The Cisco TelePresence Solution

Cisco TelePresence solution was officially released in December 2006, providing the first true replacement for face-to-face meetings. Prior to its release, a number of telepresence systems, from numerous vendors, were available on the market; however, their adoption was limited to a small number of customers, with just a few systems each. These systems required overlay networks and focused on white-glove service for executive users. Cisco focused on providing an exceptional experience but also realized that scheduling and ease of use was the key to providing a solution that would be deployed on existing IP networks and used by all employees. For years the video conferencing industry struggled to gain mass adoption and acceptable utilization rates, and in many cases the issue was related to ease of use and system reliability.

Early Telepresence vendors offered systems providing a good overall experience while addressing reliability issues found in existing video conferencing systems. Unfortunately, these offerings were based on managed service models requiring dedicated networks, and in many cases, custom rooms to house Telepresence endpoints. These systems were not only expensive but also carried a high monthly cost associated with the dedicated bandwidth and managed service fees. In some cases, solutions required an operator to do everything from starting the meeting to enabling data sharing. This model provided a high-end niche Telepresence market but did not allow Telepresence to reach its full potential. For Telepresence to realize its full potential, it needed to extend past the boardroom and into the mainstream.

Cisco focused on delivering a Telepresence solution that provided an immersive true in-person experience, used by all employees, scheduled by the employees, providing tools commonly used in face-to-face meetings, and, most important, run over existing IP networks. At the time of its release, Cisco TelePresence was the only Telepresence system on the market that did not require a dedicated network.

Instead of providing dedicated bandwidth that couldn’t be used by other applications when TelePresence wasn’t being used, Cisco focused on converged IP networks. This allowed enterprise customers to deploy Cisco TelePresence over their existing infrastructure, realizing the upside and long-term value of a converged IP network. However, in some cases customer networks were not ready for an application such as TelePresence. This required some enterprise customers to temporarily deploy Cisco TelePresence over a parallel network until changes were made enabling the TelePresence system to be moved to the customers’ converged IP network.

The initial Cisco TelePresence product release consisted of two TelePresence systems:

§  A conference room-based TelePresence system (CTS-3000) supporting up to six participants at each location

§  A small meeting room system (CTS-1000) supporting up to two participants at each location

The solution also included a middleware scheduling platform—Cisco TelePresence Manager (CTS-Manager)—providing integration with Microsoft Exchange and a simple dialing interface known as One Button to Push. The initial launch of Cisco TelePresence was an immediate success, with most systems deployed for use by CXO level executives. However, it quickly became evident that additional products and functionality were required to meet customer needs.

Shortly after its initial release, additional products and functionality were introduced. Multipoint support was added, enabling meetings with three or more TelePresence systems. Additionally, two new TelePresence systems were announced in early 2008:

§  <The CTS-3200, supporting up to 18 participants for large meeting rooms, was delivered in mid-2008.

§  The CTS-500, supporting a single user for the executive or home office, was delivered shortly after the CTS-3200.

With the addition of these two new systems, Cisco TelePresence broadened its market at the high end, with the CTS-3200, while allowing greater system access to the masses with the CTS-500. Figure 1 illustrates the components of the Cisco TelePresence solution.

Figure 1: Cisco TelePresence

Along with all product and feature enhancements, a Cisco TelePresence Inter-Company offering was announced in late 2007, expanding the reach and extending the relevance of Cisco TelePresence. The addition of Inter-Company allowed customers to extend the benefits of Cisco TelePresence beyond their own enterprises. Enterprises now have the capability to meet virtually with any partner or customer at any time, saving money and improving productivity.

With the expansion of the Cisco TelePresence portfolio and the addition of Inter-Company, Cisco TelePresence adoption continues to grow at an amazing rate.