Cisco's Human Network - TelePresence

This ad I like is a great example of how just one little ad (even when it's about 3 years old) can lead to a good chunk of time. It comes from Cisco and advertises TelePresence (and also Cisco's "Human Network.") TelePresence is a video conferencing technology that connects two separate rooms as if they were both in the same room.

Marthin De Beer (Cisco Vice President and General Manager of the Emerging Markets Technology Group) explains in a YouTube clip, "It's All About The Experience" from BlogsAtCisco, "TelePresence is a new technology category that will enable many new applications and will change the way people work, live, play and learn." De Beer calls TelePresence "a new in-person communication experience."  (You can hear more from De Beer in this interview that describes TelePresence as "video conferencing on steroids.")

Philip Graham, Director of Engineering for the TelePresence Business Unit describes the technology as "a giant phone" that "just happens to be the size of a room." Basically, Graham says TelePresence is a big voice-over-IP system to which they've added video and suggests that TelePresence is representative of a "human factor," "personal interaction" and "a shared experience," almost "like magic." As the Cisco employees shout out at the end of the video, "It's all about the experience." 

Now about Cisco's "Human Network"...  The website states, "When technology meets humanity on the human network, the way we work changes. The way we live changes. Everything changes. That's the human network effect." You can learn more about the Human Network here and also see how the technology is used in the workplace, in communities, in entertainment (ie: in the video game, Rock Band 2) and in sports. And find out more about TelePresence here and here. You can even enter the "Why I Want Cisco TelePresence" contest. Finally, check out posts about Cisco's Human Network on their blog and see more video clips on their Public Relations YouTube Page.


One cool site I found Cisco's TelePresence featured on was the homepage of London's Musion Systems Ltd. that showcases a video about "on-state holographic video conferencing" with TelePresence technology. 

 
Cisco On-Stage Holographic TelePresence Experience from Musion Systems on Vimeo.

Other YouTube clips from Cisco (promoting their Human Network) include a "The Human Network Anthem," (first below) spotlight on digital outdoor technology (second below), "Wedding" and "The Cisco Human Network Effect - I Will Survive" commercial (not a huge fan of the last one).

 

To conclude, here's BlogsAtCisco's YouTube clip, "It's All About The Experience" that I talked about earlier...