparently a blue light both in front and in back that give that 3D feel (kind of makes me think of the 60’s…) and when you first look at it you cant help but think wow!
September 19, 2008 at 7:46 pm
Marc,
I absolutely loved the passion you had in this video. How are you doing these days? We should catch-up on things.
Brian Kinne
937-620-6280
September 29, 2008 at 6:52 am
Hi Marc,
Thank you for the information. Have you heard the news about cisco’s new 3D telepresence solution? You got any points on that?
Reza
September 29, 2008 at 4:35 pm
Hi Reza,
Thanks for your comments. You should definitely note that there is no Cisco 3D solution! It’s a stage show, put on by Musion (www.musion.co.uk). It is a really cool piece of theatrics that Musion puts on for hundreds of companies that want a cool show. And it works with ANY content, DVD, HD and any video conferencing or telepresence technology. Oddly enough Musion technology is based on an old parlor trick called Pepper’s Ghost (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pepper’s_ghost) invented back in 1838.
The trouble here is that Cisco uses a 3D parlor trick to make its case that it is in lead technically, but it turns out to be marketing smoke and mirrors. Can you buy this from them? Is there a part number? Name me one customer they have running this. This is bad for the telepresence business. The telepresence industry is delivering on its promise to help change the way people do business, we do not need tricks and gimmicks as that only leads to disappointment. Teliris is delivering truly natural and immersive telepresence day in and day out without such silliness.
So now that I have gotten that off my chest, let me turn to the idea of using 3D in telepresence. Why does everyone think that 3D is the next telepresence thing? That it will make things more immersive? First of all, 3D is a display technology solution not a telepresence thing. You can add 3D to any system. The problem I think is the use of the effect. 3D when delivered via projection gives a nice effect, but the image has a transparent quality. Look at the Musion videos and you will see a wispy, faded quality. It lacks color, contrast etc that real world definition gives you. The research I have done in this area with customers showed that this kind of transparent image is distracting. I mean how many times have you been able to see through the person sitting across the table from you? (well I mean literally). The other issue is that you need a special background to display and capture the image. Again, look at Musion or any of the other 3D guys like Telepresence Tech at al. Add to that lighting etc and you have a big mess. This just does not work in the context of telepresence and creating a feeling of truly being in the same room across distance. It is actually less realistic and delivers the opposite effect.
Sorry to be so negative…. but hey, there’s always a $700 billion dollar bailout to cheer me up.
October 2, 2008 at 8:56 am
Marc,
You state that true telepresence does not impose boundaries….
In the real world we have boundaries that impact in-person meetings – room size, table size, number of chairs etc. This is no different!
October 27, 2008 at 9:52 am
Hi Brian,
First, thanks for taking the time to comment. I’m happy to see Tandberg taking interest in this market! As for your comment, you are exactly right – every situation imposes limitations, whether it involves technology or not. BUT – and this is a big BUT – when people meet face-to-face, the limitations are natural. When you add technology into the mix, especially to an environment that strives to emulate an in-person meeting, we must ensure that the limitations remain NATURAL. If we do odd things with technology, such as adding 3D effects, or imposing a fixed number of participants to try and cover up the limitations, we make telepresence an UNNATURAL experience. When we walk into a telepresence room, we should feel as if we are walking into a consistent environment, one that looks, feels, and flows with every other room in that particular office. When we ask that our customers step into a different world when they enter a telepresence room, we cannot expect that they would behave or respond in a natural manner. Telepresence must mold itself around its users, not the other way around. I will not give up on this aspiration for what telepresence can and SHOULD be, if we develop it in the right ways. So thank you Brian for reading my blog, and I urge you and others at Tandberg (and Cisco, and HP, and Polycom, etc.!!!) to continue to comment and to think hard about the direction you have taken with your T-3 product. Oh … and one last insightful question, do you REALLY want to be HP’s OEM supplier?
March 9, 2009 at 3:42 pm
You mentioned Telepresence extended to more than 6 people and using multiple rows. The Polycom RPX Immersive solutions has those features. What is your take on that product?
September 15, 2009 at 11:08 am
Hi Marc,
Interesting comments, although I have to disagree with your stance on a “natural environment”, that you claim your product addresses.
I’ve just visited the Teliris website, and whilst I cannot help but be extremely impressed with your 6G product, I still feel that it suffers from the same shortfalls of many of your rivals, including Tandberg and Cisco.
The first issue being the “un-natural” vertical bezels seperating the screens (constantly reminding you that you are looking at TV screens) and the gaping void between the desk and the screens (the distance I’m assuming is to allow correct focus for the cameras) adding to the sense of seperation.
The only company that I’ve come across that comes close to addressing these particular issues is DVE Telepresence, with their “immersion room” (http://www.dvetelepresence.com/products/immersion_room.asp) although to be fair to yourself, even they don’t have this product on the market yet (They estimate Q4 ‘09)
I believe this is the future of telepresence….not looking at a row of LCD screens!
Just my opinion -
David
p.s. I’ve no affiliation to any vendors – I’ve simply had the privilage of participating in various TP calls over the last couple of years.
February 2, 2010 at 5:01 pm
I noticed your web site when I was searching for something else, but this page showed up at the top of Bing your web site must be incredibly popular! Keep up the good work!