Polycom Executive: Latin American Telepresence Market to Grow 70 Percent in '09

Officials with a Pleasanton, California-based telepresence, video and voice solutions provider reportedly say they expect the telepresence market in Latin America to grow 70 percent this year, to about $17.8 million, according to a business information Web site in the region.

 

According to a story from Patrick Nixon of Santiago, Chile-based Business News America, Polycom Inc.’s vice president for the Caribbean-Latin America region, Armando Trivellato, education and training in general are fueling demand for telepresence and other video-based solutions.

 

“It doesn’t mean that this is going to replace physical presence meetings, but you can cut out some of them,” Trivellato reportedly told Nixon. “We used to have four core business reviews per year, all physical presence. Today we do two physical presence meetings and two meetings using video. We hold team meetings once a week using video... and they are quick meetings to discuss day to day things.”

 

Of course, Polycom (News - Alert) has a vested interest in the future of telepresence and video-based communications.

 

As TMCnet reported, the company this month introduced its “VVX 1500” IP media phone (pictured right) – a touch screen device that’s designed for low power consumption and combines personal video conferencing with a traditional telephone. Not least of all, the device leverages Polycom’s own HD voice technology.

 

Like the Apple (News - Alert) product that changed the way consumers view and use their mobile devices, the iPhone, the VVX 1500 is “applications-read” – so it can be customized for different tasks and environments.

 

Priced at $1,099, the VVX 1500 is bundled with applications – including the Polycom Productivity Suite, which allows users to initiate and control audio conference calls from the device’s screen, and to record calls locally, using a flash drive in the phone’s USB port.

 

TMC (News - Alert) Vice President Tom Keating writes here that the VVX 1500 is a very attractive IP phone for business executives, CEOs, VPs and other high-level management.

 

“Often times if a VP or CEO has to have a high-quality video conference, they have to reserve a high-quality video conferencing system located in a particular boardroom,” Keating writes. “With the VVX 1500 they can stay at their desk and have their meeting. Further, impromptu video conferencing with co-workers sporting a VVX 1500 on their desk can be had allowing for quick collaborative meetings.”

 

Trivellato takes the notion of telepresence a step further, reportedly telling Business News Americas that with telepresence, the CEOs of multinationals can find the time to meet lower level managers, something that was difficult before.