I am surprised no one has really picked up on the announcement last from Vidyo about their free B2B services.  Either 1) it’s not a big deal, or 2) people don’t want to talk about it.  I can tell you I requested access for a trial run and review through the Women in AV and have not heard a reply.  Their message is clear: I received confirmation for my “request to be part of the VidyoWay community,” but so far I haven’t received any further details.  To be fair, it is a Gmail account, but who’s to say my business isn’t as important as anyone else’s.  Oh, and they are the technology behind Google Hangouts, in case you’re wondering.

I don’t know what’s going on with this new service, but I have been following them for some time.  This is one of those serendipitous stories where I ran into the VP of Development in the elevator at InfoComm11 and he had his people follow up with me. So, I’ve been looking and testing Vidyo behind the scenes for a while now because their algorithms and patents are no joke.  Correct me if I am wrong, but they have broken the mold on transcoding and have at least 18 approved patents for delivering HD-quality transmission in their software, and almost 30 more in the works. And, any “legacy” system you own can connect.  You just need to deliver with the components and transmission capabilities.  And, if you don’t, unlike standard MCUs, the entire call won’t be downgraded to 128K.  You just won’t get the same quality personally.  Time for an upgrade.

Huge, as far as I am concerned.  One of the co-founders, President and CEO of Vidyo Ofer Shaprio, comes from a rich background ofRADVISION where he was intimately involved in the development of H.323.  This guy knows what he’s doing.

But, let me ask you this:  I was at the ITU-T summit in May 2006 for H.325 or SIP.  It was heavily Polycom and mobile apps.  Where are we now?  Have we even evolved for videoconference standards, I don’t think so — except, that we are being taking over by IT — which, may not be a bad thing, but where’s our niche? (Outside of design)  Why is no one talking about this and are you just going to let Vidyo run you into the ground?  Can I just say, telepresence is not a technology.  It is a marketing directive that sells you on a full-room experience, including the paint.  But, I would imagine, Cisco, you are not paint experts, so you may want to stick with what you are good at, and in this economy, I want the most cost-effective solution.

Polycom and Cisco, how do you respond to Vidyo technology and their new services?  What are their security flaws for me as a customer and what do they lack that I can get from you?

This is the start of a series where I will talk about the algorithms, where we are going and more importantly, why do the videoconferencing manufacturers not feel they need to be on board/addressing EDID and HDCP?