Reluctant Users Slow O Take Up Videoconferencing Essay

The public dealing executive was enthusiastic on the phone. The IT company he represented had started installation green data centres and energy-efficient computers. Would I like to fly to California to let on for myself? That would be a 2500 mile round trip from my home in Midwestern Canada. According to the online calculator from Terapass, the trip would release 1,1232 pounds(about 500 kilos) of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. If youre really into green technology, couldnt we do a videoconferencing kinda? I asked. Sure, express the PR person. We are totally into green issues.He promised to arrange it. Months laters, nonhing had happend. The high-tech industry is quick to praise the benefits of whippy communication, but videoconferencing is one area where things have failed to live up to the hype. Videoconferencing has not signifi nominatetly displaced travel, say Frank Modruson, CIO for global technology consulting unassailable Accenture. As the IT sector continues to push its green values, this mismatch between rhetoric and world is becoming harder to ignore. So why are relatively few tribe using videoconferencing?Andrew Davis, managing partner at online collaboration market research firm Wainhouse, says the technology is let down by usability. For many peple, videoconferences are skilful too difficult to set up. This is why Nortel is emphasizing the services side. The obstacle isnt the technology. Its the services around that technology, says Dean Fernades, the companys General Manager of Network Services. Nortel is one of several companies getting into a relatively new segment of the videoconferencing market called telepresence.Specially equipped room enabled people to appear as if they are sitting across the table, with large video representations of remote colleagues in high-definition video. Customers pay to use Nortels facilities, which can also conduct video filming, enabling the room to double as a production facility for corpora te TV, for example. Nortel will also handle post-production tasks such as editing. Accenture, on the other hand, opted for the capital investment route. Mr Modruson said it is installing rooms in Chicago and Frankurt, and hopes to roll out another(prenominal) 11 cities in the next few months.