Spotlight

Virtual meetings

Vinita Gupta profiles Tandberg, a market leader in videoconferencing that develops, sells, supports and offers value-added services to clients worldwide

The means of communication have changed dramatically over the last decade. Video conferencing that includes video, voice and data, is the latest phenomenon. Five years ago, the concept of video conferencing in India was a limited one as the price of bandwidth was prohibitive. With bandwidth prices plummeting, companies are looking at video communications for faster interaction and reduced travel expenditure.

Frost and Sullivan India has reported that the videoconferencing market has seen phenomenal year-on-year growth. They believe that this market will be one of the most exciting growth engines in Asia Pacific over the next five to six years, along with China.

Today, there are many players providing communication products and services, and Tandberg is one of them. The company designs, develops and markets systems and software for video, voice and data. It sells, supports and offers value-added services in more than 90 countries worldwide.

Trends in video conferencing

Videoconferencing and other rich media applications speed up the communication process and enable enterprises to make better decisions in less time. Dinesh Sehgal, Regional Director of Tandberg India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka felt that growth in the e-governance, manufacturing, telemedicine, distance learning and finance verticals is contributing to the spread of video as part of unified communication (UC) solutions. Conferencing equipment and services have become less expensive and offer high quality video and sound as compared to a few years ago. He added, “Along with the growth of the Indian videoconferencing market, 3G videoconferencing (mobile) and software-based solutions are in demand.”

Videoconferencing is proving to be an extremely powerful business tool, transforming day-to-day business operations by helping raise individual efficiency, optimize resources, and maximize productivity. Both corporate and government bodies have realized the utility of this technology today and there have been large deployments. The launch of high definition videoconferencing solutions is one of the major developments as of today.

The drive in videoconferencing industry helped Tandberg achieve revenues of $419.7 million on top line growth of 21.6 percent, and generated a cash flow of $122.7 million in 2006.

Customers in place

Recently Tandberg connected the headquarters, 15 regional offices and 10 substations of Power Grid Corporation of India Limited (PGCIL), through its videoconferencing solution comprising of Tandberg 800, 880MXP, 1000MXP and 6000 MXP.

Sehgal pointed out that the video conferencing solution would help PGCIL employees working at the headquarters communicate with their colleagues in remote regional offices and substations, to accelerate the decision-making process and save significantly on both time and money.

He added, “For companies to go green they need solutions that positively impact the environment without raising costs or sacrificing productivity. For Tandberg and our customers, this means using videoconferencing solutions to reduce unnecessary travel and provide effective telecommuting options. Staying off the roads and out of the skies you end up adding less carbon-dioxide to the atmosphere.”

Tandberg’s clients are from varied business verticals namely finance, manufacturing, retail and the public sector. A few of its prestigious clients are: Georgia Institute of Technology, HSBC, Northern Ireland Prison Services, Mittal Steel of South Africa, United States Department of Defense-Defense Intelligence Agency, New York University Medical Center’s Department of Pediatrics, IKEA and the Tardis Group.

Through the Tandberg authorized partner network the company provides its Constant Care program, which is a comprehensive portfolio of services that fulfill customers’ support needs from decision through deployment. Constant Care makes the process worry-free, whether the customers are installing their first Tandberg video system or expanding their video network.

Future roadmap

Tandberg’s mission is to change the way people communicate and hence they are focusing on natural communication. This is the ability to interact with someone—a co-worker, customer, or supplier as if you are in the same room.

Sehgal said, “We empower people to be more productive and we are doing this by creating solutions that delivers true communication and help in return on investment.”

The company recently completed the acquisition of Codian, a developer of high-definition videoconferencing infrastructure products. As a part of Tandberg’s total solution, Codian’s infrastructure products, including Multipoint Control Units (MCUs), gateways, videoconferencing content servers, and management software, will provide customers with a platform for large-scale deployments of high-definition videoconferencing systems. Tandberg will continue to develop and support the Codian and Tandberg product lines. These include both the Tandberg MPS line of MCUs and the Codian MCU platform.

Sehgal believed that Tandberg’s strategic direction, based on innovative technology and a dynamic team, will continue to help them expand their market globally.

vinita.gupta@expressindia.com