A supplier of chemical finishing technology solutions that specializes in PCB is using telepresence and video conferencing technology from a Huntington Beach, Calif.-based company to connect its geographically dispersed sales and technical team members.

 

Uyemura International Corp. selected BrightCom’s telepresence and video conferencing infrastructure for its Uyemura USA division. With the technology, Uyemura USA plans to link its technical and sales teams that are spread across the nation to its Ontario, Calif.-based headquarters and its Technical Center in Southington, Conn. In addition, Uyemura wants to offer its customers a channel to speak with the company’s sales and technical teams for project management.

 

Businesses like Uyemura today are searching for cost-saving options to keep their operations functioning and running more efficiently. As a result, telepresence solutions are playing more of a role in those decisions.

 

Tony Salbino, project engineering manager of Uyemura USA, said the company’s operations span made in-person communication and collaboration difficult and expensive. He said the company sought a cost-effective solution that would help it reach customers in new and effective ways.

 

The company chose BrightCom's Visual Collaboration Server, a processor based, single network appliance. The solution offers Uyemura meeting scheduling, administration and a set of integrated video and Web conferencing capabilities. The company’s sales and technical teams, as well as executive management, can log-in to their secured, online meeting environment and schedule or start spontaneous meetings.

 

VCS powers BrightCom’s Lumina Telepresence and ClearView Video Conferencing with high definition, standard definition video and audio broadcasts that can be shown in a multi-screen layout the meeting moderator selects. With multiple data broadcasts, VCS can display up to 16 video broadcasts with an unlimited amount of meeting participants broadcasting from desktop Web cams, conference rooms, or telepresence suites from around the world, BrightCom said.

 

In addition, VCS offers a variety of Web conferencing features. Users can share documents, spreadsheets, high resolution images and video clips using low bandwidth amounts. Meeting participants can also use the software-based conferencing system to remote control other users’ desktops, to markup documents and pass control of the meeting other people, BrightCom said.

 

“BrightCom's solutions have so much potential for our U.S. operations,” Salbino said in a statement. “Our executive, sales and technical teams who are spread out across the country will be able to instantly connect via the VCS online environment to share and mark up presentations, customer data, and technical data sheets. It has already proven useful in our initial testing of the system for our President to connect with our teams while out of the office.”

 

To enhance its service, Uyemura is implementing a Multiprotocol Label Switching system to create a pipeline between its California and Connecticut offices. With the direct connection, Uyemura can eliminate its dependence on data link layer technology and the need for multiple Layer 2 networks to handle accommodate different types of data transfers. Ultimately, this technology prioritizes the video and data exchange for Uyemura’s meetings and presentations critical for teamwork and customer relationships.

 

"BrightCom is very excited to be selected by Uyemura USA,” Bob McCandless, CEO of BrightCom, told TMCnet in an interview. “It is very inspiring to listen to our customers as they understand the benefits of telepresence and video conferencing then expand on those benefits with their own innovative ideas. Uyemura is very customer centric and it shows as they are finding new ways of supporting their customers. We are very eager to work with Uyemura as they continue to use our systems internally, as well as proliferate its conferencing solution to its customers for effective and instant channels of communication."

 

When the U.S. communications are implemented, Uyemura plans to apply BrightCom's solutions to connect its overseas operations in the Asia Pacific, BrightCom officials said.

 

Recently Uyemura executives were prevented from traveling to their Japanese facilities for three to four months because of Japanese governmental regulations designed to prevent the spread of the H1N1 virus, or so-called “swine flu.” The travel delay caused setbacks in the company’s operations. But with BrightCom’s telepresence and video conferencing solutions, companies can continue to operate during travel restrictions and hold face-to-face meetings without physically being in the same room.