Radvision hopes to fill videoconferencing ‘hole’

Radvision, a technology provider for voice, video and data delivery over packet networks, has a product line that it says will fill a “gaping hole” in the videoconferencing space between large enterprises/service providers and small/medium businesses.

The new product line, which comes in four flavors priced from $12,950 to $34,950, addresses a growing need among small/medium offices, whether independent or affiliated with larger businesses, said David Sokolic, vice president of market in Radvision’s Network and Business Unit.

“Before this release, what you had available was very high-end expensive products that had a high port count and were targeted at service providers or very large enterprises, or you had the option of using a very low-end bridge that was built into an end point,” Sokolic said. “But there was no middle ground that allowed people to have a higher port count and more features but lower costs than the high-end product. There’s really a gaping hole in the middle there and that’s what we’ve come to fill.”

The product line--the viaIP100--allows customers with videoconferencing networks of three to 30 endpoints to seamlessly bridge between IP and ISDN networks and handle multimedia conferences of up to 15 simultaneous video participants and 26 voice participants. Radvision is further developing a data component that it will add to the product line, Sokolic said.

Sokolic conceded that small office videoconferencing is an idea that “has been next year’s technology for quite some time.” Even so, the need to replace travel--for personal and economic reasons--while maintaining high productivity levels have caused firms to rethink the videoconferencing space.

“People who use video pretty heavily are convinced it has a pretty significant productivity impact on their operations,” said Sokolic.

Additionally, Radvision is cashing in on a move to IP.

“A lot of companies have invested in a high-bandwidth network and now the MIS people who spent all this money need to prove it’s worth it to the managers,” said Karen Krivaa, the viaIP100’s product manager. “With IP videoconferencing, all you need is the bandwidth.”

While noting, “videoconferencing is not something that’s suitable for every organization,” Sokolic said there is a bump in interest from law firms, consulting firms and “those types of operations where you have highly compensated professionals.”

Additionally, the lower-end product gives companies with large videoconferencing bases the ability to inexpensively add remote sites to their networks.

Most importantly, he said, the market is demanding an integrated technology that handles voice, video and data. Radvision meets the first two demands and is working on the third.