Telepresence: Not just for meetings any more

Telepresence, an advanced form of videoconferencing, aims to simulate the experience of a face-to-face meeting by using high-definition, jitter-free video coupled with spatial audio. Only a small fraction of the 230,000 videoconferencing systems sold worldwide in 2009 were telepresence systems, according to Wainhouse Research. But the technology is earning a following, and Wainhouse expects to see the technology's share of the videoconferencing market increase substantially over the next five years, helping to drive strong videoconferencing system growth. Depending on the number of sites connected and the equipment involved a telepresence meeting could include as many as 300 people. Whoever is talking at any moment appears on screen virtually life size.