New InformationWeek Research Finds More Than One-Third of Enterprises Have Deployed Desktop Videoconferencing Products

SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 18, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- InformationWeek Reports, a service for peer-based IT research and analysis, announced the release of its latest research report; Desktop Videoconferencing: Ready for Its Close-Up encompasses analysis results from InformationWeek's Desktop Videoconferencing Survey and guides readers in developing desktop videoconferencing strategies to improve collaboration among employees and business partners and cut travel costs. Four hundred sixty-three business technology professionals responded to this poll. The report also includes results of a poll on IT's perception of Microsoft's Skype acquisition, as well as pricing on desktop videoconferencing deployments and baseline requirements for Web cameras. The report author, Phil Hippensteel, is an industry consultant and trainer who teaches information systems at Penn State University. He has written extensively on technology for InformationWeek and Network Computing.

Research Summary:

Desktop videoconferencing will play a significant role in business collaboration and unified communications. Skype demonstrated that video could be done over the Web for the consumer market; now a new codec and compression technology, H.264 SVC (Scalable Video Coding), makes high-definition videoconferencing over the Web feasible for business use. Thirty-four percent of poll respondents already have deployed desktop videoconferencing, and another 10% intend to follow suit within a year.

Findings:  

• The primary driver behind desktop videoconferencing deployments: improving collaboration among employees, cited by 38% of our survey respondents; 31% said reducing travel costs.
• Conference room videoconferencing, in use or planned for deployment in 78% of respondents' companies, still far outpaces desktop videoconferencing, despite desktop videoconferencing's advantages, including the need for no more than a computer, Web camera and headset.
• The vast majority—96%—of respondents run or plan to run desktop videoconferencing on Windows PCs, 39% on iPads and 34% on Macs.
• Nearly half (48%) of respondents say their IT organizations don't allow the use of Skype; 33% allow it, and another 15% say Skype is used without IT's consent.

For full access to the research data download now at: http://reports.informationweek.com/abstract/9/7774/IP-Telephony-Unified-Communications/research-desktop-videoconferencing-ready-for-its-close-up.html

"With new technologies like SVC making Internet-based videoconferencing more stable, you can get employees and business partners collaborating 'face to face' from pretty much anywhere," says Lorna Garey, content director of InformationWeek Reports. "And you can get excellent quality at relatively low cost."

For more information:
Art Wittmann
VP & Managing Director, InformationWeek Reports
415-947-6361
awittmann@techweb.com

About InformationWeek Business Technology Network (http://www.informationweek.com)

The InformationWeek Business Technology Network provides IT executives with unique analysis and tools that parallel their work flow—from defining and framing objectives through to the evaluation and recommendation of solutions. Anchored by InformationWeek, the multimedia powerhouse that looks across the enterprise, the network scales across the most critical technology categories with online properties like DarkReading.com (security), NetworkComputing.com (networking and communications) and BYTE (consumer technology). The network also provides focused content for key IT targets, such as CIOs, developers, and SMBs via InformationWeek Global CIO, Dr. Dobb's and InformationWeek SMB, as well as vital vertical industries with InformationWeek Financial Services, Government and Healthcare sites. Content is at the nucleus of our information distribution strategy—IT professionals turn to our experts and communities to stay informed, get advice and research technologies to make strategic business decisions.

About UBM TechWeb (http://www.ubmtechweb.com)

UBM TechWeb, the global leader in technology media and professional information, enables people and organizations to harness the transformative power of technology. Through its three core businesses – media solutions, marketing services and paid content – UBM TechWeb produces the most respected and consumed brands and media applications in the technology market. More than 14.5 million business and technology professionals (CIOs and IT managers, Web & Digital professionals, Software Developers, Government decision makers, and Telecom providers) actively engage in UBM TechWeb's communities and information resources monthly. UBM TechWeb brands include: global face-to-face events such as Interop, Web 2.0, Black Hat and Enterprise Connect; award-winning online resources such as InformationWeek, Light Reading, and Network Computing; and market-leading magazines InformationWeek, Wall Street & Technology, and Advanced Trading. UBM TechWeb is a UBM plc company, a global provider of news distribution and specialist information services with a market capitalization of more than $2.5 billion.

SOURCE UBM TechWeb