The current climate of the global economy has altered the traveling habits of many business professionals. In order to help executives to reduce their traveling costs, Cisco announced that it is now renting out rooms equipped with its TelePresence high-definition video screens with built-in microphone and camera lenses for $299 to $899 an hour. These rooms are equipped with its TelePresence high definition video screens with built-in microphone and camera lenses for $299 to $899 an hour.
The rooms will be available in Santa Clara, California, as well as in some Taj Hotels in India, Boston and London through a partnership with Taj Hotels and Tata Communications
The price depends on the size of the room, the largest of which can accommodate 18 people. The TelePresence unit is available for interesting parties. The price range for each TelePresence unit is between $34,000 to $300,000.
Cisco also revealed there will be more than 100 rooms available by the end of 2009, including in New York’s Pierre Hotel.
October 23rd, 2008 at 6:45 am
I think that Cisco will have a lot of success with this service. It’s a no-brainer, companies need to cut back on costs and Telepresence is an excellent way to do so. However even as the falling economy pushes companies towards videoconferencing I think there will remain a lot of resistance for psychological reasons. I know many coporate businesspeople who positively love business trips, as with them they get to collect frequent-flyer miles for personal use. It seems to me that it is the airline companies who should be looking to expand their service with telepresence. Why not install high-tech telepresence systems in airports to rent to companies, while still offering miles and the use of the business lounge to the users. This way everbody wins. It could be that I am overestimating the psychological aspects, but if you think that there is something to all this check out toolazytodoit.com for a more in-depth analysis.