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According to a new report by Frost & Sullivan, telepresence has attracted growing interest and has helped to increased sales thanks to the unique benefits it offers.

According to Frost & Sullivan's (News - Alert) analysis, the market value of telepresence was around $396.2 million in 2009 and the research firm forecasts that this will reach $825.9 million by 2015.

The report, "Telepresence (News - Alert) Global Market," also found that rapid development in the capabilities of videoconferencing systems and IP networks over the last three years is creating an alternative means to deliver valued benefits similar to telepresence.

In addition, telepresence's development and growth in popularity parallels advancements in other forms of visual collaboration including the rapid emergence of HD videoconferencing and managed service - which together, could go on to challenge the telepresence space.

Dominic Dodd, principle analyst at Frost & Sullivan, said that telepresence in particular, has played a pivotal role over the last two to three years in helping build greater awareness and in re-focussing executive-level attention on visual collaboration.

The effectiveness of the latest technologies and the impact of the global economic downturn are impelling businesses to re-assess visual collaboration such as video telephony, videoconferencing and telepresence as viable solutions to facilitate reduced operations costs and create new sources of productivity, Dodd said.

There is a rising awareness about the benefits offered by immersive telepresence solutions, but the combined impacts of the recession and the increasing power of HD videoconferencing are causing prospective buyers to move cautiously, according to the new analysis by Frost & Sullivan.

'While telepresence can uniquely offer a number of attractive customer benefits, there are concerns about the cost and availability of the network required to support it, and also how effectively it may work with other parts of a customer's video estates," Dodd said.

In the long term, visual collaboration endpoints are expected to fare well. The analysis report finds. Also, there may be a change in the product format by which immersive telepresence is delivered, but the overall demand for its unique features and benefits will continue to grow.