Cisco has made a number of new TelePresence product announcements including releasing a new signaling protocol that will allow other vendors to effectively connect with and inter-operate with Cisco TelePresence endpoints while keeping the correct eye-lines, spacial acoustics, and data collaboration capabilities.  The company has also announced a new, enhanced version of its flagship six seat telepresence group system: The Cisco CTS 3010 and a new enhanced version of its 18 seat classroom: The Cisco CTS 3210.  Cisco has also announced five new telepresence "experiences" or application specific customizations of its existing systems.  Find out what it all means with Telepresence Options Publisher Howard Lichtman's Thoughts and Analysis including his prediction and reasoning why 2010 will be the year that Inter-company telepresence and videoconferencing takes off

The big stories for the telepresence and visual collaboration industry coming out of last week's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas is the rapidly developing "Battle for the Living Room" where telepresence and videoconferencing companies, consumer electronics companies, and networking providers have unsheathed their swords in the billion dollar contest to provide two-way videoconferencing over broadband internet connections to the home. Cisco, Polycom/IBM, and Skype/Panasonic/LG have all announced and/or demonstrated products that will bring high definition videoconferencing into the living room. In this article, I take a look at the current and future applications for home telepresence and videoconferencing, the various business models, the players who announced they are heading to the living room at CES and the other potential industry participants lurking in the home office and on the family computer who just might join them.    

Independent research firm and consultancy, Human Productivity Lab and Brockmann & Company, the customer insight firm, have published the industry's first comprehensive handbook on inter-company telepresence and video conferencing. "The Inter-Company Telepresence and Video Conferencing Handbook" educates CIOs, executives, managers, telepresence and video conferencing professionals about the opportunities, challenges and solutions for inter-company telepresence and video conferencing with partners, vendors, and customers.  

The Handbook comes during a week when a blizzard shut down much of the northeastern United States, 2,000 rail passengers are abandoned below the English Channel for hours, and a British Airways union threatened to strand tens of thousands of passengers.

Forrester Research interviewed Human Productivity Lab founder and Telepresence Options publisher Howard Lichtman for their recent publication: The CIO's Role in Enterprise Collaboration: Tapping the Groundswell. The superb report by Liz Brady, Maggie Zweiben, Laura Koetzle, and Nigel Fenwick explores best practices for using collaboration tools (including telepresence) for strategic advantage.  The full report is, unfortunately, only available to the C-level executives on Forrester's CIO Leadership Board, however, they were good enough to allow us to republish Howard's interview.

Plus: 

We have updated the Human Productivity Lab's Telepresence Consulting Website. We have added examples of some of the consulting services we have provided to global Fortune 20 oil companies, international investment banks, and national / international standards bodies. On the vendor side we have included information on Arming Telepresence Commission Driven Mercenaries, our open source competitive overview/sales training for telepresence vendors, managed service providers, and carriers. We have also included examples of consulting engagements for established telepresence vendors and those looking to enter the telepresence marketplace.

Info on how to sign up for tomorrow's free webinar on telepresence featuring Human Productivity Lab President and Telepresence Options publisher Howard Lichtman: Bringing High Definition to Your Data Network