Polycom, Tandberg and LifeSize demo telepresence interoperability at Internet2 meeting

At the Internet2 meeting in San Antonio this week, Polycom, Tandberg and LifeSize Communications demoed the connection of four telepresence solutions across multiple networks to display how standards-based system could interoperate. According to the release it was the first live public demonstration of these systems all interworking together. With the recent news of Cisco purchasing Tandberg, there has been some industry concern over the future of interoperability between competitive video communication systems. This demo seems to be an attempt by some factions to show the interoperability is still alive, well and a viable path to take.

The demo showed how these systems could connect over a variety of networks as well as the public Internet for business-to-business communications as well as within an organization. The systems involved included a three-screen Polycom TPX 306M on Polycom's corporate network in Andover, Mass.; a three-screen Tandberg T3 telepresence system located at FCCN in Lisbon, Portugal; and a three-screen LifeSize Conference system at OARnet, Ohio Academic Resource Network. Other systems were included but not mentioned in the release.

"The successful demonstration reinforces the importance of industry standards for delivering telepresence interoperability," said Bob Dixon, chief research engineer, OARnet in the release.

For more:
- here is the release [1]
- here is a video of part of the demo [2]

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How will the Cisco/Tandberg purchase affect Polycom? [3]
Cisco buys TANDBERG for $3B [4]
TANDBERG pitches telepresence to specific verticals [5]