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Skype Video Conferencing: IP Multimedia Report

By Carl Ford, Partner, Crossfire Media

I was thinking about the use of Skype (News - Alert) for video conferencing.

It came to mind while talking with the CIOs of the SIMFA community last week. The problem is that no one is a good first mover on deploying telepresence. If the CIO or the CEO don't push the vision, the cost allocation to do the service is prohibitive.

However, the younger workers are running Skype on their desks which is not suppose to be case per many corporate policies.  

If Skype's video conferencing were integrated into telepresence systems, the market place would be a very different experience.

Now the low cost of Skype combined with the telepresence systems could bring the critical mass together for these resources.

Video is getting cheaper to do as we see with the use of embedded cameras on laptops, the Samsung (News - Alert)/Radvision deal, the Magor systems. All indicate we are on the cusp of video calls.

And if SkypeKit delivers on an API that allows integration, I think we could see a very bright future.

I am always on favor of more IP multimedia tools and if APIs enable middleware I think the platform markets are the place where Metcalfe's Law becomes reality.

Carl Ford (News - Alert) is a partner at Crossfire Media.

Edited by Marisa Torrieri