Devices add sci-fi dimension to videoconferencing

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By Jon Surmacz

(IDG) -- There's a scene in the 1977 sci-fi classic "Star Wars" where Princess Leia, moments before her capture by Darth Vader, records a message for Obi-Wan Kenobi, which is later displayed as a holographic image by R2D2. Inspired by that possibility, Duffie White and David Booth set out to make this Hollywood razzle-dazzle a reality.

White, who would become the CEO of Dallas-based Teleportec, was an expert in multimedia presentation. Booth, who would become the company's managing director, came from the product development side. Nearly two decades later, the pair developed the Teleportec system, which produces lifelike, three-dimensional images intended to bridge the gap between teleconferencing and in-person meetings.

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Frost & Sullivan, an international consultancy, expects the teleconferencing industry to reach $5 billion by 2007. Teleportec is hoping to capture as much as 5 to 8 percent of that market. The company plans to partner with HQ Global Workplaces, and to lease the technology to individual corporations for two-year periods. Customers will pay three dollars a minute to use Teleportec, and there is a minimum charge for 1,600 minutes per month. So far, a company spokesperson says, they have more than a dozen takers.

Teleportec's latest version represents the eighth generation for White and Booth. It consists of a desk, a lectern, and a conference table, and comes equipped with a camera, computer, beam-splitting lens, and an encoder/decoder for transmitting the signal securely (via ISDN line or similar connection).

"Less the handshake, we can deliver all the benefit of traveling to a remote location without having to travel," says Phil Bratton, vice president of business development and cofounder of Teleportec. "One of the things that makes it extremely compelling is the optic processing portion of your brain tells your conscious mind that what you're seeing meets all of the criteria of seeing a live person right in front of you."

Bratton says that because most human communication is done through gestures and facial expressions, Teleportec's devices can offer benefits that cannot be achieved through traditional videoconferencing. For example, users of the Teleportec system, which is technically not a hologram, can make eye contact in real-time, a feature that helps add information to conversations while reinforcing the illusion that the remote person represented in the image is really there.

Certainly the timing is right. Concerns about safety and money have persuaded many companies to look for alternatives to business travel. A survey taken after the tragedies of Sept. 11 shows that 58 percent of corporate travel managers say their companies expect to reduce travel. Videoconferencing rated high as an alternative as 88 percent of respondents favored increased use of that technology. Interest in Teleportec has "absolutely skyrocketed" according to Bratton. He says product inquiries have increased 2,000 percent.