Had a session on Friday afternoon with Cisco, using their Telepresence system at Tower 42 in the City. It’s an amazing experience in that, after a few minutes, you don’t really notice that you are using the technology.
It’s the second time that I’ve used the system, and the first time got a bit more of a low-down as to the way in which it works. The environment, whilst at first familiar, is incredibly tightly designed, all the way down to the colours of the walls, and the positions of the furniture. If anything goes out of place, then the illusion starts be to shattered.
At the end of the afternoon, after a quick beer in the bar opposite, conversation turned to whether these kind of technologies will be able to ever offer something of the “watercooler” moment. Something maybe along the lines of the recent Telectroscope art installation in London and NY
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Ah yes, I saw this at tower 42 a few years back. Also the HP version at HP in Stuttgart. The HP one is a complete end to end service. HP operate a global private network for this service.