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Grandstream Networks announced the availability of the GVC3200 videoconferencing platform, aimed at small- to medium-size businesses (SMBs).
The platform interoperates with a wide variety of video conferencing products and services such as Blue Jeans, Cisco, Polycom, Huawei and others, as well as Android video apps such as Skype and Google Hangouts.
It offers support for multi-stream 1080p full-HD video at 30 frames per second, up to 9-way local video conferencing, Sony Megapixel imaging sensor with enhanced picture quality and support for three TV displays through three HDMI outputs.
The platform also features a three-step, zero configuration, plug-and-play setup when used with Grandstream’s IPVideoTalk Pro cloud traversal service running on Amazon Web Service (AWS).
“User-friendliness and security are equally important and affect purchase decisions,” Phil Bowers, global marketing manager for Grandstream, told eWEEK. “It uses the same encryption technology used in SIP telecom equipment. That encryption technology is sufficient, but many businesses choose to put their equipment behind a firewall like a phone system.”
Bowers explained SIP support and broad interoperability ensure that system investment will be compatible with their customers’ and partners’ platforms regardless of what they use, as well as any platform they choose to use in the future.
In addition, built-in HDMI and VGA inputs allow users to securely share or control their computer screen in 1080p resolution to collaborate with remote parties while simultaneously conducting a multi-party full HD video conference.
“The easier you make all aspects of videoconferencing, from cost to installation, to use, the easier it will be for businesses to decide if this application is needed in their workplace,” he said.
“In between desktop and large enterprise room-based videoconferencing solutions for SMBs, there has been an unfulfilled market gap,” Bowers said. “SMBs shied away or delayed decisions to implement videoconferencing because of the huge capital investment in large systems, wariness of system compatibility and lack of flexibility with different platforms.”
Bowers noted other obstacles include concern the complexity of use and cost of installation.
“Although videoconferencing has been around for many decades, it is still a young, establishing marketplace,” Bowers said. “The larger system manufacturers built systems to support large enterprises that could afford those solutions and support hundreds of users. For a SMB, the cost and complexity of use and difficulty to install is not an option.”
He said the market for more affordable SMB-focused, open standards-based platforms has been largely unfulfilled and non-existent.
“Businesses conscious of costs, SMBs want to be able to install on their own, and have the flexibility to support multiple platforms–these things will affect market adoption and help make their decision to invest easier,” he said.