Back in the Stone Age – and by that, we mean the 1970s – the idea of speaking to another person with a real-time image was just a dream for the average business person. Sure, there were some huge corporations that could accomplish this by having TV cameras set up, but the reality was, most well-heeled business organizations could not really afford to have real-time video conferencing. Still, as technology progressed, modern video conferencing systems became an affordable, real-time way to communicate with employees and clients. And today, the newest technology surpasses expectations by turning any video conference into an online video collaboration.

The First Steps

Video conferencing was first introduced at the World's Fair of 1964 in New York City, where the theme was "Man's Achievement on a Shrinking Globe in an Expanding Universe." While at this time video conferencing was more of a concept than a viable business tool, this initial technology would directly lead to the first “picture phones” created and marketed by AT&T in the early 1970s. While some businesses were able to afford the exorbitant price tag, the phones were more of a status symbol than a practical business tool. While advances in the technology were steadily being made, it would be another decade before the technological powerhouse IBM held the first weekly video conferences between its Japanese subdivision and its headquarters in New York. Still, this early video conferencing system and the others available at the time were extremely expensive, $250,000 to purchase plus $1,000 per hour to operate - and those are 1980 dollars.

The Internet Changes Video Conferencing

The advent of the Internet significantly changed the way business was done and the way companies communicated. In the mid-late 1990s, video compression technology made it so that a decent desktop computer could provide the interface for video conferencing. It still took dedicated lines running to specific spots for the system to operate, however. This situation opened a niche in the market for companies like Kinko's and other retail business outlets that provided peer-to-peer video conferencing services to and from any of their locations. Business could now affordably meet with their peers or clients in other cities and countries but they could not yet do it from the comfort of their own desk, or office for that matter.

The 21st Century Situation: Collaborative Sharing

In the early 2000s, widespread, high-speed Internet access became available to businesses and to individuals. This advance set the stage for individualized, multi-point, video conference and video collaboration capability. Now, CEOs and other managers can not only bring teams together in a highly functional conference room but they can easily include participants who are located at home, on assignment, or otherwise engaged offsite. The use of a PTZ (pan/tilt/zoom) camera allows everyone to see who is speaking, and the presenter could point to items on the display.

Around 2010, manufacturers, now having excellent video conferencing systems, decided it was time to really add to the experience. The next generation of video conferencing is what we call immersive and collaborative. In the case of immersive, the goal is to feel like you are really sitting across from a person at a conference table. Collaborative is more about multiple people working on the same documents at the same time.

A well designed and properly installed video conferencing system can now provide you an excellent one-on-one meeting with another party. A good system works so well that you can at times forget you and the other person are not in the same room. This is where a professional installation company pays dividends. It's important to get the camera and TV at the right height, have the proper types of microphones and have them adjusted properly. All of these things add to that immersive feeling.

The newest AV collaborative systems, coupled with a simple broadband connectivity brings the ultimate in connectivity for you and your team anywhere there as an Internet connection. These modern video conferencing systems will not only you save time and money on travel expenses, but they will make your meetings more versatile, efficient, and interesting.