Globe opens TelePresence to the Public

Last night, Globe Telecom demonstrated their brand-new TelePresence Room which they will officially launch to the public this Friday.

The technology has been around for around 4 or 5 years now and several big companies have been using them (Cisco, PLDT, P&G) already but it’s only now that the TelePresence technology will be available to the public (all the rest are using it for private/internal use).

TelePresence allows for virtual conference among a number of people located in various parts of the world via high definition audio and video, making the environment as realistic as possible. The video above was shot during the session.

Notice that the position, size, aspect ratio of the people in the video are as close to the real thing making them appear as if they’re also in the same room. Even the direction of the voice of the speaker is relative to the position of the display screen where they are projected.

Each hi-def display requires at least 5Mbps to be able to carry that 1080p video so this set-up must need at least 15Mbps. There’s also a 32-inch monitor at the bottom of the middle display to show a Powerpoint presentation or anything coming from one of the conference participant’s laptop. Globe spent around $500,000 for this room alone and is looking to set up another one in Cebu soon.

The service will be available to the public starting this Friday (after the official launch) and is targeted to large companies that need a TelePresence facility (in lieu of traveling for business meetings). It does not come cheap too — the facility can be booked anytime and is open 24/7 at $500 per hour.