HP has announced the general availability of visual collaboration products for the desktop and conference rooms that allow people to enjoy high-definition (HD) video experiences anytime, anywhere.

The new software-based HP Visual Collaboration offerings reduce the need for costly travel, decrease the amount of harmful carbon emissions released into the atmosphere and help customers meet their green business goals.

The solutions expand upon HP Halo high-end studios and give customers the flexibility to run videoconferencing on their own networks or over a managed network.

"Customers need to collaborate inside and outside their companies -- whether they are travelling, working at home or at the office," said Rob Scott, general manager and vice president, Visual Collaboration, HP. "HP's full range of high-quality, HD videoconferencing solutions, especially at the desktop, make that possible."

HP Visual Collaboration products provide reliable, HD-quality video while reducing network requirements and bandwidth needs over enterprise or best effort networks. This is enabled by HP's agreement, announced in June, to use software-based scalable video coding technology from Vidyo Inc. Scalable video coding is an adaptive technology that optimizes the user's video experience, reduces latency and also eliminates the need for a costly multipoint control unit.

"HP's unrivaled position in the desktop market makes it well suited to provide information workers with visual communication tools," said Ira Weinstein, partner at Wainhouse Research, a leading analyst firm focused on the rapidly growing Unified Communications and rich media conferencing fields. "With its new, high-performance videoconferencing solution for notebooks, desktops and conference rooms, HP is making it easy and convenient for users to maintain 'face to face' connections with customers, partners, peers, and even family and friends -- while in the office or on the go."

The new desktop and conference room solutions include:

Ideal for dispersed teams, the HP Visual Collaboration Desktop software client can be deployed easily by all users on their own PCs and notebooks. The HP Visual Collaboration Executive Desktop is a bundled, touchscreen solution that features an HP TouchSmart 600 Quad loaded with HP Visual Collaboration software. It also includes camera and headset accessories. Designed for team collaboration, the HP Visual Collaboration Room 100 and Room 220 integrate high-quality video into multipurpose conference rooms, offering low total cost of ownership.

In addition, HP plans to offer technology to connect its immersive studios to desktop and conference room solutions next year.

HP Visual Collaboration desktops will be in use at the 2010 UN Climate Change Conference (COP16) in Cancun next month. HP has been named the technology provider for this global environmental event.

Reduce total cost of ownership with software-based infrastructure

By operating on software-based x86 server infrastructures, HP Visual Collaboration solutions can significantly reduce infrastructure costs while allowing video to run more efficiently. This infrastructure can be on-premise, hosted or offered in the cloud by service providers.

At the core of the solution is the HP Visual Collaboration Portal. This comes preconfigured on HP ProLiant DL360 servers and allows IT administrators to handle remote configurations, authentication and licensing of system components. The HP Visual Collaboration Router provides distributed media routing and is built on HP industry-standard server appliances. By connecting to both H.323 and SIP protocols, the HP Visual Collaboration Gateway provides an easy migration path for companies wanting to continue to use legacy videoconferencing solutions.

HP's current Halo solutions that run on a dedicated network will continue to be offered as an option for customers who seek a fully managed, high-touch solution.

In a 36-month period, the current solutions have saved more than 174,956 tonnes of CO2e.(1) This is the equivalent to removing 33,453 vehicles from the road for an entire year, or eliminating more than 143,818 round-trip flights from New York to London.

Availability

HP Visual Collaboration products are available now.