In order to truly maximize productivity within a business, all team members should be reachable and be able to interact and collaborate with anyone, wherever they are and one whatever endpoints to which they may have access. That’s the wonder of today’s IP-based conferencing and collaboration tools – they allow users to communicate on any device, wherever they are, increasing productivity and making it easy to build solid customer relationships.

This applies to businesses of all sizes, from the largest enterprises to the small end of the SMB market. This session will explore the various types of conferencing solutions available – including hosted vs. on-premises alternatives – the differences between each, and which ones are best suited for your business, allowing you to leverage technology to grow your business while fitting into your budget.

The speakers will also address conferencing in the mobile environment, focusing on growth of the smartphone industry and the looming tablet business, and how they will impact the conferencing space.

Presented by: Andy Abramson (Moderator) CEO Comunicano, Inc. Greg Plum Director of Channel Development The Conference Group David Frankel CEO ZipDX® LLC Dave Gilbert CEO/Founder SimpleSignal

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How will visual communications impact the way we live and the way we work? With bandwidth constraints, pricing models and poor QoE being the obvious hurdles, when will wired and wireless networks be ready to carry the load of mass video deployments? How do we gauge QoE anyway?

Where are the limits to compression technology and real-time processing, and how much interactivity can we expect in real global collaboration environments? Is real-time video practical on mobile handsets or is video streaming a more efficient use of the wireless spectrum?

Is High Definition a game changer, and if yes, how will it be delivered to various users and devices? What are its implications in the enterprise and service provider market? What are the greatest technical challenges with deploying HD video in enterprise, mobile, and wired broadband networks, and can we find universal solutions?

What are the business models and how can money be made – and by whom – from video? How far are we from universal industry standards for visual communication across all networks? How does the current lack of universal standard impact end-to-end QoE?
br> The session will gather opinion leaders in the field of video collaboration to answer these questions and discuss the challenges ahead as we move inevitably toward a video-centric communications world.

Presented by: Mark Ricca (Moderator) Partner IntelliCom Analytics Anatoli Levine Director, Product Management – DTBU Spirent Communications Rich Mavrogeanes Founder & CTO VBrick Systems Stefan Karapetkov Emerging Technologies Director Polycom

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Of course, there are some instances when being face to face with a colleague or client is the only way to achieve business goals – that will never change. Often, however, making the commute for an in-person engagement is cost prohibitive or otherwise not feasible — weather, illness, multiple engagements, and budget constraints are a very real part of business today.

In order to maintain continuity and success in the workplace, especially when the unexpected occurs, companies can implement key collaboration tools to ensure communication continues under any circumstances. Meeting virtually can help not only manage expenses and ensure communications continuity in unexpected circumstance, but also allows for ad hoc collaboration leading to improve productivity and increased morale.

This session will detail the steps to building a successful virtual meeting plan, including establishing program objectives, goals and timing; developing a technology plan; implementing, promoting, and adopting the strategy; and measuring the benefits of the virtual meeting environment.

Presented by: Kat Shoa (Moderator) Founder/Principal Kat Shoa Consulting Ramprakash Narayanaswamy CTO 8x8 Inc. Kyle Nisenson Senior Wholesale Channel Manager InterCall

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The number of large-scale telepresence systems in the enterprise grew from 1,150 in 2008 to 1,475 in 2009, according to Wainhouse Research. However, for many enterprise end users, Quality of Service (QoS) issues between varying and incompatible telepresence platforms remain a barrier to entry – in addition to the cost of high-end systems. For IT managers, these factors make winning buy-in from executive management challenging, and are not only hindering the adoption of telepresence systems, but are denying businesses an opportunity for more effective communication.

This session will discuss the various technologies available for videoconferencing today, and how enterprises can leverage existing technology to alleviate telepresence quality and interoperability issues to efficiently and cost-effectively collaborate with remote employees, customers, and partners, regardless of location or platform.

Presented by: Simon Dudley Global Strategist Lifesize Communications Dave Michels (Moderator) Lead Analyst TalkingPointz.com Matt Frost Senior Business Product Manager Google

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Telepresence provides a collaborative meeting atmosphere, in which people have the sense of sitting in the same room at the same time while, in reality, being separated by hundreds or thousands of miles. But, though they are already being leveraged by businesses small and large to increase collaboration and reduce operational costs worldwide, telepresence and videoconferencing technologies are merely scratching the surface of their potential.

This session will discuss the growing state and robust future potential of telepresence technology, including a look at some of the companies that are already realizing the benefits of faster decision making and an ability to excel in their competitive markets, while providing their employees a happier, healthier and more productive work environment.

The panelists will discuss the evolution of telepresence from the boardroom to the conference room, and now to the general office environment and public spaces, and explore what the next level of immersion will be and how far people will be able to blur the boundaries of the in-person experience verses the virtual experience as telepresence technology advances, enabling more efficient ways of collaboration and communication.

Presented by: Erik Linask (Moderator) Group Editorial Director TMC Marty Hollander Senior VP of Marketing Vidyo Stefan Karapetkov Emerging Technologies Director Polycom Bob McCandless CEO BrightCom

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