As video communications have become more integral to enterprise applications over the past few years, the imitations of this current technology has become very apparent.

Beyond the expense of the systems themselves – not to mention the dedicated video conferencing rooms and dedicated network facilities they require – users have also been forced to bear with decidedly marginal performance … choppy frames, long delays, broken pictures, and the like. Given the expense of these systems, people have had good reason to expect more.

Vidyo works differently. It’s a solution that delivers higher-quality experiences and greater deployment flexibility – all at a lower cost -over general IP networks. VidyoConferencing is the first video conferencing solution designed to work like the Internet itself. Out is the old MCU-centric model and in is the first solution for video conferencing designed specifically for the world of distributed computing – all thanks to Vidyo’s unique intellectual property and the advent of the VidyoRouter.

VidyoConferencing takes the HD experience from the headquarters room setting into the remote office, desktops, laptops, mobile phones – everywhere. Just imagine – high quality video at your fingertips wherever you are.

Step inside a conference room outfitted with the Vidyo Room HD-220 room system and be prepared to rethink what you know about video conferencing.

Full High Definition, 60 FPS video with imperceptible latency. Delivered across two large HD screens, you’ll be able to choose between active speaker and continuous presence layouts, independently of all other participants, via a click of a button. And just when you’ve gotten used to the fact that your Vidyo conference looks the same as your HD broadcast experience at home, your eyebrows will raise once more as you realise that all of this is taking place over converged IP networks and the Internet – no QoS required.

You could pay more for lesser performing HD room systems on legacy infrastructure, but why would you? The Vidyo Room HD-100 delivers value and performance.

No more lost time in making complicated connections or waiting for IT support to start the conference! The VidyoRoom HD-100’s intuitive user interface makes starting a conference as easy as pressing a button. Oncethat button is pressed, you and your conference participants will enjoy the natural, same-room feel and interactivity made possible by crisp, 720p 30 FPS video with imperceptible latency.

In addition to displaying data and video on separate screens, you’ll be able to choose between active speaker and continuous presence layouts, independently of all other participants, via a click of a button. Since a VidyoRoom does not consume VidyoLine™ licenses, the cost of deploying the VidyoRoom HD-100 as part of a VidyoConferencing™ solution is limited to the room system itself. And more significant than the equipment cost savings, your operating budget will get some welcomed relief since the VidyoRoom HD-100 is designed to work over converged IP networks and the Internet – no QoS required.

The perfect solution for small conference rooms or personal desktop deployments, the VidyoRoom HD-50 lowers the entry price for an HD video conferencing room system while delivering telepresence quality using Vidyo’s patented technology.

No more lost time in making complicated connections or waiting for IT support to start the conference! The VidyoRoom HD-50’s intuitive user interface makes starting a conference as easy as pressing a button. Once that button is pressed, you and your conference participants will enjoy the natural, same-room feel and interactivity made possible by crisp, 720p 30 FPS video with imperceptible latency.

In addition to displaying data and video on separate screens, you’ll be able to choose between active speaker and continuous presence layouts, independently of all other participants, via a click of a button. Since a VidyoRoom does not consume a VidyoLine™license, the cost of deploying the VidyoRoom HD-50 as part of a VidyoConferencing™ solution is limited to the room system itself. And more significant than the equipment cost savings – including a low-cost off the shelf USB HD camera – is that your operating budget will get some welcomed relief since the VidyoRoom HD-50 is designed to work over converged IP networks and the Internet – no QoS required.

What about the people that can’t attend the video conference due to schedule conflicts, time zone differences, or any other reason?

And how about those applications where full interactivity isn’t required for all participants, such as the CEO’s address to the company? You need the ability to broadcast your Vidyoconference and to record it for asynchronous playback.

VidyoReplay is an easy-to-use webcasting and recording appliance that enables large numbers of users to watch a Vidyo conference concurrently via their web browsers, either in real-time or at any time after the conference. Administrators have total control and flexibility to set permissions for user groups, controlling who is able to record, webcast, and access stored content.

VidyoReplay includes an intuitive content management application with search and annotation capability. Since recorded Vidyo confer¬ences are stored in FLV format, no proprietary client is required to view the content – any standard flash player plug-in will do. With a dedicated and hashed hyperlink assigned to each recording and live webcast, as well as the options to set the level of access, encrypt and even PIN protect content, sharing recorded content securely with others has never been easier.

The VidyoPortal is a Web-based environment that allows end-users to access and administrators to manage the VidyoConferencing system.

The VidyoPortal’s flexible user interface features single-click-action buttons that take care of everything required to initiate a call. It is so incredibly straightforward, in fact, that even ordinary conference participants can use it to initiate meetings – via the Web – from anywhere. The VidyoPortal provides a consistent environment that’s compatible with Microsoft Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Firefox and Safari. The VidyoPortal also serves as a central management environment allowing administrators to set system-wide parameters and policies, establish end-user and association privileges, and control and customise user conferencing capabilities.

Vidyo’s unique approach signifies the advent of reservation-less video conferencing since participants can join a conference without first making elaborate arrangements. What’s more, they can connect from wherever they are, using whatever equipment happens to be available to them – whether a room system or a desktop computer – over whatever line they might otherwise use to access email or surf the Web.

At the heart of the VidyoConferencing system is the VidyoRouter, a breakthrough in video conferencing technology that introduces the first major architectural change in decades.

While traditional video conferencing systems have not been able to take advantage of the obvious cost efficiencies available through Internet utilisation, Vidyo hasn’t repeated that mistake. Instead, all encoding and decoding occurs at the endpoints – leaving only video routing to be accomplished within the network itself. Vidyo’s intelligent VidyoRouter ensures that this packet-switching is handled with optimal efficiency – without either degrading the quality of the video or adding noticeable latency.

The VidyoRouter significantly improves network utilization efficiency by sending along only as many packets as an endpoint is capable of handling, due either to limitations in bandwidth, processing power or screen resolution. And because the amount of processing power and bandwidth available is dynamic, the VidyoRouter constantly tests and recalibrates what it should be passing along ensuring that each endpoint is provided with the highest quality video it’s capable of receiving – even as local conditions change from one minute to the next.

Vidyo’s unique intellectual property leverages the recently approved H.264/SVC standard – Scalable Video Coding – to create VidyoConferencing.

This new technology makes it possible to separate video bitstreams into high-reliability and low-reliability channels. These different bit-stream components allow the system to dynamically adapt to varying network conditions such as packet loss, jitter, network bandwidth, network delay, and the like. Similarly, the use of multiple bit-stream components permits the flexibility to adapt to changing processing power at the video source as well as at the receiving endpoints.

This is absolutely vital when communicating over low-cost, general-purpose IP networks as it makes possible the delivery of a quality video conferencing experience to all participants regardless of their location. Since virtually all the packet loss will occur in the low reliability channel, Vidyo uses it purely as an enhancement layer while delivering the high-reliability channel – or baseline layer – intact. Thus even under extremely adverse conditions, participants in a Vidyo conference will continue to see crisp images and smooth motion.

By contrast, traditional video conferencing systems are highly sensitive to packet loss. Dropped frames add significant latency, which in turn makes for blurred motion and choppy images on the receiving end. As a consequence, other systems break with as little as 5% packet loss. Vidyo, on the other hand, can work on any network that allows just web browsing.

Vidyo brings quality video conferencing to the desktop over general purpose IP networks!

And by “quality” we mean better than most of the room video conferencing systems you’ve experienced.

VidyoDesktop is a software client that’s easy to use and manage via the VidyoPortal, and it can send and receive in HD! All users are assigned a password-protected personal space, thus making it possible for meetings to be held anytime – whether impromptu or by prior arrangement. Finally, the same reservation-less conferencing capabilities for video that have been available for voice and the Web.

All you need is a good-quality USB webcam, a Mac or PC, and you’re ready to participate in multipoint video calls with other participants, whether they’re gathered in special video conference rooms or sitting in front of VidyoDesktops of their own. Now there’s a way for everyone to participate no matter where they happen to be.

Adopting revolutionary technologies can be a double edged sword.

On one hand, you have compelling new benefits and economies afforded by the new technology, while on the other hand you have an existing investment in legacy technology that you may not be ready to retire. We understand that a flash cut from “old” to “new” is typically not practical and that there is need for your new VidyoRouter™ based personal telepresence solution to interoperate with your existing H.323 and SIP based videoconferencing equipment.

The VidyoGateway provides the migration path you need. You can retain the use of your legacy room systems and MCUs and let them interoperate with your VidyoConferencing™ future. Like VidyoRooms™, calls through the VidyoGateway™ do not consume VidyoLine™ licenses, making integration with legacy endpoints not only easy, but affordable.