Well, Infocomm is definitely showing the growth of conferencing of all types. I certainly expected the increased importance of videoconferencing, but the growth in terms of number of companies involved seems to be exploding in the area of audio/graphics (or “whiteboard”) conferencing. Nearly every company that makes commercial flat panel displays is showing a distance-connected interactive touch display. On top of that, many manufacturers are showing add-on kits for equipping your flat panel or whiteboard-and-projector setup for interactive use. I have long wondered when this explosion was going to take place, since it makes so much sense. I install (and use) a lot of videoconferencing systems, but often it is more useful to hear the distant participant’s voice while looking at their ideas, rather than looking at their face. It is more useful, for instance, for design or planning sessions than videoconferencing is. It also, from the prices quoted on the floor, is less expensive to implement than most videoconferencing systems. Many of the systems being shown by the flat panel manufacturers seem to be based on common core technologies, such as EFI’s E-Beam technology, which would seem to indicate that they will be interoperable, although most of the booth reps don’t seem to have a direct answer for the question yet.

JRR