TANDBERG Intros MaxSD to Boost Capacity of its Desktop Video Conferencing Systems

Companies that rely on desktop video communications for collaborative purposes have been increasingly putting pressure on solutions providers to boost the capacity of their desktop video offerings while at the same maintaining video quality. Because if only a small percentage people in an organization can communicate via video conference, the value of such a solution is limited.


In response to this demand, video-over-IP solutions provider TANDBERG has introduced MaxSD, a new software release for its line of Multipoint Control Units (MCUs) delivering unprecedented scale and enhanced desktop video conferencing capabilities.

According to the company, MaxSD increases the capacity of a single MSE 8000 chassis from 360 to 720 concurrent SD (standard definition 448p) video calls. This enhancement enables very large video conferences, with capacity for up to 80 SD or 20 HD (720p) fully transcoded, continuous presence (CP) connections per blade. That means companies which have already deployed TANDBERG MCUs now have the means to quickly and affordably expand the capcity of their desktop video conferencing systems

What’s more, the new TANDBERG MCU ConferenceMe feature extends multipoint video conferencing to the desktop by enabling up to 12 simultaneous users to join any conference and collaborate face-to-face from their PC via an email invitation with a URL link. Users simply click the link and join a video conference no matter where they are located, with features such as multiple layouts, continuous presence and content sharing functionality.

"As organizations continue to embrace video communications, there need to be simplified ways to provide access to more people and enable support for larger conferences," said Ira Weinstein, analyst and partner at independent analyst firm Wainhouse Research, in a press release. "TANDBERG's MaxSD gives customers the flexibility to expand their video bridging capacity as needed and without having to purchase and install additional hardware. Furthermore, ConferenceMe allows participants outside the enterprise network to participate in video conferences."

In addition to their ability to support even more streams, the enhanced MCUs also support TANDBERG's unique Multiway capability, which enables multipoint calls to be escalated from an endpoint to the MCU. This makes it even easier for users to participate in multipoint video conferencing calls.

TANDBERG, part of the Ericsson (News - Alert) Group and widely recognized as one of the leading video technology players, recently claimed that it is the first and only vendor to offer advanced and uncompromised telepresence interoperability to its customers.