Blue Coat survey finds increasing interest in video conferencing

As enterprises seek to bring down costs during the current economic downturn, video conferencing has gained popularity as a way to reduce travel expenses while maintaining mission critical communications. But network capacity and bandwidth must be considered before ramping up video conferencing use, or spotty performance could negate any savings and derail crucial meetings.

Blue Coat Systems, an application delivery specialist, said more than 73 percent of enterprises plan to shift focus to video conferencing to lower travel budgets, according to a survey the company sponsored. Blue Coat is touting its PacketShaper appliance as a solution to address concerns about the network effect of increased video conferencing

"Companies need to know the impact of introducing a new application like video conferencing into a distributed network," said Mark Urban, senior product manager for Blue Coat Systems. "PacketShaper allows them to exert granular control over individual applications, carve out and protect bandwidth for scheduled video conferences, and proactively remedy latency problems that may occur."

Blue Coat said PacketShaper uses advanced compression techniques to reduce bandwidth requirements for video conferencing sessions, including header compression and packet packing. 

For more:
- see the press release here 

Related article
Blue Coat acquires Packeteer for $268 million