Cisco to step up telepresence push

Cisco chief John Chambers believes that telepresence has the potential to become a billion dollar market

Cisco is preparing to promote telepresence from an 'emerging' to an 'advanced' technology later this year. 

Chief executive John Chambers said at a meeting with reporters at the Networkers at Cisco conference in Anaheim, CA that he believes that telepresence is already an advanced technology.

"It is more an internal debate about when that [transition to an advanced technology] occurs," he said.

Cisco's TelePresence is a $299,000 advanced video conferencing system that uses three high definition televisions and requires a 10Mbps connection. Cisco started shipping the systems in December.

As more companies start rolling out the technology, the value of the overall network increases exponentially, argued Chambers, because the expansion allows clients to contact a wider network of other users.

The phenomenon of the exponential increase value of an expanding network is known as Metcalfe's law. 

Cisco uses the 'advanced' moniker to identify technologies with the potential to turn into billion dollar markets. Products in this category will see a focus of investment in research, acquisitions and partnerships.

Cisco has not disclosed the number of TelePresence units that it has sold. The company earlier this year signed Regus, a provider of temporary office space, for 50 units and is using 104 itself.

Analysts have cited the $299,000 price tag as an obstacle to wide adoption. But Chambers claimed that savings in travel expenses mean that the systems offer a return on investment in less than a year. "Price is not an issue. This is about process change," he said.

• A video demonstration of Cisco's TelePresence is available on vnunet.com TV