The 21st Century Meeting

Timely BusinessWeek snapshot -- hopefully we'll all be spending less time on planes in the near future. 

The effect is to create an illusion of seamlessness between the viewer and the viewed. Hewlett-Packard's Halo system and Cisco's TelePresence 3000 use massive 50- to 65-in. high-definition screens to show people sitting behind a conference table that's identical in color and shape to the one used by the viewers. Polycom, a longtime leader in conventional conferencing equipment, started selling in January its own advanced lifelike system, only bigger and more elaborate, with 8-ft.-wide screens. That sense is reinforced by advanced audio that lets everyone talk at once without canceling out any voices. Get up and walk across the room, and for those on the other end your voice travels with you.

Source: The 21st Century Meeting