Cisco extends TelePresence video systems to entice SMEs

Cisco has announced updates to its TelePresence videoconferencing range designed to appeal to smaller businesses as the company looks to broaden the use of the technology on the fifth anniversary of the system's launch.

The key update is a new Callway service allowing SMEs to lease or buy individual endpoints to connect to the wider TelePresence network.

Cisco will provide a connection to the TelePresence Callway service and manage the system, while customers will be able to connect to any other endpoint on the system or any other standards-based video device via the internet.

Callway will be available from Cisco's partner network starting $99 a month, although it is currently set to be available only in the US.

Cisco has also increased its endpoint range with the new MX300, a multi-purpose room-based system for the SME market that provides video quality of 1080p at 30 frames per second.

The MX300 will ship in the first quarter of 2012, but no pricing information was provided.

Cisco has also released new software for the TelePresence system. Cisco Jabber Video for TelePresence allows customers to invite others to join calls on the system, even if they are not TelePresence users.

The software can run over desktop PCs, tablets and smartphones, and the first beta will arrive in the first quarter of 2012.

O J Winge, senior vice president and general manager of Cisco's TelePresence technology group, claimed that the new offerings will broaden the use of video systems.

"The next phase of TelePresence will democratise the in-person experience for people in all sizes and types of organisations," he said.

Cisco has heavily touted the use of video as a key driver for the future of the internet, claiming that 90 per cent of internet traffic will be for video by 2015.