In the last installment of the series on the dimensions of communications the topic was sensory interfaces, but we focused on audio. In this post we will focus on the visual aspects, specifically real time video.

As we consider visual interactions, we can subdivide the discussion into 2 areas at first; video and avatar base virtual environments. Over time, these may merge, but reasonable I/O systems to enable this are yet to be developed.

Starting with video, there are two factors that are charging with video; the value and applicability of video to business interactions and the capabilities and cost of the equipment and network services to deliver the value. If you have been reading this blog, you will remember a series of posts on video, I would encourage you to read those to get a better understanding of the values of video in the business environment.

Video Collaboration Blog 1..........and 2

As these blogs suggest, the "value" of video is predominately in interactions where visual clues are critical to positive outcomes of the interaction. So to dissect this topic we need to begin with the "goal" of a video interaction. I would postulate that the goal is as close as practicable to a face to face interaction. As I wirier this I am participating in a telepresence session from Santa Clara to Ottawa, however, the value of seeing the team in Ottawa in HD video is really minimal to the discussion.

So where is video going? If we ignore the social/familial applications and focus on business (this is an enterprise blog after all), the values are when video adds true value to the communications. In the end this is going to drive 2 types of vide; the telepresence for organized activities that are selling and for distributed teams where the interactions need to have video due to the reduced relationship of the team. Based on projections of employment models and teaming goign forward (where teams come together for projects and exist for shorter periods of time), this area will be a strong new user of video. In this environment, new algorithms, combined with the relatively low cost of HD cameras will enable reasonable operation between PC based users. Over time this will become a general capability that will exist in the PC arena and will be integrated into the UC control plane. By extension,hand-held devices will include a real-time video capability, limited by the capacity of the network. The critical capability needed to enable the use of this technology is true interoperability between divergent end nodes, both from a codec and display capability, and also from the Session Border Controller. The big issue for the CIO is that video has become relatively available in Skype and other easily implemented consumer products as they have control of both ends. The CIO will be challenged as to why this is not a capability in the enterprise. This is both an issue from an interoperability perspective as will as a resource issue, but the demand to use the low cost capability that willbe available will be very high.

While the basic video systems will enable casual video, true HD that enables the participants to truly see with clarity the reactions of the other participants. Today these telepresence systems have four distinct disadvantages; the cost of the base system, he cost of bandwidth and operation, the challenges to interoperability among vendors, and eye contact. I believe the current costs (up to $300K for a fixed room system with furniture matching), the bandwidth (10 Mbps or more as well as the interoperability issues are well understood. Many organizations today are seeing the value of a managed telepresence service to manage these, and they will be reduced over time. The final challenge is eye contact. As we have moved video to being a HD capability, it is now possible to actually see eye focus and that has now introduced the next issue in video. As the sender is looking at a video screen that shows the receivers of his visual transmission, and the camera is located off to the side or above/below he display, the camera is never looking directly into the face of the sender. So while the sender is looking at the eyes of the receiver the camera is recording this as looking off to the side. The next step in video will be active processing to define eye contact during these sessions. In a future post I will discuss emotional tools, and this is a key element.

In the next post I will focus on the avatar based virtual environment facet of visual interactions.

Other Posts in the Communications Dimensions Series:

Communications Dimensions Introduction

Communications Dimensions II - Infrastructure

Communications Dimensions III - Control

Communications Dimensions III - Sensory Interfaces - 1 - Audio