Hola!

Hola!
Sorry for no posts the last week. I was on holiday and certainly did not have video conferencing on my mind. More posts soon.

Adios, Jeff

Content ports

Just a quick note as I got an email asking to clarify Codian content & streaming ports.

Codian 4200 series: The 4200 only has video and audio ports. No content/streaming ports. If you turn on H.239 in a conference, it uses up a video port. If you turn on streaming in a conference, it uses up a video port.

Codian 4500 series: The 4500 has video, audio, and content ports. If you turn on H.239 in a conference, it uses a content port. If you turn on streaming in a conference, it uses up a content port. See the screenshot above from a Codian 4505. You will see it states that a 4505 has 12 content/streaming ports and two are being used. (one for content, one for streaming). Again, it really shows that its not truly a port is a port box and with other mcus on the market, you don't have to have extra ports to do H.239.

What has been very confusing is that Codian documentation has also mentioned video ports being used on the 4500. Luckily our previous post and some emails back and forth with Codian got they have found the mistake and have corrected their own documentation.

Sorry... this blog is Hidden...

Just a quick legal disclaimer to TAA and other competitors... this is supposed to be hidden from you... its not really meant for you. ;-)

I got some emails from one such competitor today and I guess they don't like people poking holes at their products...i guess its not "fair". But...oddly enough I guess its ok if you put out competitive information on your competitor but you make it "hidden". Not sure I get that...if you're going to have a beef, why do it behind someones back?

A nice example... notice the "hidden" in the url... I guess that makes it ok for them to do it:

http://www.codian.com/hidden/Video/4500vsRMX-54.wmv

Static Macroblocks

You certainly dont hear customers bring up the term static macroblocks when you go visit them.

But...you certainly hear about its effects when you visit customers. If that customer is testing TAA & PLCM together, we constantly get comments about the video quality. Typically we'll hear TAA to TAA looks good, PLCM to PLCM looks great, but TAA to PLCM looks terrible.

So, why is that? Well, currently TAA "HD" systems can't do full out HD. They don't have the hardware. It takes 108,000 macroblocks per second to do 30 fps 720HD. All of the current TAA systems are incapable of this amount of processing and therefore only do roughly 30+K. So, at HD resolutions, it means they can only update 30% of the screen at any given second. So, either they need to do less resolution or less frames per seconds. Or... use a controversial feature called static macroblocks. You could roughly say that they freeze parts of the screen that have no movement and thus dont send updates for them. Clever... but unfortunately to work the other endpoint has to support it. You can read here:

http://www.polycom.com/common/documents/whitepapers/hd_video_conferencing_three_leading_contenders_face_off.pdf
http://www.codian.com/support/viewfaqentry.php?id=117&topic=&product=MCU%204200

Unfortunatley TAA doesnt point this out and why would they? it would highlight that their endpoint lineup is completely underpowered.

So, why don't other endpoint companies do it? Well... first off, static macroblocks looks terrible unless everyone is motionless. Sure...that happens in some applications, but not many. And second, if your endpoint has enough horsepower to do real HD 720p at 30fps, why hurt your cusotmers by giving them poor video quality?

I think a common misconception TAA sales people leave cusotmers with is that PLCM is not standards compliant because we don't support Static Macroblocks. Its just not needed. And... its such a short term problem...as its fully expected that TAA will yet again replace their lineup of video endpoints and they'll finally have enough horsepower.

Funny email...

This post has absolutely nothing to do with VTC... but it is pretty funny...

I'm a long time Amazon.com customer...and if you are too, you know that they have an advanced engine for making recommendations for purchases based on your past purchases. The email (attached) goes like this:

"We've noticed that customers who have expressed interest in Configuring Cisco Voice over Ip by Elliot Lewis have also ordered Gerontology Nursing Handbook by Patricia A. Tabloski. For this reason, you might like to know that Patricia A. Tabloski's Gerontology Nursing Handbook is now available. "

Not sure how you can go from Voip to care for the elderly...but there you go... LOL!

Standards based? WTF???

So, the latest trend I'm seeing out in the field is customers, who had visited with a TAA sales team prior, are starting off the conversation with us wanting to know why we're not standards based???

Ok, cmon TAA, this is just ridiculous. Again, its just time wasted having to educate the customer and correct the FUD your throwing at them... we could be spending the time better by working through and helping the customer.

So, lets start to doucment all the funny stories I hear customers tell me in reference to standards compatability.

So first off... everyone... all products are based on standards. There are standards like MPEG1, 802.11, ITU G.722.1c, etc, etc

And there are standards based implementations.... for instance a standards based implemented video endpoint runs H.323, H.264, and G.722.1c.

So... just picking a standard like MPEG1 and putting it into your VTC system doesn't make it standards compliant...in fact, even though MPEG1 is a standard, it is not standardly implemented in VTC systems and can actually create problems if you put it in there.

Which leads me to fallacy #1 that I've heard lately from a customer that talked to TAA.

H.264 RCDO is not a VTC standard. If it was, you'd see PLCM, Sony, Lifesize, etc, etc implement it.

Codian Ports

Ok, I got contacted by someone at Codian today asking me to stop spreading the news about Content port usage in their boxes. Of course...if I'm incorrect, I'm happy to be corrected and will retract any incorrect information I'm posting up here. If you've been reading my blog..I am pretty disappointed about the continuous FUD that our competitors spread out there... so I certainly do not want to be a hippocrate.

But.. if they want me to retract the things I've pointed out, they should really prove the information is false. Here's the exact screenprint from the online help of the Codian 4500. Here it is black n' white. (click on the picture to see it fullsize so you can read it)

Correction

Sorry, I have a correction to some information I gave below. In going through how content/streaming is utilized on a Codian 4500... I used a model that Codian never did release, the 4503... a 6 port hd mcu. (the 4503 is mentioned in the manuals for the 4500)

The smallest system is a either a 10 or 12port which is the 4505. (I can't figure out which one it is because their data sheets conflict with the 4500 documentation)

So, the argument still holds true, even for the 12port. You can still get yourself into situations, where you can use up all the contents ports and still have audio or video ports available.

Value of VC relative to Economic Factors

One of the areas that really perplexes me is the relative value of video conferencing to economic factors. What do I mean? Well, if you look at say the price of PLCM and compare it to the DJI or Nasdaq, over the last size months, there is no correlation. Ok, why do I think there should be one?

Well, whats the basic premise of VTC? Its to allow people to solve business problems face to face no matter their geography? What are the classic reasons people by VTC? Either they do it to accelerate growth in their company or save on expenses. If the economy is good and business are trying to grow, they should want to buy VTC to accelerate their business. If the economy is bad like it currently looks like right now, people should buy VTC to decrease T&E.

So, why doesn't Wall Street see that correlation and relfect it in the stock price of VTC companies?

There are many socio-economic factors at play that could and should effect valuations of vtc companies.

• Rising Oil prices which increases travel costs
• Weak US dollar makes travel for US based employees travelling abroad cost higher
• Increasing unemployment means that workers that are still there need to be more efficient
• Increasing health care costs could be curbed with more use of telemedicine
  

Wall Street...please listen up... all of the VTC companies out there are making the companies you invest in more efficient. We help to lower T&E. We increase worker productivity. We decrease time to market for new products.

HP Halo

My sources tell me that HP is quitely shopping around the sale of its HALO video conferencing unit. Supposedly its for both the product and the service. I guess the pressure Polycom and Cisco has been putting on them, probably coupled with the recession, is making them think that its time to get out of the market.

I wonder what the value is of the HALO product? Its mostly off the shelf parts. HP is #2 in telepresence behind #1 Polycom. Its mostly just the customer list. Should be interesting to see how many customers start looking for a replacement when they hear that HP is getting out of the biz.

Dear Tandberg/Codian

I'm writing to all of you TAA/Codian sales people and engineers and I want to get something off my chest.

Both me and our collective customers are sick of hearing you walk into to opportunities and bad mouth Polycom and its products. Don't you have enough good things to say about your product that you have that you don't have to fill in the rest of the time scheduled by slinging dirt? Don't you feel comfortable enough with your products that they can stand on their own...that you don't have to compare them to ours? It really feels like you have an inferiority complex? We always finding you talkin about our products. I guess that says something.

Honestly, I can take the trash talk. You remind me of another competitor I had in my past. Back in the '90s I worked for Cisco Systems. In the beginning of the ethernet switch wars, we had one favorite competitor, Cabletron. You guys remind me so much of them... as they employed the same techniques. Incessant mud slinging, fear, uncertainty, doubt, and sometimes, outright lies. We always knew Cabletron was there before us, as it was always the same stories. And as soon as they'd start asking questions, we were always prepared to set the truth. Interesting thing is that marketing campaign didn't work well. There isn't a Cabletron any more.

So, I ask a favor....

Please spend the time talking to the customer about their business problems. Please work with them to figure out their requirements. If you guys have the right gear that fits their business problem than we do, you'll earn the business. You'll also free me up to spend more of my meeting time with those customers working through business problems and solutions. Right now... I have to waste time in meetings rebutting silly product feature issues you throw at them. If I'm at a Healthcare company that does critical care... do you think they care what DSP you use in your MCU? or do they care if we can fit into their solution that makes their job of saving lives easier? I think the answer is obvious.

Thanks,
Jeff

Helping customers

Mid-last week, I was out on the east coast visiting a long time enterprise customer of ours. They own our video endpoints, but use an outsourced service for bridging. As they switch to IP, and to HD, they've realized the best thing they can do is insource bridging (as long as it does not increase their spend).

So, what I find interesting is that whenever our competitors show up, they spend so much time talking trash about Polycom that they don't sit there and ask questions of the customer and sit and LISTEN! When I go into to see a cusotmer, its all about them. No matter what the story is to tell...if I can get them to talk, we're so much the better in the account. Hey... Codian... if you were just listening you would have found out that this customer spends $440K a year on just audio-addons to video conferences. if you had listened, you could have spent time talking to them about insourcing their audio conferencing. You would have saved the customer money. You would have made them look like heroes. And you would have earned their busy.