Tele Conferencing Presented by: George Ebel Andrea Fruchtman Debbie Hensley June 4, 2012

The New Way to Communicate in the Workforce

What is Teleconferencing? Teleconferencing is the conduct of a videoconference (also known as a video conference or videoteleconference) by a set of telecommunication technologies which allow two or more locations to communicate by simultaneous two-way video and audio transmissions. It has also been called 'visual collaboration' and is a type of groupware. Videoconferencing differs from videophone calls in that it's designed to serve a conference or multiple locations rather than individuals. It is an intermediate form of videotelephony, first deployed commercially in the United States by AT&T during the early 1970s as part of their development of Picturephone technology. 1 With the introduction of relatively low cost, high capacity broadband telecommunication services in the late 1990s, coupled with powerful computing processors and video compression techniques, videoconferencing usage has made significant inroads in business, education, medicine and media. Like all long distance communications technologies (such as phone and Internet), by reducing the need to travel to bring people together the technology also contributes to reductions in carbon emissions, thereby helping to reduce global warming. 1

How is it done? The core technology used in a videoconferencing system is digital compression of audio and video streams in real time. The hardware or software that performs compression is called a codec (coder/decoder). Compression rates of up to 1:500 can be achieved. The resulting digital stream of 1s and 0s is subdivided into labeled packets, which are then transmitted through a digital network of some kind (usually ISDN or IP). The use of audio modems in the transmission line allow for the use of POTS, or the Plain Old Telephone System, in some low-speed applications, such as videotelephony, because they convert the digital pulses to/from analog waves in the audio spectrum range. 1 There are basically two kinds of videoconferencing systems: Dedicated systems: Everything is packaged into one piece of equipment. It contains all the electrical interfaces, control computer, microphones, speakers and/or video projector, and the software or hardware-based codec. 1 Desktop systems : A PC will have add-ons (hardware boards) transforming them into videoconferencing devices. Ranges of different cameras and microphones can be used which contains the necessary codec and transmission interfaces. 1

The New Way to Communicate in the Workforce Benefits: Facilitates effective and efficient communication Facilitates effective and efficient communication Ability to conduct meetings around the world without being Ability to conduct meetings around the world without being in one central location in one central location Allows participants to communicate verbally and visually at Allows participants to communicate verbally and visually at the same time the same time Rapid interaction between attendees as well as quicker Rapid interaction between attendees as well as quicker decision making abilities decision making abilities Saves time and money for the company Saves time and money for the company Increases productivity of employees Increases productivity of employees

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