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- muvment256, on 10/12/2007, -1/+32but its cisco. Where else can you get a $30 switch for $2k.
i personally love cisco. You can throw their gear out a 3rd story window and not only will it still work, it won't have dropped any packets. Their gear is the cream of the crop.
Disclosure: I'm cisco certified and worked in the field for 10 years. - tofagerl, on 10/12/2007, -1/+28Things that also accelerated outsourcing: Phones, the Internet and airplanes. Obviously bad things which we shouldn't use.
- tuxidomasx, on 10/12/2007, -1/+28i wouldnt judge the audio based off a youtube vid.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -2/+23That price is way too steep. Just buy 3 65" plasma tvs (each one should be under $10,000), and if you have an existing hiband internet line, you can buy the best cameras and network it yourself.
Should be around $50,000 AT THE MOST. - addrake, on 10/12/2007, -1/+22The irony of talking about America's lack of technical superiority in a thread discussing an American companies high tech conference table is not lost on me.
- hobophobe, on 10/12/2007, -1/+19It also doubles as a very expensive mirror.
- junk, on 10/12/2007, -0/+9More info at Cisco:
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/netsol/ns669/networking_solutions_solution_segment_home.html - fatlip, on 10/12/2007, -0/+9so i guess these screens just act as a shield against paper airplanes..
i wonder if someone did throw something it'd look realistic enough on the other side that they'd flinch? - Onibus, on 10/12/2007, -0/+9I can see someone inadvertently reach or throw something at a person on the other side.
- freff, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7They'd probably need the Cisco 3D glasses funpack add-on, but that's extra I hear.
- masonreloaded, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7They actually had one of these on the recently cancelled show "Vanished", although in a retarded example of product placement they said "Let's conference with them on the Cisco" and the middle screen wasnt used for the conference but had a giant Cisco logo on it for the duration...
- rezophonic, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7Of course there's the decline in America's technological superiority over the last many decades, but let's forget about that and just go on blaming the global network.
- MudMan69, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5To put things in perspective on what goes into the pricing:
3 65" custom made 1080p plasma screens
Hardware capable of compressing all 3 1080p H.264 video streams to under 10-12Mbps and getting it to its destination with very low latency.
Hi-def directional audio sound system (You can tell who is talking with your eyes closed.)
Nifty table!
Room treatment - you can't just buy the hardware. You buy an entire system and an integrator will set up the room with proper lighting, acoustic treatments, etc.
The pricing is chump change to fortune 500 companies which are who it's being sold to right now. - freff, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6I agree that this is a bit of a silly idea that can probably be done cheaper in-house, but it's the silly tech ideas like this one that seem to catch on with the execs looking to show that they are on the leading edge of technology. Someone will buy this, and that'll impress someone else, and then who knows. Cisco will make their money, that's for sure.
- SAOSiN, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6Youtube compressed video isnt the only factor, the bad sound could be from the camera hes using.
- diggmikie, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5I've seen them the 3000 model demo before between east coast and west coast, and all i can say was that it was like something out of star trek.
complaints about metallic audio? blame youtube or a crappy camcorder. the audio imho was one of the greatest parts. they're using top notch speakers and "spatial audio" relative to the user on the screen... so if the guy on the left is talking while the guy on the right is... you only hear their voices from the relative screen positions.
video quality is stunning. latency makes my cell phone look terrible.
don't really know what else to say beyond you gotta see it to believe it! - unplug, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5Check this video from the ScobleShow, much more info there (it's 35mins):
http://www.podtech.net/scobleshow/technology/1203/cisco-makes-videoconferencing-cool-with-new-telepresence-systems
Some facts:
SIP based, is controlled by a phone and features 3 Plasma Screens and High-Def 1080p. 150ms from screen to screen using 10-12 MBit/sec, custom made hardware fro compression/decompression. - super_spyder, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3im guessing this includes all setup/configuration calibration and construction... still steep but a bit more reasonable when you take all of that into consideration.
- coachace, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Congress should use this. This would enable them to stick to their new "in-session" schedule while remaining in their home offices.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2The whole idea behind this system is high quality not compatibility, there are plenty of cheep solutions out there that are compatible with several systems.
Having this system interface with anything and everything would make it look horrible. It would be like going from watching 1080p HD-DVD to watching a worn out VHS tape. - Chaulis, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2You're forgetting all the software, IOS's, and back end internetworking that is needed for this. Between the cabling, the man hours it took to write and design this, I think this is fairly reasonable.
- Balanced, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Depends on usage, of course.If we assume (unrealistically) that the network is free, the cost for this system (for two endpoints) is roughly $600k. Flying someone out can easily be $1,000 per person per day in some cases. You need to figure in hotel costs, air fare, rental charges, and of course the traveler's lack of productivity.
I still think this is a lot of money. A lot of businesses that do a lot of business with remote offices could use that $600k to outfit 20 or more rooms with a cheaper (but much less capable) high-quality audio bridging and screen-sharing solution.
Of course, there's a few businesses that may feel a need for this kind of thing, but they can't be common. - Balanced, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Of course you can do a lashed-up system cheaper... The main reason to buy a big packaged system like this from ANY company is that it's supported and hopefully close to a 'drop in' install. I support a professionally-designed videoconferencing room that is pretty iffy. Sometimes it works great, other times it doesn't.
- seraphzero, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2My father in-law manages network strategy for a major pharmaceutical and recently reviewed this and many of its competitors. The price may seem steep, but you also have to compare this against the cost of a meeting for top executives of a multi-national.. people are flown in (sometimes on multiple private helicopters and jets), spaces are booked, etc. etc. In comparison to that, the cisco solution is relatively cheap.
It's also a good push for these companies' networking groups to justify massive upgrades to their bandwidth.
Interesting fact: They often downscale the video on these things because at a certainly resolution, it's just creepy to the participants. - adml_shake, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Well lets start counting down untill we hear about some big deal that feel thru because one side thought they had their stuff on mute and talked about what chumps the other side was....
- hurfydurfur, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Under 10mbps? So, you need a bunch of T1's then to run it (full). Go to a fly-by-night and get a T1 for $500/month x 10. Or get a frac T3 for maybe $3k-5k per month? Maybe businesses would have no problems with this, certainly small businesses would pass (which is the majority). I would disagree with the marketing guy who says this will change the way we work --- maybe if we had all these in our houses for cheap and we didn't have to drive to work (yes please). But it's still cool.
- VoodiX, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1There's also a funny ad about this on TV which can be found on the cisco website.
http://www.cisco.com/web/about/facts_info/advertising.html
The Telepresence ad can be found at the bottom. - unitedstatians, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Cisco TelePresence on Fox's "Vanished!"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5F_QtB0yzfA
One of the most obvious product placements I've seen in a long while. - gandre, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2I love how the fat guy is so impressed he just takes pics of the screen the whole time
- mikeroySoft, on 10/19/2009, -1/+2heh, i can see it now "hey, can i borrow your pen... oh wait...?"
I actually had that one time when i was a teenager working in a call center... the fella on the other end asked me for my pen!
Jokingly, i said "sure, here you go... oh, wait!" - JesseJ, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1We had this same thing in 1998 at our office, the table continued in the next city... and vice versa... only not hi-def. It was quite a nice feature.
- TenebrousX, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2I attended a presentation by a Cisco guy for my networking class, and he explained that the cost was so high because they needed to make their own screens so that everything would look perfect, and other bs such as needing to have the paint, chairs, and wood grain the same
- izzybomb, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Does the $299,000 include both sides, or just one?
If its for both locations, thats great, if its just for one...still pretty freaking awesome. - ericnmu, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1great comparison, they are completely different tables serving completely different purposes.
- Cyberdactyl, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1300K ?!
LOL, the finance and budget manager got it seriously up the rear.
I'm thinking no more than 40K x 2 = 80k (both ends) including T1 equivalent. - calidrunky, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2You have to double that price to include the other table. Otherwise, the whole thing is pointless. So you're saying you could do it for 200k in house vs a Cisco supported product for 300k. If someone has the money to buy a 200k table, I think they're gonna opt for the Cisco premium rather than something slapped together by someone who didn't even have the foresight to see the need for a 2nd table :-P
- Balanced, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Great! Package it up, get ti developed and start selling it!
- diggmikie, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0If you scoff at 300k, take a look at HP's competing product "Halo". Check out the monthly fees.
80k wont get you 150ms latency and 10-12Mb/s. - ahhell, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1Wouldn't it be cheaper to fly the ***** people to the meetings??
- macaddct1984, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0I think this table is much sexier:
http://www.dbfletcher.com/files/dbfletcher_capstan_both.mp4 - godfa7h3r, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1Shouldn't this actually cost $600,000? I mean, if you buy one, who are you going to have a virtual conference with? Someone else has to have another table.
- imlostinjapan, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0One thing that every has forgotten is that it is fully incompatible with the existing Video Conferencing standards (Tandberg / PolyCom / LifeSize) that is used by most large companies. So you will have to buy 2 systems. One to talk to the rest of the world and one that only talks to itself. Even if the system was designed for Executives who can't attend the meeting at the head office, most of those people are in geographical different positions at that time, so you would need several of these units but doing a multipoint conference if it can do that at all.
I know which one most people will go for. - plana, on 10/12/2007, -2/+0I don' think 300k is too steep if they include the cost of both setups, as well as cost of unlimited usage on high speed connection from a provider. If not, I suggest buying the equipment and having it installed yourself- 6 62" HD plasmas is at most 60k, 6 hd cameras- another 18k, even if we still go with a high end cisco switch at both ends, thats like 20k. Then what, furniture? 12 aeron chairs- 12k, custom built high quality semicircle countertops- 20k. Thats 130k total for a full 2 office setup with high end parts.
- RyuXenon, on 10/12/2007, -3/+0All those screens + 1x XboX 360, +1x Ps3 + 1x Wii... some friends... and bam... the greatest thing a gamer could wish for...short of a hugely expensive Alienware laptop :P
- DIGGADEEP, on 10/12/2007, -9/+4cool idea
- adml_shake, on 10/12/2007, -6/+1Well lets start counting down untill we hear about some big deal that fell thru because one side thought they had their stuff on mute and talked about what chumps the other side was....
- MScrip, on 10/12/2007, -6/+0"i wouldnt judge the audio based off a youtube vid."
True.... but this Cisco video has that heavily compressed metallic sound.
Most YouTube videos don't sound that bad. Videos I upload sound clear. I guess whoever uploaded this Cisco video went for size instead of quality when making this clip. - unplug, on 10/12/2007, -7/+0There is a 35 minute demo video over at the ScobleShow which I blogged about...
http://www.wranner.org/wordpress/2006/11/01/cool-teleconferencing-from-cisco/
http://www.podtech.net/scobleshow/technology/1203/cisco-makes-videoconferencing-cool-with-new-telepresence-systems - generalnewbie, on 10/12/2007, -13/+1wow.. its almost life like looking into those plasmas. I done see those plasmas as 65 inches but... ill take your word for it...
- MScrip, on 10/12/2007, -17/+1I love how this video shows a $300,000 table with 65" plasmas... but the audio sounds like a Speak-n-Spell.
Gosh... I remember the Speak-n-Spell... yikes!
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