Siemens' software-based video conferencing offering is designed to be an alternative to more costly hardware-based solutions from competitors, according to company officials.
Siemens
Enterprise Communications is adding desktop video conferencing capabilities to
its OpenScape unified communications portfolio, arguing that the software-based
offering will be easier for enterprises to deploy and use than hardware-based
systems from the likes of Cisco Systems.
Siemens'
OpenScape Desktop Videoconferencing will also be a less expensive alternative
to competitive offerings that require proprietary hardware servers, appliances
or endpoints, according to company executives. All that's needed for OpenScape
Desktop Videoconferencing is a standalone Web cam or Web cam capabilities in
the PC, the company said.
"By
delivering OpenScape Desktop Videoconferencing as an integrated capability of
the OpenScape UC Server, it's now easier and more affordable for organizations
to deploy video-enabled UC across the enterprise and manage it in a
centralized, cost-effective manner," Chris Hummel, CMO
and president for Siemens North America operations, said in a statement.
Siemens
is joining a growing number of vendors that are bringing video conferencing
capabilities out of the conference room and onto desktops and mobile devices.
And the video conferencing space is only expected to grow, as enterprises look
for ways to increase collaboration and productivity among workers and to reduce
expenses, including travel costs.
Market
research firm Infonetics Research said in a report in March that spending
on video conferencing and immersive telepresence technology grew to $2.2
billion in 2010-an 18 percent jump over 2009-and that it will reach $15 billion
by 2015.
"Communicating
via video continues to be one of the top trends in telecom, as evidenced by
strong growth in the enterprise video market," Infonetics analyst Matthias
Machowinski said in a statement at the time. "Businesses worldwide are looking
for richer means of communications with their employees, partners and
customers, and enterprise video conferencing and telepresence solutions are a
natural fit."
Cisco
and Polycom are the dominant players in the space, but a host of other vendors
also are making inroads, including Avaya,
Vidyo
and LifeSize Communications.
With
its new enterprise-level video conferencing offering, announced Sept. 13,
Siemens will offer businesses the capability of running scheduled or ad-hoc
meetings with such features as video presence user status and one-number
service for video endpoints. In addition, there will be multi-party views with
ways of showing who the active speaker is, and interoperability with Session Initiation
Protocol (SIP)-based endpoints from the likes of LifeSize, Cisco, Polycom
and Radvision.
OpenScape
Desktop Videoconferencing will be an embedded software feature in the new
version of Siemens' OpenScape UC Suite. It will be delivered as a standard feature
of OpenScape UC Applications. It supports the H.364 HD codec and AudioPresence,
and offers 1280 x 720 resolution.
Along
with the videoconferencing capabilities, the OpenScape UC Suite also has new
security and management updates. There are enhancements to OpenScape Voice,
including IPv6 support, Session Description Protocol Security Descriptions
(SDES) security, and expanded support for OpenScape Branch and Skype Connect
trunking options for OpenScape Session Border Controller.
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