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UFB, new iPad set stage for video boom
Thu, 22nd Mar 2012
FYI, this story is more than a year old

A pair of kiwi videoconferencing experts have launched a new business to take advantage of a unique convergence of enabling technologies: the government’s Ultra Fast Broadband (UFB) network, and Apple’s new iPad.

It’s the sort of synergy that only happens once in a lifetime, but which can lead to a wave of business that, if timed correctly, can be ridden all the way to the bank.

The enterprising experts, Corey McCarthy and John Kandiliotis, should be well known to anyone in the New Zealand videoconferencing space, having each spent over 10 years with video and voice communications company Asnet Technologies before both departing last December.

With their new business, Smartpresence, the pair hope to help businesses achieve three primary goals: greater flexibility, higher productivity, and a smaller carbon footprint.

The company is partnered with ‘the world’s leading brands of HD video conferencing and telepresence systems’, including Polycom, RadVision and Vaddio.

McCarthy says after years of slow improvement, video conferencing is ‘really becoming available to everyone now’.

"The technology is far superior and more secure, it’s more integrated, there is more network availability, internet speeds are faster and the hardware is cheaper than ever before,” McCarthy says.

Smartpresence’s Smartcloud core is unique in supporting H.264 high profile in multipoint calls, McCarthy adds, providing users with high definition at lower bandwidths.

"Smartcloud is the only service in New Zealand that allows federation for Microsoft Lync users, bringing the Microsoft and traditional video conferencing environments together.”

Kandiliotis says the technology has particular potential in the health and education sectors, with applications such as distance learning and remote diagnosis.

"It will improve communication, reduce travel time and result in faster, better-informed decision making.”

Check out the Smartpresence website here. Image: Corey McCarthy, left, and John Kandiliotis.