012009: Video conferencing made better

Technology

Written by Alma Anonas-Carpio / Correspondent

Tuesday, 20 January 2009 20:16

Overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) can now have free 30-minute virtual reunions with their loved ones back home thanks to a real-time video-conferencing technology Cisco recently brought online. Cisco’s TelePresence suite integrates audio, high-definition video and interactive elements to allow online “meeting.” Unlike other vi-deoconferencing technologies, TelePresence permits users to see each other in full detail, down to facial expressions and gestures with no lags in the transmission of voice data or images. As a corporate social responsibility program (CSR) in the Philippines, the company is allowing this new technology to be used for virtual family reunions for OFWs. The first OFW virtual family reunion took place on January 11, between Hong Kong and Manila. “Many of our customers who have used TelePresence were amazed by how life-like the experience was, Cisco managing director for emerging countries Christian Hentschel said during a TelePresence press briefing. The Cisco executive talked to Manila-based reporters from his Singapore office. According to Cisco Philippines manager for channels and marketing Marivic Gamo, the company is opening its doors to host virtual family reunions every Sunday, “initially for five to eight more Sundays, though we may extend this if it becomes successful.” Gamo said Cisco’s CSR effort to help OFWs reunite with their families via TelePresence entails “having the OFW to go to a Cisco office with a TelePresence unit at their host country and the family to come to the Makati office.” “We are offering this CSR initiative also to maximize our new TelePresence unit here,” Gamo said. “Since the TelePresence room does not get used on Saturdays or Sundays, we thought that we could offer its use to OFWs and their families here on Sundays, which are usually the OFWs’ days off.” The company is also offering free TelePresence services to corporate clients and partners every Tuesday. Cisco Philippines is the third country in Southeast Asia, after Singapore and Malaysia, to make use of the TelePresence system. There are now over 300 TelePresence facilities in 131 major cities in 40 countries. TelePresence has enabled Cisco to save over $236 million “from travel avoidance, Hentschel said, as he added that the technology “enables Cisco to achieve collaboration across the company, magnifying the efficiency of its employees around the world.” The TelePresence unit being used in the Manila Office is the System 3000, which sits six people in the room. The cost of this technology ranges between $33,900 (TelePresence 500) and $340,000 (TelePresence 3200).