VIDEO CONERENCING

[ltw500]

We are considering adding video conferencing at our office.
just wondering what other's are using and if you have a good experience with a particular brand of equipment.

doesn't necessarily have to be an Avaya solution, but we do have communication manager/G650 cabinets.

to the desktop or conference room solutions are both being considered.

Thanks

 

[Mugsiensedgwick]

We have an old definity system (not CM) and we do not connect to the Avaya at all. We connect directly to the network. We use both Polycom and Tandberg HD systems.
Not much difference and if I were buying today I would consider Lifesize. They have some features that I really like and they have aggressive sales reps (meaning nice price for the product).
Good luck.

 

[98Converter]

Polycom IMO is leading the industry here. Their HDX units are quite nice. If you integrate Polycoms RMX and their CMA servers into your environment, and get video enabled on CM then you can use your One-X Communicator or IPSoftphone to talk with the Polycom endpoints (as well as desk to desk)... If you don't want to introduce video into CM, Polycom has a CMA Desktop client which is the only client that will talk with Polycom Codecs (VSX, HDX, etc..) and also do desk to desk. Oh yeah, One-X Video doesn't work on W7, so if you're running that, then the CMA-Desktop would be the option for desktop video.

Expect to spend some $$$ when introducing video in any environment though. Also, if you're talking between sites hopefully you have the bandwidth. Lifesive units can consume 10MB per call- You can get HD using 512k, with non-HD at 384k, but its still something to consider.

Thanks,
98C

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit. ARISTOTLE 384-322 B.C.

 

[Mugsiensedgwick]

My Tanberg Codec talks fine with my Polycom Codec (both are HD) and I think Lifesize does as well. If I recall correctly, it's a national standard.

 

[jimbojimbo]

One-X Video works fine on Windows7 x64 architecture. I do like the Polycom. If you go with the RMX there are some nice integrations avaialble to the Avaya PBX.

 

[heathersuzanne]

Hi,

Last year we had a major initiative (due to the state of the economy) to implement video systems right away to cut back on our international travel and it has gone exceedingly well. I personally was not a fan of the idea because I felt the adoption of this technology would be bad, considering a past attempt to implment video - but the feedback has been excellent and we have cut travel costs and boarding costs significantly. We opted to go with Polycom equipmnet and we kept the bandwidth limited to 384K - surprisingly the images are very clear - not HD, but still very good. We have implemented this in 13 sites and we are expanding the rollout to 10 more locations now. 2 thumbs up from me.

Heather

 

[Mugsiensedgwick]

One more thing to say about this. Polycom has a history of trashing it's customers when new products comes along, for instance the SpectraLink mess.
I do like their Video conferencing gear, but in my opinion, Tanberg is just as good and I think Lifesize is a good option as well.