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Posts Tagged ‘Scott Wharton’
Wednesday, August 11th, 2010
by Mariette Johnson Wharton, VP of Marketing
A report in July-August 2010 Channel Vision Magazine (circulated to nearly 20,000 channel partners and wholesale carriers selling voice, conferencing, IP and other network-based services), points to the growing demand for video conferencing outside of purpose-built room systems.
In the magazine’s “Beyond the Conference Room” report, Martin Vilaboy argues that video outside the conference room “gets really interesting only when sessions can be initiated across all types of endpoints, from telepresence flat screen to an iPad in a hotel room, and vendor brand names attaches to services and endpoints don’t make a difference.” That, and it’s an easy to use, on-demand service. “Only at that point,” Vilaboy maintains, “does it truly become accessible for SMBs to routinely collaborate with partners, customers, mobile workers, suppliers, etc. At this point, for an SMB to achieve interoperability on its own, it would require tens of thousands of dollars in network investments and some degree of IT resources.”
Even though the major video conferencing vendors have made advances towards standards and cross capabilities, seamless connectivity still presents what Vilaboy terms “significant challenges” including firewall traversal and a “market landscape, from Google to Cisco, of proprietary platforms and technologies.” In the report, Vidtel CEO Scott Wharton notes that even when standards are established, it can be hard or impossible to get them to work together since the SIP standard is an interpretive one, meaning interpreted differently by various vendors. This is too much for the average SMB IT department and even the video VARs to handle so they tend to recommend that customers stay with one vendor’s brand and use it for internal use only.
The key to widespread SMB deployment of business-grade video conferencing will be a service provider solution “that can deliver affordable and robust hosted services”, Vilaboy reports. Outside of a hosted solution, SMBs would have to invest in gateways, session border controllers, service bridging, and SIP proxy functionality. Then, there are cases where SIP needs to be integrated with H.323, which is not a simple matter.
Ugh. Most SMBs don’t even know what those terms means, nor should they have to (we think). As an alternative to SMBs undergoing this infrastructure investment, cloud-based service provider Vidtel put all this functionality in the cloud and offers a hosted service for a monthly fee.
Our approach seeks to have SIP, H.323 and proprietary video conferencing systems all work together. The Vidtel network also has the capability of integrating with the PSTN so local phone numbers can be used for regular phone calling as well. Multi-point is easy, too. The bridging function hosted in Vidtel’s data center enables multi-party video conferencing.
Vidtel pursues a channel strategy to deliver service and has announced deals with hosted voice providers to integrate the Vidtel multi-party video conferencing service. Vidtel’s SIP core enables the hosted voice providers to use SIP trunks for bridging to Vidtel. End-customers then dial into the bridge on-demand with a 10-digit number from their Polycom VVX1500, LifeSize Passport, Tandberg E20 or other standard device.
The Channel Magazine report begs the question of how long the lower quality and lack of support of software-based consumer-oriented video conferencing solutions will be tolerated by businesses. Research Now’s study demonstrates that audio quality is as important as the video experience. “With user expectations raised by the popularity of HD everything,” the report quotes Research Now, “video conferencing or video chat without HD voice and HD video usually results in poor user experiences.”
PC-based solutions are limited by processor speed, Wharton points out. It’s the same reason people prefer to watch movies on TV vs. on a handheld device – better processing capability provides better quality.
As video device prices are shrinking and hosted solutions become more available, HD video conferencing will come more into the hands of the SMB market. “Endpoint prices are starting to come down, ” Wharton is quoted, such as from LifeSize, Cisco/Tandberg, Sony and Polycom. “What’s not coming down is the complexity or the need for someone to manage things in the middle.”
All of this is good news for Vidtel.
Tags: Beyond the Conference Room, Channel Vision, Channel Vision Magazine, Cisco/Tandberg, cloud-based service, LifeSize, LifeSize Passport, Mariette Wharton, Polycom, Polycom VVX 1500, Scott Wharton, Sony, Tandberg E20, video conference, Video Conferencing, Vidtel
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
Monday, July 19th, 2010
by Mariette Johnson Wharton, VP of Marketing
Rich Tehrani, CEO of TMC, asks Scott Wharton, CEO of Vidtel, about Vidtel’s cloud-based video conferencing service. Scott discusses the vision of the company to provide HD video conferencing for small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs).
The Vidtel service enables SMEs to have business-grade video conferencing without investing in video conferencing infrastructure (e.g., session border controllers, gateways, SIP proxies). Vidtel is device-agnostic, enabling any SIP device (e.g., Polycom, Cisco, Tandberg, LifeSize, Sony) to register to and connect with others over the Vidtel network.
Vidtel’s approach is to provide a hosted service, similar to a telephone monthly service fee, eliminating the need for customers to invest in additional IT support, servers, testing and interoperability.
To gain new customers, Vidtel is pursuing a channel strategy with video conferencing vendors, VoIP providers and and VARs. Vidtel’s service allows VARs and VoIP providers to expand their hosted voice offerings to include hosted video.
In the case of the major video conferencing vendors, Vidtel helps solve the problem of these vendors’ niche focus on the large enterprise. Teaming up with Vidtel enables these manufacturers to address a much wider audience. Without a hosted service such as Vidtel, potential customers would be required to make substantial IT investments to accommodate HD video conferencing.
What’s next? Vidtel has already enabled interoperability between the major players’ equipment (Tandberg, Cisco, Polycom, LifeSize and Sony). H.323 to SIP interoperability is next. Vidtel’s vision also includes gateways from SIP devices to proprietary standards (e.g., Skype, Google, Microsoft, Apple).
See Scott Wharton interviewed on TMCnet.
Tags: Cisco, cloud-based video conferencing service, gateways, H.323, hosted video, LifeSize, Polycom, Rich Tehrani, Scott Wharton, session border controllers, SIP, SMEs, Sony, Tandberg, TMC, TMCnet, Vidtel, VoIP providers
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Monday, March 22nd, 2010
By Mariette J. Wharton, VP of Marketing
A critical problem faces mid-market companies who seek to conduct business-grade multi-point video conferencing.
Almost all small-medium enterprises (SMEs) find acquiring and managing video conferencing servers, handling addressing and dealing with firewall issues too resource-consuming. The Vidtel Multi-Point (Meet Me) Video Conferencing Service is a hosted, outsourced solution that cost-effectively solves this problem. Vidtel has partnered with IP5280, which specializes in business VoIP and cloud-based communications delivered via state-of-the-art unified Internet Protocol (IP) technologies, to deliver this service to IP5280’s customer base. This service provides a hosted unified communications solution (voice and video) as part of IP5280’s best-of-breed cloud computing infrastructure, called “CLOVER,” or “CLOud OVer Enterprise Resources.”
“IP5280 is one of the industry’s best in driving hosted voice, evidenced by their distinctive focus on the value of applications to their SME customers. Their proven capabilities in successfully conveying the value of a hosted application makes them an ideal partner for us,” said Scott Wharton, CEO of Vidtel.
“Vidtel, an industry innovator and leader in the video communications industry, has developed an offer that exemplifies the type of cloud-based unified communication application we seek to offer. Vidtel Meet Me Video Conferencing Service will be the first application provided by a strategic partner who is added into the IP5280 CLOVER network, designed specifically to optimize the performance of interactive cloud-based applications,“ said Jeffrey Pearl, co-founder and managing partner of IP5280.
Vidtel’s multi-point video conferencing service integrates IP5280’s hosted voice offering with Polycom® VVXTM 1500 business media phones and the Vidtel network. The service enables three or more VVX 1500s to connect via a simple dial-in number for on-demand multi-way video conferencing.
Beginning in Q2 2010, IP5280 will offer Vidtel’s Multi-Point (Meet Me) Video Conferencing service to its small-medium-sized enterprise customers. For more information about IP5280, contact Jeff Rundles at 303-952-2565. For Vidtel, contact Mariette Wharton at 650-353-1125.
Tags: cloud computing infrastructure, CLOVER, hosted voice, IP5280, Jeff Rundles, Jeffrey Pearl, managing video conferencing servers, Mariette Wharton, multi-point video conferencing, Polycom VVX1500, Scott Wharton, SMEs, video conferencing service, Vidtel, Vidtel Meet Me, Vidtel Multi-Point Video Conferencing Service
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Wednesday, March 10th, 2010
by Mariette Johnson Wharton, VP of Marketing
For this year’s VoiceCon, the leading enterprise communications and video conferencing event, Vidtel CEO Scott Wharton has been selected to lead the discussion panels on choosing the right video device, extending video across the enterprise boundary and the challenges in a mass deployment of video endpoints in an enterprise. The Video For the Enterprise program at VoiceCon will be in Orlando on March 22-23, 2010.
The Right Video Device: How To Decide Who Gets What?
Today, most video conferencing systems reside in conference rooms. In order for video to expand to everyday use, different devices will be used. Executive systems (dedicated video systems on a user’s desk), laptops and video phones are alternatives to high-end room systems and telepresence systems. To determine which devices are the best options, some questions will be addressed, including:
- What are the key video device options today and the pros and cons for each device?
- Which device is the best suited for what types of workers, locations or use cases?
- What are the key tradeoffs in terms of quality, price and productivity considerations?
- How are the different device alternatives evolving and what will the future hold?
- How would this change the mix of video devices used with the enterprise?
Other panelists include Robert Romano, VP Enterprise Marketing, Radvision, Matt Jordan, Enterprise Development Manager, Skype for Business and Ira Weinstein, Senior Analyst & Partner, Wainhouse Research.
Extending Video Across the Enterprise Boundary
Although the vast majority of video conference calling is within the enterprise, it’s only a matter of time before these same systems are used to make calls to people in other organizations.
There are some challenges, though. Unlike voice communication, which uses the public switched telephone network (PSTN) to link together all phones, video devices have no such network. To further complicate matters, there are significant barriers to making inter-enterprise video conferencing as easy as a voice call such as addressing, security, quality of service and interoperability. In this VoiceCon panel, Scott Wharton will be leading the discussion on these topics:
- What are the different approaches to inter-enterprise video conferencing today?
How do you find and call other video users (use “regular” phone numbers, URI address, IP Address, iNum, FDQN)?
- Will enterprises rely on service providers or handle this issue internally?
- When should dedicated bandwidth be used vs. the public Internet or a hybrid approach?
- What are the security requirements and tradeoffs for inter-enterprise video?
- What are the different requirements for inter-enterprise video conferencing between video endpoints from the same vendor? From different vendors?
- What are the considerations for opening up bridging (e.g., an MCU) for inter-enterprise video conferencing vs. using a 3rd party?
In addition to moderator/speaker Scott Wharton, CEO, Vidtel, are panelists Chris MacFarland, COO, Masergy, Michel Sagen, Director, Product Management, Tandberg, John Bartlett, Principal, NetForecast Inc. and Ted Tracy, Director, Engineering & Architecture, TelePresence Exchange BU, Cisco.
Challenges in Mass Deployment: From Tens to Thousands of Video Endpoints
Enterprise use of video is growing, but it remains a “niche” application, largely used by a select set of users in planned sessions. For video conferencing to move into the mainstream, it needs to evolve into a universal tool for business – an application that is used both inside and outside a company’s boundaries.
Incremental growth isn’t that difficult, but challenges abound for any CEO or CIO who wants to extend video deployment to everyone in the enterprise – expanding from dozens of systems to thousands. In this session, Scott Wharton will moderate these topics:
- What are the product requirements for scaling a deployment and are today’s solutions up to the task? What about bandwidth requirements and network upgrades?
- What makes sense to tackle internally vs. outsourcing or hybrid choices?
- Are people outside the firewall (teleworkers, branch offices) out of luck?
- How does VOIP help – or hinder – the expansion of video?
- Should the video network be integrated with other network elements (i.e., the PBX, PSTN) and if so, when and how?
- Most enterprises are multi-vendor environments; how does that affect options for scaling video?
Others on the discussion panel are Chris Lauwers, CTO, Avistar, Brent Kelly, Senior Analyst & Partner, Wainhouse Research, Ofer Shapiro, CEO, Vidyo and Roy Skillicorn, Senior Director, Advanced Services, TelePresence Practice Management Organization, Cisco.
To meet up with us at VoiceCon or suggest any additional questions for the panels, please send an email to voicecon@vidtel.com.
Tags: Avistar, Brent Kelly, Chris Lauwers, Chris MacFarland, Cisco, John Bartlett, Masergy, Michel Sagen, NetForecast, Ofer Shapiro, Roy Skillicorn, Scott Wharton, Tandberg, Ted Tracy, TelePresence Exchange BU, URI, Video for the Enterprise, Vidtel, Vidyo, VoiceCon 2010, Wainhouse Research
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
Wednesday, December 3rd, 2008
 by Scott Wharton, CEO
For 13 years, I’ve been on the leading edge of VoIP technologies and launched the first Internet Phone service to the world in 1995. For the last several years, I’ve been interested in the potential for video over IP to deliver the promise of conveniently seeing loved ones far way.
From working with the who’s who of telecom companies around the world, I knew they wouldn’t be offering the service anytime soon. My dream is to fill this gap and offer simple, convenient and universal video calling – you just need a broadband connection.
Tags: Announcements, full-motion video, phone service with video, Scott Wharton, upgrade phone service to video, video calling, video phone, video phones, videophones, Vidtel, VoIP
Posted in Vidtel Video Conferencing | No Comments »
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