HP, Vidyo Partner On Videoconferencing

Hewlett-Packard plans to sell Vidyo's videoconferencing software on HP servers and PCs to businesses this year.

The two companies announced the agreement Wednesday, saying HP-branded hardware would be sold with the complete VidyoConferencing software portfolio. The offerings would include the Vidyo router running on an HP server and the smaller company's desktop videoconferencing software on an HP TouchSmart PC.

The companies did not say how much the joint products would cost, but said they would begin jointly marketing the offerings this year. HP plans to sell the new products as part of its HP Halo telepresence and videoconferencing line.

Vidyo has earned attention from businesses by offering relatively inexpensive videoconferencing systems that give a significant bang for the buck, when compared to more polished telepresence offerings from Cisco and HP.

Vidyo wraps proprietary technology around video encoded with the new Scalable Video Coding standard that increases error correction to do away with the blips and artifacts common in videoconferencing, particularly online video.

Vidyo also uses the public Internet as its transport mechanism, which drives the cost down significantly over traditional systems. A complete videoconferencing room based on the company's VidyoRoom HD-220 system costs $6,995 for the endpoint itself, and from $25,000 to $30,000 when high-definition cameras, screens, high-quality audio and the traffic-shaping Vidyo router are factored in.

For best results, the Vidyo system requires at least a 2 Mb per second connection. The technology can encode 720p and 1080p videoconferencing streams at up to 60 frames per second.

The use of videoconferencing is on the rise, as businesses use the technology to cut expensive travel. Gartner has predicted that by 2015, more than 200 million people worldwide will have desktop videoconferencing capabilities at work.

Vidyo last month launched an advanced version of its personal telepresence products to provide a more secure platform for medical use. The VidyoHealth telemedicine videoconferencing suite features HIPAA-compliant encryption and other secure features.