Gartner makes videoconferencing predictions - Comment from Aastra

Gartner has predicted that the worldwide economic downturn will encourage more companies to invest in videoconferencing solutions. The analyst house said that virtual meetings could replace more than two million airline seats per year by 2012, reducing the impact of many companyís carbon footprint. Gartner fellow Steve Prentice said companies should reconsider whether face-to-face meetings are necessary and investigate new video conferencing technologies. (http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=876512)

Aastra, a leading company at the forefront of the enterprise communication market, last month announced key updates to its Virtual Presence (ViPrô) video conferencing solution to provide additional security features in the form of AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) to encrypt all media streams and expand collaborative functionality through integration with Microsoft Live Meeting.

Mike Ballentine, Business Development Manager, Aastra commented:

ìWe believe there is a clear ROI for videoconferencing solutions, so it is not surprising to see that Gartner has predicted that more companies will meet virtually because of the economic downturn. As well as reducing the cost of business travel, videoconferencing can increase the productivity of employees who might not have been able to work whilst travelling to and from meetings.î

ìMany companies are already using videoconferencing for distance learning and training, remote medical diagnosis, secure remote depositions and testimonies, and global broadcasts of live performances. The applications are only limited by oneís imagination, and weíre anticipating more innovative uses daily.î added Mike Ballentine.

ViPrô is a secure, high quality, remote communication and collaboration system enabling sharing of documents, multi-media content and real-time applications. A touch screen and an intuitive interface provide unparalleled ease of use, ensuring a ViPr call is as good as a face-to-face meeting, with the benefit of having no travel time or expense.