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September 24, 2001 at 5:00 am #16062BigBlueBall NewsMember
Associated Press
September 24, 2001
Technology gains appeal amid travel restrictions
Maria Yap won¡ät be flying once a week anymore to meet with software developers in Seattle. Jack Reding, who usually flies 150,000 miles a year, also plans to cut back. Instead, the formerly frequent fliers will rely more than ever on videoconferencing.
“I¡äLL LOSE A LOT OF personal interaction, but now I have to weigh whether it¡äll be worth the extra hours or getting trapped away from home,” said Yap, a product manager for Adobe Systems Inc. in San Jose.
Jittery about travel after the recent terror ¡ª or simply unwilling to undergo the hassle of heightened airport security, many people are turning to a technology that is just now becoming reasonable in quality and price.
The high price tags and jerky pictures of yesteryears are gone, while bandwidth has become more plentiful and reliable. Now, companies turned off by the $30,000 bulky videoconferencing systems of a decade ago can outfit a broadband-connected conference room for $5,000.
“Videoconferencing gets a better chance now than ever before,” said Roopam Jain, an analyst with Frost & Sullivan, a San Antonio, Texas-based marketing research and consulting firm.
Companies that provide videoconferencing services saw their business spike after the terror attacks. Setups at hotels were used to contact loved ones or stranded travelers. Companies turned to videoconferencing to conduct meetings when restrictions on air travel disrupted previous plans.
A similar spike occurred after the Gulf War, recalled John Fields, chief operating officer at V-SPAN Inc., a King of Prussia, Pa.-based provider of conferencing services.
This time, with companies like Schlumberger Ltd., Coca-Cola and Home Depot placing restrictions on employee flying out of safety concerns, analysts expect the boost in virtual meetings to last.
Jain projects revenues for the U.S. videoconferencing market will grow from $1.99 billion in 2000 to $7.8 billion in 2006.
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