Video conferencing technology has come a long way in the last half
decade. Gone are the days of pixilated picture quality and
scratched-record audio. However, in an economic climate where most
midmarket companies are tightening their belts, is now the time to
invest in this technology? Polycom, a video and voice solutions
company, says it is.
The company announced the launch of the QDX 6000 video conferencing
system, which delivers high quality DVD resolution video and CD quality
audio, even at very low bandwidth. With a list price of $3,999, the
cost of investment might give some small to medium-size business (SMB)
owners pause, but Polycom product marketing manager Bob Knauf said the
QDX 6000 is specifically designed for SMBs worried about increasing
costs.
“It can be installed in an SMB to eliminate some hard costs, like
travel expenses,” he said. “That is a lot of money to a small business,
but if they look at it from an ROI perspective, it will provide a quick
return. If you eliminate one or two business trips then it pays for
itself.”
Knauf
said SMBs are trying hard to develop relationships with their
customers, and video conferencing can help forge new connections and
shore up existing customer relationships. “They can offer a video
system as part of doing business,” he said. “If they’re looking to
expand, video conferencing is a great way to start building that
relationship with customers.”
With high-resolution video calls starting at bandwidths as low as 256
kbps, SMBs don’t need large or expensive IP networks, he said. The QDX
6000 offers multimedia content-sharing capabilities and AES encryption
for security-concerned small businesses, as well as a high resolution
full-motion pan/tilt/zoom camera that features 12x zoom capabilities,
and offers 99 presets that make it simple to instantly zoom in and out
for various applications.
It also includes content sharing as a standard capability, allowing
users to share multimedia content during a video call using their wired
or wireless broadband connection. The included high-fidelity
microphones support high-definition stereo audio and are immune to
disruptive interference from mobile phones and other wireless devices.
The QDX 6000 supports widescreen format natively, but also works with
standard televisions. It supports dual monitors and can take input from
up to five video sources (cameras, PC, document camera, DVD player),
providing flexibility for content collaboration.
“If you’re trying to have a business meeting, a video conferencing
system can make any company more productive by being able to share
documents, 3-D objects, even being able to see someone’s face when you
show them the marketing plan,” Knauf said. “Everyone had the same needs
of just being able to share data of some sort.”
From a services perspective, Polycom has a new level of service
targeted to the QDX product line. The company offers telephone support
for installation, as well as different types of support plans SMBs can
purchase. “We have plans that turn Polycom into your IT team for
video,” he said. Polycom also offers a video on its Web site that
guides customers through the set-up process, which Knauf said takes
about five minutes from getting it out of the box to making your first
call. “We focused on simplicity of use,” he said. “We realize that a
company of 15 to 20 people, there may be one guy who knows computers,
but may no nothing about video.”
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