AT&T execs meet at a telepresence site. The shaded participants are on high-definition video screens.
Small businesses and individuals will most likely get their shot at telepresence through conference-room rentals. The Regus Group, which rents out offices and meeting rooms throughout the world, plans to add Cisco systems at 50 locations. The monthly cost of operating a system, including IP network connectivity and on-site maintenance, can exceed $20,000. But the investment pays for itself within the first year or two at most major corporations, Lichtman says. He also expects the cost of nearly all system components, particularly bandwidth, to keep dropping. Telepresence becomes more attractive as users are able to conference with people outside their companies. Even as good old globalization is on the rise, companies like AT&T are looking to slash travel budgets. Lichtman says telepresence should be a "global networking grand slam home run."
No sale. Those bright prospects could have some buyers on hold for now. New technology advances rapidly, and plunking down hundreds of thousands of dollars on a system that might be out of date by spring sounds unwise. AT&T, for example, started looking at videoconferencing options in late 2006, Felts says. And while the company chose Cisco's system, it's leasing, not buying. "If the technology does change, because it's a new product and service for Cisco and they're going to enhance and grow it," Felts says, "this way we have the opportunity to evaluate it at the end of the lease, whether we need to change out or not."
Cisco's Stucki says its system is unlikely to become outdated anytime soon: "I wouldn't say there's a lot of headroom to improve, compared to what's commercially feasible." Yet there may be some room for change. Cisco's largest system uses three connected screens, but at least one company has developed a single wall-size screen.
3-D images have also been making a move from Quantum Leap to reality. When inventor Ray Kurzweil delivers a speech to the University of Arizona's College of Science this month, he'll be there in a 3-D-like version courtesy of Dallas-based Teleportec Inc. True 3-D imaging is still at the research university level, says Corbin Ball, a Bellingham, Wash.-based meetings technology consultant. But there's no question that technology has popped out of our favorite TV fantasies and is fast becoming a real-world reality.
