Converged conferencing interest picks up with Radvision’s 2Q

Multimedia communications inched forward this week according to second quarter results from conferencing and multimedia provider Radvision, which saw a 35% revenue increase.

The Fair Lawn, N.J.-based infrastructure provider for converged voice, video and data communications for IP and 3G networks took in $15.7 million in the quarter, accounting for a net income of $1.1 million compared to less than $200,000 last year.

Revenue was just over projections of $15.2 million, helping to swing the year-over-year second quarter operating profit from a $418,000 loss to a profit of $688,000.

Radvision CEO Gadi Tamari said most of the growth was from the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) markets and that a majority of revenue was generated from traditional video conferencing services.

"[However,] many of our customers are also looking for solutions and infrastructure to deliver combined voice, video and data to the desktop," Tamari said. "We call that personal conferencing…and it’s good to know customers are biting."

Tamari also said that he was seeing increased spending in all three areas of Radvision’s focus: the enterprise, service providers and communications equipment developers.

The company also cultivated new business, particularly through its relationship with Cisco Systems. "Five of our top ten customers this quarter were not on the prior quarter’s list," said Tsipi Kagan, chief financial officer at Radvision.

In the quarter, Radvision won approval from Cisco to add its 3G gateway to Cisco’s Avvid approved list. "That is an interesting development that means Cisco is finding demand from their customers, mainly in Europe and Asia, to connect to 3G."

The company expects revenue to increase slightly next quarter by $1 million but that net income will be relatively flat. "2004 is a year of strategic initiatives for Radvision. The actions we are taking and plan to take over the coming quarters are preparing us for the multimedia communications market that is starting to happen today, but should gain added momentum in 2005 and beyond," Tamari said.