TelepresenceA BRIEF HISTORY OF By Howard S. Lichtman The Human Productivity Lab

Until last year I frequently referred to telepresence as the “best kept secret in .” While 2006 saw telepresence gain international prominence with the launch of HP Halo, the Polycom RPX, and Cisco TelePresence, the stretches back to 1993. Telepresence has been “in production” for a number of Fortune 500 clients since at least 1999. Early adopters of the technology such as 3Com, Cigna, AOL, and Lazard have been enjoying a level of usage and end user satisfaction far above what could be achieved with traditional videoconferencing for a number of years. What follows is a timeline, albeit brief and partial, of the major mileposts of the industry. I welcome your additions to this timeline—please email me at [email protected] with your suggestions.

1914 1956 1964 1969

Tom Swift and His Photo AT&T Builds the 1st AT&T unveils its The AT&T Mod II by Victor Appleton Picturephone Test System Picturephone at the New Picturephone Set is is published in the United York World’s Fair in Flushing, introduced. States. New York.

1993 11994994 1995

FallFall 19931993 - TeleSuiteTeleSuite isis foundedfounded TThehe AnthroAnthropomorphicpomorphic Head (ARH II) is develodeveloped.ped. JuneJune 1995 - DigitalDigital by hotel developers David DesiDiDesignedgneddb by thetheh TransparentT ransparent TelepresenceTl ResearchR hG Group, EnterprisesEnterprises (DVE) is foundedf dd Allen and Herold WilliWilliams.ams. TThehe ARH II’s ggoaloal was to simulate the human head, in terms of asas Videotronic SystemsSystems and bbothoth anatomanatomyy and size (in other words, it was patentspatents the TransTransparentparent aanthropomorphicnthropomorphic and anthroanthropometric).pometric). As a TelepresenceTelepresence Podium DisplayDisplay rresult,esult, it was particularlyparticularly suited to teleptelepresenceresence applications,applications, where the user was immimmersedersed in a rremoteemote llocationocation to such aann extent that a feelinfeelingg of remote presence was ffelt.elt. ThThee ARH II wwasas tettetheredhered to a virtualvirtual reality helmet or head mounted displaydisplay (HMD), from which the user received visual from the ARH II's twin . 1997 1999

Spring 1997 – TeleSuite installs Tele-Dining July 1999 – Semetech deploys the November 1999 -- Mycroft (Teliris) deploys System in six Hilton Hotel locations: The 1st TeleSuite group telepresence 1st production GlobalTable Telepresence Waldorf-Astoria in New York City, The Capital solution between Austin, Texas, Solution at Lazard with full Multipoint Hilton in Washington, DC, Merv Griffin’s and the San Jose Hilton in San Jose, capabilities. Beverly Hills Hilton, the San Francisco Hilton, California, to support an industry the Atlanta Hilton & Towers, and the Palmer initiative connecting Semetech House Hilton in Chicago. with consortium members in Silicon Valley, California.

Late 1999 – The 1st telepresence distance education Late 1999 – Teleportec is Late 1999 – Digital Video classroom is deployed and taught by The Eller founded by Duffie White in Enterprises signs the 1st license College of Management at the University of Arizona Manchester, UK. agreement with Exovision for the in Tucson using a Distance Learning TeleSuite in “Eye Catcher” and builds the 1st Tucson and a TeleSuite rented from 3Com in Santa true high-definition telepresence Clara, California. solution for a major investment banking firm.

2000

January 2000 – VIRTUE, the VIRtual Team User Environment April 2000 – TeleSuite installs two group telepresence systems for initiative is launched to “develop the innovative technology 3Com, their 1st enterprise telepresence customer, between necessary to produce a convincing impression of presence in a Hemel Hempstead in the UK and Santa Clara, California semi-immersive teleconferencing system.” The initiative is a consortium effort between British Telecom (BT), Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research, Sony Broadcast & Professional Europe, Technische Universiteit Delft, Heriot-Watt University, and the Heinrich-Hertz-Institute Fuer Nachrichtentechnik Berlin E.V. &Co. KG . 2001 2002

Early 2001 -- Telanetix is January 2001 -- Teliris is October 2001 - Teliris Teliris launches first founded in San Diego, founded with Marc deploys the 2nd telepresence End-to-end Service Provider California, by Rob Arnold, Trachtenberg as CEO GlobalTable production Model / VNOC (London Bob Alford, and Thomas A. solution for Pearson LLC based) with 99%+ SLA Szabo. connecting New York and guarantee London.

2003

February 2003 - Bob May 19th-21st 2003 - Teleportec and TANDBERG help CLSA, a major finance house based in Hong Metcalfe, the founder of Kong, to host what is, at the time, the world's biggest-ever Protocol (IP) videoconference, 3Com, predicts that video connecting over 200 business people from Europe, the US and Asia over a three-day period. The traffic on the Internet will virtual forum was organized to replace the CLSA annual investors conference planned for Hong eclipse both voice and data Kong, which was cancelled because of travel traffic in by 2010 – 2013. restrictions in Asia due to the respiratory infection SARS.

2004

Summer 2003 – The DreamWorks October 28th 2003 – TeleSuite launches the January 2004 Virtual Studio Conferencing Solution 1st network of publicly available Dr. Ann Earon publishes: Interactive goes into production. telepresence meeting centers connecting Telepresence: A Review TeleSuite Systems at The Waldorf-Astoria in New York, The Savoy Hotel in London, and Teliris introduces InfiNET, the 1st the Ritz-Carlton in Phoenix, Arizona. purpose-built MPLS telepresence network

September 2004 The first mention of Cisco’s Telepresence Business Unit hits the Internet.

2005

April 2005 – Telanetix ships June 2005 – Wired Magazine publishes The July 2005 – Wired Magazine officially declares first Digital Presence System. DreamWorks Machine on DreamWorks telepresence to be “Wired.” Virtual Studio Conferencing Initiative. September 2005 – Human November 2005 – MedPresence December 12th, 2005 – HP and DreamWorks announce Halo Productivity Lab (HPL) & is founded by David Allen with the installation of 13 Halo Suites installed at AMD & Wainhouse Research Whitepaper: and Brian Kinne. PepsiCo. The partnership productizes one of the three Emerging for telepresence solutions developed by DreamWorks for their Teleconferencing and Telepresence Virtual Studio initiative. The initial cost is is released. $550,000 per Halo Studio and $18,000 per month, per studio domestically and up to $41,000 per month in network challenged developing countries such as India. October 2005 -- Teliris deploys first GlobalTable in India.

2006

January 23rd 2006 – Public March 20th 2006 – Cisco CEO May 16th 2006 – Digital Video Enterprise releases its first unveiling of MedPresence John Chambers publicly bundled solution: The 40” Executive Telepresence System that Conference Room at Barrow acknowledges telepresence comes integrated with LifeSize Communication’s High Neurological Institute in initiative in Newsweek. Definition and Codec. Phoenix, Arizona

May 22nd 2006 – Polycom enters the August 2006 – Human October 2006 - Teliris launches October 23rd, 2006 – Cisco telepresence field with theProductivity Lab publishes 4th generation family of announces AT&T and Verizon announcement of RPX, a suite of Telepresence, Effective Visual telepresence offerings, Business as the first Cisco TM telepresence solutions and service Collaboration, and the Future VirtuaLive (replacing certified network providers. offerings made available through an of Global Business at the GlobalTable) and deploys first AT&T will offer Cisco’s OEM partnership with Destiny Speed of Light. telepresence site (VirtuaLive™) enterprise customers their Conferencing.g in Bejing, China. global IP-Multi Protocal Label Switching (MPLS) network which prioritizes video packets for uninterrupted delivery, as well as integration capabilities for design, deployment and service management.

October 23rd, 2006 – launches Cisco TelePresence--the result of over two Fall 2006 – Verizon announces that their years of research and development--with an advertising campaign that includes full MPLS private IP network is available in page promotions in the Wall Street Journal, primetime advertising during the 115 countries, and that they are trialing World Series, and even product placed guest appearance on the FOX network’s hit crime Cisco TelePresence over their drama Vanished! Cisco announces the single screen CTS-1000 executive systems at a offerings cost of $79,000, with the three-screen CTS 3000 group system priced at $299,000. 2007

November 2006 – Teliris December 13th, 2006 – Verizon January 3rd, 2007 – HP Halo Collaboration Solutions and VirtuaLiveTM Business announces that they will TANDBERG, a global leader in , announce an alliance to make their respective telepresence solution in the world by The enterprise customers coupled with and video conferencing portfolios interoperable. HP and Carbon Neutral Company to Verizon Business' intelligent Private TANDBERG will pursue a development program that will reduce their clients’ carbon IP network and ethernet services. allow TANDBERG’s industry-leading standards-based video footprints conferencing systems to operate on the HP Halo Video Exchange Network (HVEN), which powers the Halo experience and enables full interoperability between HP Halo and traditional standard-based video conferencing.

January 8th, 2007 -- Polycom acquires January 2007 -- Telepresence World June 4 - 6, 2007 -- Telepresence World Destiny Conferencing Corporation, a Magazine 2007, a landmark summit on the privately held telepresence solutions that deals exclusively with telepresence emerging technologies of telepresence, company headquartered in Dayton, technology and its applications, debuts Ohio, for $47.6 million. David Allen, online at: takes place at the University of San president and CEO of Destiny http://telepresenceworld.idigitaledition.com Diego, CA. Conferencing comments that "Through this acquisition, Polycom not only gains January 2007 -- TANDBERG releases core intellectual property, but inherits their telepresence solution Experia. key telepresence customer relationships Experia is designed to adapt to with organizations such as Capital One, multiple environments and AOL, and Deloitte & Touche. interoperate with other standards-based video systems, thus expanding telepresence to a wider market.

Author of enjoyed by the early adopters is being shared widely and the Future of Global Business at the Speed of Light (2006) on that telepresence is quickly becoming the industry the emerging telepresence industry, Mr. Lichtman was standard when it comes to virtual collaboration. The also a contributing author to Emerging Technologies for traditional videoconferencing providers and carriers have Teleconferencing and Telepresence (2005). Mr. Lichtman is a frequent commentator on telepresence, investment, media attention, and interest among the rest of the Global Fortune 5000. With 2007 only a week old we his writings on and analysis of the industry have been already have one major industry announcement with at featured by Reuters, Pro AV Magazine, Killer App Magazine, least one more biggie set to drop in the upcoming week. and CFO Magazine among others. 2007 is already shaping up to be one hell of a year!

Resources: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent, nor should they be attributed to Telepresence World or any of its sta . 1. A History of Videoconferencing Technology http://myhome.hanafos.com/~soonjp/vchx.html

Howard S. Lichtman is the founder of the Human Productivity Lab and Pow-Wow Networks. He is a technologist and consultant with specialties in Telepresence and Visual Collaboration, Organizational & Personal Productivity and Sales Model Optimization.