Live demo at Fall 2009 Internet2 Member Meeting connects standards-based, multi-codec immersive telepresence systems from three vendors across multiple networks.

Polycom, Internet2 and the Ohio Academic Resources Network (OARnet), today announced the results of a live telepresence interoperability demonstration at this week’s Fall 2009 Internet2 Member Meeting in San Antonio, Texas. The breakthrough event successfully connected four, multi-codec immersive telepresence solutions from Polycom, Tandberg and LifeSize Communications across multiple networks. The live, public demonstration was the first of its kind, showing how standards-based systems are capable of connecting across networks, and even the public Internet, for inter-organizational collaboration and business-to-business applications.

“Interoperability is an important issue for Internet2 members, many of whom rely on video conferencing and telepresence systems from various manufacturers over the Internet2 Network in order to support their important distributed research initiatives,” said Rob Vietzke, Internet2 executive director of network services. “We applaud Polycom’s leadership in organizing this effort with OARnet providing both on site and remote equipment to ensure this demonstration was a success. We look forward to working with Polycom and our other corporate members in the telepresence space to ensure our members have the most robust and interoperable solutions to meet their remote collaboration needs.”

“The successful demonstration reinforces the importance of industry standards for delivering telepresence interoperability,” said Bob Dixon, chief research engineer, OARnet. “We were able to connect systems from across multiple continents and networks in a public forum, using existing equipment and software.  All of the solutions used in the demonstration are shipping and readily available today on the open market.”

The immersive telepresence interoperability demonstration was facilitated by members of the Internet2 Emerging Technologies Group from the Ohio State University. Using the Polycom Telepresence Experience (TPX) 306M at the San Antonio event operating over the Internet2 and LEARN networks and the Polycom RMX 2000 bridge at Ohio State leveraging the OARnet network, the team connected several multi-codec systems. Systems connected included a three-screen Polycom TPX 306M on Polycom’s corporate network in Andover, Mass; a three-screen Tandberg T3 telepresence system located at FCCN in Lisbon, Portugal; and a three-screen LifeSize Conference system at OARnet, among others.

“Polycom was excited to participate in this event and welcomed the opportunity to clear confusion about whether established video conferencing standards apply to telepresence,” said Joe Sigrist, senior vice president and general manager of video solutions at Polycom. “As this demonstration proved, the standards do exist and do matter for telepresence. Telepresence is simply the next progression of this powerful and evolving technology.”

In addition to the demonstration, the conference organizers used the Polycom TPX to enhance program content and enable real-time collaboration from the event. For example, on Tuesday, October 6, attendees participated in a live telepresence call with a Polycom RealPresence Experience (RPX) system at the Georgetown University campus in Doha, Qatar to discuss how they use telepresence for teaching and learning. Also on Monday, attendees participated in a live telepresence call with Juniper Networks in Massachusetts to discuss how their policy management implementation interacts with Polycom’s video infrastructure to guarantee a consistent and flawless telepresence experience.