In a article by Bobby White and Justin Scheck , the Wall Street Journal today describes the increasing deployment of telepresence systems (immersive meeting experiences) in mid-sized and large companies and names some of the leading contributors to the market's rapid growth – HP, Cisco, LifeSize. My favorite quote was from Ira Weinstein from Wainhouse Research who declared that video conferencing had been an IT 'backwater.'

Big points to Ira for calling a spade a spade.

Forecast-wise, the Journal turned to TeleSpan Publishing for estimates of 1000 telepresence systems sold in 2007, compared to 176,000 of video conferencing units and predictions of 3,000 telepresence systems in 2008.

IMHO, the factors that led to the market shift just wasn't the new high end technologies, but the new low end technologies, and other factors that are driving users to adopt visual technologies as the platform for alternatives to business travel. See our report: The Perfect Storm for more details on the factors driving business user behavior.

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