Cisco Systems Inc. on Wednesday unveiled a system for its Internet-based telephones that promises to allow real-time videoconferencing with television-quality images for less than $200 per user. Cisco, the world's largest maker of the gear that directs Internet traffic, said version 1.0 of the VT Advantage software ties together its Internet Protocol-based phones, a Web camera and a desktop or laptop PC to add video alongside calls.
The company has pushed aggressively into IP telephony, known as voice-over-IP or VoIP, which businesses have been looking to as a way to cut costs and inexpensively add new features like conferencing. Top Cisco executives have targeted it as a growth driver for the company. "By just making a regular phone call, you can now have video as well without hitting a single additional button," Marthin De Beer, vice president and general manager of Cisco's IP communications group, told Reuters.
News source: Reuters
