Video Endpoint Lifecycle Strategies: Upgrade or Replace?

Date: Thursday, October 17th, 2013 - 1:00 PM ET Topic: Video Endpoint Lifecycle Strategies: Upgrade or Replace? Register: Click Here To Register Register: Click Here To Register

Speakers:
Howard Lichtman Human Productivity Lab, Founder & President	JD Vaughn Host -  Co Founder and Chief Catalyst Sage Research Consulting and Recruiting

Description: We all face the recurring question of what to do next with our video systems when they approach that end-of-life mark in their life cycle. Your current supplier has no doubt provided the ‘next generation’ pitch, but is it time to make a big change or go with the flow? Join our panelists as they discuss the options and relevant considerations as the industry shifts to more software-based endpoints. What does this mean for conference room systems? Is it time to outsource the infrastructure? Is their more risk in moving to a new provider than staying with the current one? What criterion do you apply for the next generation of endpoints?

This VCIG Live! event is sponsored and hosted by:

VC DireXions Summit-October 2013 VCI-Group President’s Message

October 2013 VCI-Group President’s Message

I have been telling you that this year we are transforming the VCI-Group organization to provide more relevant, thought provoking webinars, introducing you to Manufacturers and Service Providers and their new products/services, alerting you to all the events being held in our industry and a more robust website and forum.  I am pleased to announce that not only have we done that; but, we have developed a new opportunity for YOU our members to “influence” the industry!!

I would like to officially introduce the “VC DireXions Summit”, an exciting new program to be held in conjunction with ITEXPO on January 28^th – 31^st, 2014 at the Miami Beach Convention Center.  What is the VC DireXions Summit?  Your opportunity to help fulfill our charter: “working to influence the development of Industry-based standards for multimedia collaboration technologies and applications, to improve industry products and services, and to facilitate the exchange of information among its members”.

We will be asking YOU; our members, to provide direct feedback to industry hardware, software and service providers on improvements you want made in their products and services related to interoperability.  Your feedback will then be ranked by your peers along with others’ feedback.  The top-ranked requests will be taken forward with support from the Open Visual Communications Consortium (OVCC) to work with the manufacturers and vendors to resolve any interoperability issues and implement the features and functionality you need to be successful in your organization.

Tell us what applications or business solutions you are trying to implement; but, are having issues/concerns because you cannot get your equipment to talk to each other.  We are developing a special presentation template available shortly which you can use to make your case.   Our goal is to receive over 100 requests.  You will be able to vote on what you would like the industry to focus on. The top 10 requests will be our first priority.  Upon notice from the vendors of successful resolution of each interoperability request, we will be turning it back over to you, our members, for final testing and approval.  Finally we have an opportunity as End Users to influence the industry on those issues which personally affect the ability to deliver a service to our clients and company.

Also, at the VC DireXions Summit during IT Expo we will be providing a new type of certified training on multi-vendor interoperability by our strategic partner Compass Business Solutions. Keep watching our Newsletter and emails as we will be sending more information on this event.

Lastly, as we approach the end of 2013 we are looking for Members who would like to be a part of the Visual Communications Industry Group Board of Directors.  This is a great opportunity to join a group of individuals who are passionate about the collaboration/conferencing/unified communications industry and are looking to take it from “good to great”.

Please reach out to any current Board Member or the VCI-Group office if you are interested in becoming a 2014 Board Member.

Toni Alonso

VCI-Group President

VCI-Group September SIG.

Date: Thursday, September 26th, 2013 - 1:00-2:00PM ET 
Title: Grant Writing Tips and Tricks
Register: Click here to register for this event

Moderator(s): Julie Best Communications Director for the Idaho Education Network, a statewide network that provides broadband and video teleconference systems in Idaho

Guest Speaker(s): Elizabeth Burton Director of Business Development and Public Relations – Center for Rural Development

Description: Please join the next Distance Learning Sig webinar on September 26th featuring guest speaker Elizabeth Burton. Elizabeth will be discussing how to find, prepare, and writing grants to fund technology initiatives for education. She has led large-scale program change efforts and process improvement initiatives for public, private and nonprofit organizations. Most recently, Elizabeth led a national team of grant experts for a multi-national telecommunications manufacturing and sales corporation, where she re-engineered the grant assistance program, and enabled public and private sector organizations to secure millions of dollars in grant funding for technology. She is a nationally recognized speaker and trainer on organizational change, leadership and grants, and has served as a peer reviewer for federal, state and local government grant programs

Alliance Spotlight Video Conferencing Architecture: Why a Sea Change is Happening

Date: Thursday, October 3rd, 2013 - 1:00 PM ET
Organization: Vidyo
Session Title: Video Conferencing Architecture: Why a Sea Change is Happening
Register: Click Here To Register
Presenter:

Marty Hollander Evangelist and former SVP, Market Development of Vidyo

Description: The age of global, large-scale HD video collaboration has arrived but how did we get here and where is the industry going?
Get the inside story of how Vidyo technology powers one of the largest video collaboration deployments in the world today, connecting over 20,000 scientists at 600 institutes and universities across 113 countries for physics research. We’ll explore how video conferencing architecture has evolved to support massive deployments and the exploding number and variety of personal endpoints.
Join Vidyo's Marty Hollander to:

• Learn about the video architectures and deployment models proven to deliver high-quality, multipoint collaboration at mass scale.
• Discuss the adoption of scalable video coding technology and its critical role in place in the H.264, H.265 and WebRTC VP9 codecs.
• Explore Vidyo’s ongoing work with Google to enhance the video quality of WebRTC and the future of browser-to-browser communications.
• See what’s new with VidyoDesktop 3.0 and VidyoWeb.

Speaker's Bio: Marty Hollander is a consultant and evangelist for Vidyo and formerly served as the company’s SVP of Market Development. With more than 20 years of high-tech marketing experience, Marty specializes in developing lasting strategic assets through creative market development. Previously, Marty served as Vice President of Marketing at Cemaphore Systems, Latitude Communications (later acquired by Cisco) and ProactiveNet (later acquired by BMC). He also founded CollectiveSpace and IntelliCorp, where he played a variety of executive roles. Marty has also held senior level positions at Silicon Graphics and Storm Technology. Marty earned an MBA from Stanford University as well as an MS from Carnegie-Mellon University.

September 2013 VCI-Group President’s Message

 

September 2013 VCI-Group President’s Message

If you have been reading the industry news lately you are aware that there is more turmoil amongst some of the leading players.  What does that mean to us?  I am not sure yet. Let’s give it another quarter and let it play out.  But, I will say this – our industry is no longer about BOXES.  We have moved from a hardware industry to a software and cloud-based industry.

How does that affect us – the strategists, implementers and supporters of visual collaboration?  It means that we need to keep our ear to the ground, our eyes open and to be adaptable and flexible.  We will need to become knowledgeable of the new technologies/services and companies who offer them.  We will need to become certified in WebRTC, the cloud and Unified Communication.

How can you do this?  It is through education!  Education does not necessarily mean “brick and mortar” – for many of us we learn “on the job”; but, you don’t want to do that as you implement a new technology or service for with that comes some risks, perhaps too many.  

You want to be the individual who can understand the benefits/risks regarding the new technology, to be able to describe, discuss and provide a strategy to transition from legacy to new technology.  You need to continue to be viable in the marketplace as the technology delivery evolves.

To do that – we, VCI-Group are developing the programs to ensure that you can continue to be valuable to your organization or to be able to move into a different role. 

Our monthly webinars are a glimpse into the current issues we are encountering; BYOD, cloud services, Web RTC, etc.  These webinars will give you an understanding of the services, technology and the concerns/issues the industry has.  Through our  Alliance Member Spotlights, you will have an opportunity to hear the new technology and services that these vendors have developed, are selling which are transforming  visual communications. 

Let’s not forget that we learn best from our peers and we offer Special Interest Groups (SIGs) that touch on verticals; e.g., Distance Learning, Healthcare and technology, Technical & Engineering.  Listen and join your peers and vendors in discussions on the current challenges.  These webinars and spotlights are  a mechanism for you to begin to explore the technology, services and challenges.

We understand that advancement and job viability is linked to education and we are developing training programs that will provide you with certifications.  We should have more information for you in the coming month on the programs, delivery and costs.

So as summer comes to a close, we prepare for continued changes within our industry and the opportunity to provide you with the knowledge and education to adapt and master the technology and services.

Remember, knowledge is a powerful thing.

Toni Alonso

VCI-Group President

VCI-Group Alliance Member Spotlight Sessions Chorus Call - Compunetix

VCI-Group Alliance Member Spotlight Sessions provide our community with the opportunity to familiarize themselves with the offerings of several of VCI-Group's Alliance Members. Register for these events and avail yourself of these education opportunities on the many products and services our industry vendors have to offer. These sessions are open to the public to register and attend. We look forward to having you join us!

If you are currently not a member of VCI-Group you may qualify to become an Associate Member of VCI-Group free for one year and see what we have to offer.

Click Here for More VCIG Events!

Membership Information

Date: Thursday, September 5th, 2013 - 1:00 PM ET
Organization: Chorus Call - Compunetix
Session Title: Videoconferencing Evolution Part ll: Services, Software and Hardware – Listening to the Customer
Registration: Click here to register for this event

Presenters:

Robert Haley Compunetix, Director of Marketing of the Communications Systems Division (CSD) View Biography

Eric Murphy Compunetix, Global Solutions Manager for the Video Systems Division View Biography

August 2013 VCI-Group President’s Message

August 2013 VCI-Group President’s Message

This month I would like to focus on those companies that ensure that we have jobs—because they continue to implement new strategies and provide various services—those are our Alliance Members.

We look to these companies to set the direction of the industry and to transform it.  We expect them to have the foresight or a crystal ball to develop what will be needed in the next 3 to 5 years.  We are seeing legacy manufacturers developing applications for the iPad, tablets and smart devices.  Storage is moving from hardware to the cloud.  They are looking at verticals who themselves are transforming due to federal regulations, demographics and the need to provide “satisfaction” to their client; be it a patient or a student. 

Our Members have been addressing the Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) revolution and understand that we must make these devices work with our legacy infrastructure.  However, there is an influx of new companies in our industry who are really pushing the term “virtual”.  Consider that you will no longer need to have a receptionist at your facilities – that there is a “virtual” receptionist who can provide you with access to the facility.  What about finding a way through the facility or searching for the nearest restroom, restaurant or public transportation—enter wayfinding.

Are we implementing these by the hundreds or thousands?  No, not yet – but, it is only a matter of time.  Very soon you will only need to know one (1) telephone number for an individual.  You will not need to know someone’s office, cell, video number – one number will dial the individual on whatever device they are on; be it their desktop, laptop, tablet or cell phone – just one number or 1 SIP URL or an email address.

I encourage you to visit our web site and the Industry Sourcebook where we have listed all of our Alliance Members with the products and services that they offer.  Also, bi-monthly we publish our Newsletter and have information from our Alliance Members on any products or services that they may have introduced.  Lastly, each month we are conducting a webinar with one of our Alliance Members (Alliance Member Spotlight) who will present and discuss their latest product or service—this is an opportunity for you to stay abreast of what is happening in your respective vertical along with the industry at large.

It is our responsibility as End Users to continually inform our manufacturers and service providers with what OUR clients are asking for.  Don’t be shy. Your input will help make all of us better.

Toni Alonso

VCI-Group President