Videoconferencing in Action: From Skype to 3D Holograms

Videoconferencing and telepresence have come a long way in the last few years. Skype brought most consumers to video conferencing with its free, easy-to-use video chat service. In the enterprise, employees communicate with far-flung colleagues using robust products from the likes of Cisco and Microsoft. Videoconferencing is now common on tablets and smartphones with Apple Facetime and other mobile video call apps. But that’s just the beginning: Videoconferencing has also extended to boardroom style video calls connecting large groups, remote doctor-patient care, virtual field trips for students and even 3D holograms.

The use of holograms also reached a pop culture zenith at the Coachella Music Festival in California last April when a holographic image of the late rapper Tupac Shakur made an appearance on stage with fellow rapper Snoop Dogg.

If your company can afford it, a Cisco TelePresence room provides HD 1080p video, spatial audio, and a setup designed to link two physically separated rooms so they resemble a single conference room. This could replicate a huge executive boardroom or, much more fun, a dance recital. Pictured here is Jacques d’Amboise, founder of the National Dance Institute, and his dancers in Cisco’s New York office. Dancers from Shanghai Children’s Palace on the screen are across the world in the Cisco Pavilion at World Expo 2010 in Shanghai. The two groups used Cisco TelePresence to hold a virtual dance rehearsal before they met face-to-face.