Video conferencing has seen a boost as business travel has been restricted due to large parts of Europe"s airspace being closed as ash from an Icelandic volcano covers the sky.
Cisco Systems"s TelePresence Technology Group head Fredrik Halvorsen said evidence was only anecdotal but continued, "We have seen a huge spike in usage". Some limited flights are beginning to resume in European airspace but the U.K. has warned that their airspace may continue to be closed.
Chief executive of BT Conferencing, part of British Telecom, Aaron McCormack said the company has seen a 35% increase in demand since the beginning of the disruptions to air travel. Audio conferencing has seen around an 80% increase in comparison to a 20% rise for video conferencing.
Cisco became the world"s biggest video conferencing maker on Monday following the closing of its $3.3 billion purchase of Tandberg. It is already the world"s biggest supplier of networking equipment.