Cisco rolls out low-end ($89K) telepresence system

Cisco is announcing at VoiceCon Orlando a lower cost telepresence system designed for deployment in existing teleconference rooms without upgrading them to accommodate top-of-the-line telepresence gear.

Called CTS 1300, the device consists of a 65-inch high definition screen and three high definition cameras mounted above a coder-decoder. The unit is installed against a wall and is 9 inches deep.

Cisco says the device costs less than $89,000 as compared to its top-shelf room telepresence system that costs northward of $300,000.

If three people are in the room with the CTS 1300, each person has a camera trained on them, but only the image of the current speaker is presented to the screens at other sites participating in the conference. A full-blown room telepresence system would have three screens in a room built to accommodate speakers, microphones lighting and décor to match all the other telepresence rooms owned by a customer.

The idea is to crate the impression that all participants are in the same room sitting across the table from each other, including cameras mounted so it appears that participants in different locations are looking each other in the eye.

CTS 1300 can send and receive at 1080p resolution and drop down to 720p for sites with less than 2Mbps network bandwidth. The device also supports a technology Cisco calls 720p Light that runs over 1.5Mbps links such as T-1 circuits at full 30 frames per second. It does this by grabbing bandwidth dedicated to data transmissions for the conference and slowing the data rate to one frame per second.

The light version can run over DSL or cable connections as well but quality might not be as good without guaranteed 1.5Mbps bandwidth. Teleworkers using Cisco Virtual Office, a VPN link to a corporate office that supports VoIP and includes switching, routing and wireless support.

CTS 1300 is the first in a product line that will include models with smaller screens or just a single camera, for instance, Cisco says.

Cisco competitor Tandberg has a 720p resolution video system called Profile with one screen that costs $38,900 that can be boosted to 1080p with a high definition add-on. Tandberg's low-end telepresence system costs $69,900.

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