Telepresence on a Videoconferencing Budget

Although announcements and product releases by industry heavyweights Cisco, HP, Polycom, and Tandberg have brought telepresence into the spotlight in the recent years, telepresence is not a new concept. In fact, telepresence offerings amazingly similar to those available today have been on the market since the 1990s from companies including TeleSuite (which became Destiny Conferencing and was eventually acquired by Polycom) and Teliris. Despite vendor claims to the contrary, telepresence is a form of videoconferencing. The difference is that videoconferencing is a virtual collaboration technology, while telepresence is a virtual collaboration experience. In other words, videoconferencing focuses on making a technical connection, while telepresence focuses on providing a virtual, in-person meeting experience.