Multi-B Limited



 























 

Video Teleworking

Perhaps you either have already staff working from home for some or all of the time or are thinking of introducing such a scheme.  There are many issues but here are just some to consider:

How are you going to keep them motivated?
How are they going to feel part of the team?
How can you overcome the risks of isolation?
How can you feel more confident that you know what they are doing?
How can they feel more valued?

Video communications cannot guarantee to solve all these issues but it can be an important aid in doing so. Face to face communications conveys so much more than just talking to someone on the phone. So how do you go about providing two way video communications between your teleworkers and the office and between themselves?

Video conferencing has traditionally meant a central resource comprising expensive room based systems which have to be booked well in advance. PC based video telephony or video conferencing may be cheap but usually delivers disappointing results and tends to interfere with the more normal tasks for which the PC is being used as well as creating holes in any firewall you may have.

There is now a third way which provides the right solution for the right job - it is the Broadband videophone. Multi-B can offer various solutions to suit differing budgets and one example is outlined below:-

Multi-b Ltd mm745 teleworking diagram

Teleworking  - using the mm745 Videophone/Browser

This option uses the mm745 videophone browser from Motion Media and has the following advantages:

  • High performance video and audio over Broadband

  • Large 12 inch TFT screen

  • Centrally managed web based video directory

  • Ability to initiate video calls from third party web pages

  • Remote upgrading and management facilities

  • Low maintenance/cost of ownership

  • Ability to make free calls world-wide

  • Not a PC - not prone to viruses

The mm745 has special features which make it particularly suitable for use with Broadband. Adverts about Broadband often boast "up to 10 times faster than a dial up connection" but the "UP TO" qualification is very important and can render lesser products unusable. Nearly all  Broadband services are shared amongst multiple subscribers so potentially 49 other people could be trying to share "your" 512kbit/s download - 256kbit/sec upload link; this is known as contention and it is usually between 10:1 and often as bad as 50:1 depending on the package subscribed to.

Most video calls over Broadband will be a maximum of 256kbit/sec as more is limited by the bandwidth availability of the return link at each end. There will be times when the activities of others will degrade the bandwidth available, usually only temporarily, and the mm745 will prioritise the audio and adjust its video compression dynamically to take account of what bandwidth is left. Severe contention may even result in a momentary freezing of the video but it will recover and lip sync re-established as soon as more bandwidth becomes available.  Other products, designed with stable internal computer networks in mind, can crash or loose lip sync for the rest of the call or the audio may be broken up rendering the call unworkable.

The web browsing capability of the mm745 is particularly useful as a means of initiating calls. It allows centrally managed videophone directories to be created and calls can then be initiated by clicking on the desired link or by pressing the touchscreen (mm745T model only).

The mm745 can be integrated into your current or future VoIP infrastructure so as to make all inter-staff voice and video telephone calls free of charge. Calls to people on conventional telephone lines would all pass through a central Gateway ensuring that all of your business telephone calls are routed economically and managed centrally.

Through the use of a MCU (multipoint conferencing unit), many teleworking staff can meet together by video from 10 or more locations. If your organisation does not want to purchase one for itself, MCU facilities can be hired.

There are many options and features worthy of consideration and Multi-B Limited will be more than happy to help develop and implement the most optimum solution to meet your requirements.

 

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Multi-B Ltd, The Pike Lock House, Eastington, Stonehouse, Gloucestershire. GL10 3RT
Tel: 01453 827414           H.323 IP Video: 81.174.228.53  

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