Logitech's new acquisition to enhance video technology communication

Logitech International announced the acquisition of the assets of Paradial AS, a Norway-based leading provider of firewall and NAT (network address translation) traversal solutions for video communication.

Paradial’s technology addresses one of the most significant barriers to the widespread adoption of Internet-based video communication: challenges encountered when calling across protected networks. Traversing any firewall while maintaining a high level of security, the Paradial technology enables seamless video calling between people inside the walls of an enterprise and those inside other enterprises, in remote offices or telecommuting. While Logitech is already offering Paradial technology to LifeSize customers through an OEM agreement, the acquisition allows the company to closely integrate firewall and NAT traversal across its video communication product portfolio, enabling reliable, high-quality end-to-end HD video calling over highly protected networks.

With the acquisition of Paradial, Logitech is taking another step toward delivering seamless HD video communication to anyone and anywhere.

For the more information, click here.

Thomson unveils simple and seamless video integration solution between IP networks and 3G mobile services

Thomson, a worldwide leader of services to content creators, has brought its experience to bear on the growing market for video communications and announces the launch of the new Cirpack 3G Video Calls Gateway. With the new product, it is now simple for operators to set up multimedia services – including calls, video blogging and even live television access – and allow 3G mobile and fixed IP devices to share video.

The Cirpack 3G Video Calls Gateway connects mobile networks and IP/IMS based networks by integrating the 3G video protocol (H.324m) with the SIP voice over IP protocol. It also provides the bi-directional transcoding to serve the codecs each device requires. As well as point to point calls, the Gateway also offers access to server-based functionality such as push video, video blogging and video mail. With the appropriate equipment, a subscriber could establish video surveillance at home or place of business and view it on a mobile phone.

One of the barriers to 3G mobile video has traditionally been the considerable connection delay when placing calls, due to the need to exchange a number of messages to establish parameters. The Cirpack 3G Video Calls Gateway solves this by implementing the Windowed Numbered Simple Retransmission Protocol, which bundles all signalling into a single batch and dramatically improving call set-up time.

The Cirpack 3G Video Calls Gateway is part of the pre-integrated Thomson VoIP solution and fully interoperable with Cirpack softswitches and media gateways. It runs on standard, off-the-shelf IT platforms with full redundancy for high availability while retaining the best price/performance ratio. It is simply scalable to very large numbers of simultaneous video calls by adding software licenses rather than costly hardware.

For more information, visit www.thomson.net.

TANDBERG Employees Use Video Conferencing to Work from Home in Observance of Virginia’s “Statewide Telework Day”

Almost two metric tons of carbon emissions saved and 100 hours of increased productivity realized in just one day

Today, about half (75) of TANDBERG’s Virginia-based employees observed Virginia’s “Statewide Telework Day” by working from home, eliminating almost two metric tons of carbon emissions and saving almost 100 hours of productivity by not sitting in traffic.

In his proclamation of Statewide Telework Day, Virginia Governor Tim Kaine called upon state agencies and employers to explore ways to lessen environmental impact, such as reducing travel associated with in-person meetings through the use of video conferences and teleworking.

TANDBERG fully embraces its own video conferencing and telepresence technology to support its telework program by providing employees with video conferencing systems in the office, their homes and on their laptops. That way, no matter whether they need to work from the road or home, they can always meet face-to-face with colleagues, customers, and partners.

Visual communications is paying off for TANDBERG, where in the last year its global employees have on average made 75,000 video calls each month. Replacing unnecessary business travel with “in-person” video calls has effectively saved the company over 21,000 metric tons of carbon emissions, over $45 million, and about 38,250 productivity hours in the last year. Additionally, TANDBERG employees telework one day a week on average, effectively reducing the company’s overall environmental impact from commuting by 20%. The company also has conducted an internal audit of its carbon footprint to identify and address additional operational areas for improvement.

For more information about how video conferencing and telepresence can help enhance telework programs, please visit http://www.tandberg.com/. To view this press release, click here.