Interest in videoconferencing takes off in region

Kids do it with the National Aeronau-tics and Space Administration. Noble & Associates does it with its Chicago of-fice. ESPN did it for the 2001 NFL draft.

"It" is state-of-the-art videoconferencing, and it can be seen up close 4-5 p.m. Jan. 16 at the Discovery Center and again at the same time on Jan. 30 when the center links with NASA. The program is funded by the Federal Technol-ogy Challenge Grant, courtesy of U.S. Sen. Kit Bond.

In the way that computers used to be too much trouble to learn about until everyone had one and using one was necessary to compete in the marketplace so it has been with videoconferencing, according to Pat Bly, regional director of external affairs for Southwestern Bell Telephone.

Since the Sept. 11 tragedy, his customers have told him that their videoconferencing use is up sharply and travel is down. "We maintain a 40 percent in-crease in average daily usage," Bly said. "Conferencing has always been big in the audio world," he said, and video conferencing has picked up since Sept. 11.

But videoconferencing's time has come, Bly said. "The Monday after (Sept. 11), stock prices for videoconferencing equipment (makers) significantly increased," Bly said. Economic analysts see the videoconference arena as a growth market, he said.

Bly said he sees a "shift in corporate culture" in the way businesses communicate internally and externally. So far, his corporate office in St. Louis reports in-quiries for videoconferencing have grown 173 percent.

"Many of the people making inquiries already have existing systems but are not using them real regularly. Now they are trying to get more out of what they al-ready spent money on," he said.

One of many benefits of videoconferencing is that "face-to-face, you can hold your listeners' attention," Bly said. No longer are the pictures choppy and the audio fragile. The key is the newest equipment he sells, the "codec" unit, that handles motion and can pick up the voice to move the camera to the person who is speaking.

A big jump in videoconferencing use came when the cost of equipment dropped, Bly said. His company has seen a 400 percent increase in the number of inquiries about the cost of the equipment since the terrorist attack.

Equipment that used to cost about $70,000 at the high end has now been refined and reduced in price to about $9,000 and more for the medium to large room Polycom units.

The cost for small to medium conference rooms and offices starts at $3,999.

Another "huge step" forward for vid-eoconferencing was when the cost for networking and connecting links dropped, Bly said, so "the medium to large companies could actually afford it." Besides the toll cost of the calls outside an area code, there is a monthly line charge, which averages about $88, he said.

Another change Bly has seen is that more customers are reserving time on communication bridges for audioconferencing and videoconferencing "so they can use it anytime they want to." Bridges allow more than one person to connect, he said.

Southwestern Bell has noted an in-crease in peak usage time from 4:30 p.m. to 7 p.m., and as a result has increased capacity on its bridges. It now has 21,208 ports available nationally.

Many business reserve bridge time in anticipation of another disaster, where employees can automatically plug in by cell phone, land lines or audio- or videoconferencing to keep up with what may be happening to the company.

Videoconferencing doesn't have to be complicated or expensive. For a few hundred dollars, a consumer can hook up a camera to a personal computer and connect to another user with the same setup.

Or it can be as expensive as $100,000 or more for an entire room, such as one at Southwest Missouri State Univer-sity used for distance learning.

As an inexpensive way of expanding learning, a school with a relatively inexpensive videoconferencing system can put in a high-speed Internet connection, or an integrated services digital network link and students can talk with a scientist or curator at the Smithsonian Institute, for instance, Bly said.

An early use of videoconferencing, Bly said, was telemedicine, where a doctor can view the patient via communication lines and tell a great deal about physical condition.

But as far businesses are concerned, "a real driving application is training." Many big businesses including one large retail company here use videoconferencing for training sessions at multiple locations in different states. "It saves them a lot of money." The videoconferencing unit is easily transportable and can be shipped from site to site as the need arises.

The Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce has a room for videoconferencing that is used for programs.

Noble & Associates, an advertising and marketing firm here, uses a similar Polycom system, said Tim Shelburn, computer support specialist for Noble.

Catie Holley, executive assistant, said the firm uses the system at least monthly to stay in touch with its Chicago office.

"We simply have to dial them up. (The room) is set up as it is here in our location in a conference room." Since installing their system two or three years ago, Noble has upgraded the two screens and audio system. "The video is a lot crisper," Holley said.

Shelburn said the system is easy to use, and if you zoom out and take a picture of the entire room, there is no problem with the camera following the speaker.

But close up, "You have to be real conscious as the speaker as far as (if you) are ... in the camera's eye ... You have to stay within its parameters in order to be seen by the opposite office," Holley said. "If you get away from the mike that is central in the room, the audio becomes distorted."

Holley said that Noble's experience at this point is that the speaker must be "very deliberate ... very clear. (The mike) can pick up outside noises besides the speaker."

"Our client leader or team leaders meet every month (via videoconferencing) for an update on the state of the company. And they bring the necessary Chicago people through that medium." Executive meetings take place between locations as well, she said.

She said the system "works well for discussions, but not necessarily if there are visuals involved. We try to make sure that everybody can see them" because you can't see the speaker and the visual at the same time."