Telepresence Twitter Users and Companies

In the social media realm it is important to control your own stream of information but when I signed up on Twitter I had a hard time finding accounts, which are generating content about topics I wanted to be informed about. That is why I wanted to make it easier for other users to do the same. So I asked my followers if they liked the idea and asked who would like to be included – and voilà here we are.

This listing of Twitter accounts will provide short and sharp descriptions about individuals and companies, that work in either Telepresence (TP), Video Conferencing (VC) or Unified Communications (UC) sector and provide a steady stream of high quality information relative to their scope of expertise. I will try to maintain and update this article as good I can and hope over time more people and companies speak up and ask to be added. Feel free to review these “tweeps“, follow them or just say “hi” and I am certain you will be involved in many interesting conversations in the future.

 Richard Hayes (@TPTweetz)

Solutions Manager for Telepresence Endpoints at Cisco
St Albans, United Kingdom

Q: When have you started looking into Telepresence / video communication?
A: I had spent 5 years working in AV and fancied a change, I came across immersive Telepresence at Teliris and was blown away with how an IT solution could really transform business. I then moved to TANDBERG to understand how to deliver those solutions within a standards based framework, and with a real emphasis on scale. With the Cisco acquisition, I’ve learnt that the solution is becoming more even more transformational, and the next steps for the industry are about scaling to tens of thousands and tightly integrating all elements of Unified Communication. I have also learnt that the inter-dependence of the systems and the network is going to be a huge factor in the success of Telepresence.

Q: Why are you interested in video?
A: Of all telecommunication tools, none other are as easy for others “to get” as video. I’ve been interested in visual media since school, and my university degree was in a related area. In my career I’ve enjoyed witnessing countless people experiencing an “epiphany” when they suddenly get how good, “good video” can be.

Q: What are your specialties / What do you like most about your work?
A: I specialise in Project Management, Room Design and Immersive Telepresence. I manage a global team of experts – what they don’t know about video doesn’t exist! 🙂
I am most happy when I am showing a video solution to a new customer or colleague and seeing their reaction when it suddenly dawns on them…”This is VERY cool, AND it will make my business better”. The other thing I like about my work? I use our stuff, having video systems at home and in the office means I can be effective working from home (dropping kids off, not sitting in traffic for 3 hours per day) but I can also call home when I am on the road or stuck in the office late in the evening.

Q: Do you have a slogan or something else you would like to share?
A: Let’s make video the new voice, and really change how people communicate!

 Dave Giguère (@dgiguere)

Account Manager at CBCI Telecom
Ottawa, Canada (National Capital)

Q: When have you started looking into Telepresence / video communication?
A: I have been interested and looking into this technology since 2003.

Q: Why are you interested in video?
A: Video / Telepresence is a powerful tool that has the potential to change organizations at all levels. I am fascinated by the “human” side of Telepresence and how for example it can:

1. Help save lifes (e.g. Telehealth or Telemedicine)
2. Help foster relationships (e.g. country leaders meeting over Telepresence)
3. Create new learning opportunities for kids (e.g. connecting classrooms between two countries, or virtual field trips via Telepresence at a museum)
4. Help a mom or dad be home more often because he/she does not have to travel as much

Q: What are your specialties / What do you like most about your work?
A: My specialty is integration of Telepresence in the workplace and Workplace 2.0 initiatives. What I like most about my work is that we are using cutting edge technologies to change organizations.

 Cari Zoch (@carizoch)

Social Media Manager at LifeSize Communications
Beautiful Austin, Texas, U.S.A.

Q: When have you started looking into telepresence / video communication?
A: I’ve only been in the space for a year now and find myself wondering daily how I communicated before video.  It makes my life so much easier because it enables me to work from wherever I need to whenever I need to and still keep in contact with the office.  It’s really amazing to me that half of our employees work from home offices or remote locations.

Q: Why are you interested in video?
A: Ever since I had my daughter and lived 1500 miles away from my family, video has become essential.  It keeps me in contact with my family, gives me a work/life balance by allowing me to work remotely when needed, and gives me the face to face contact I’d otherwise be missing with a simple phone call.

Q: What are your specialties / What do you like most about your work?
A:  The thing I like most about my job is getting to talk to end users, video enthusiasts, integrators, and partners on a daily basis.  There are people who have been in the business of video communications for years and it’s so great to have the social platforms we have today so I can learn from them.  I’m the first person to get to hear when someone likes our products and I’m able to give feedback to engineers that help make the products better, based on a simple tweet or Facebook comment from one of our fans.

Q: Do you have a slogan or something else you would like to share?
A: I don’t know that it’s a slogan, but it’s something I live by: Never be afraid to fail.  Try things that scare you and live outside your comfort zone- you just might surprise yourself.

 LifeSize Communications (@LifeSizeHD)

Q: How long has your company been in business?
A: LifeSize has been around and creating video conferencing technology since 2003.

Q: What are your company’s core values?
A: First and foremost- to change the way people communicate.  To enable anyone, anywhere, on any device to be able to communicate via video.

Q: What drives innovation at your company?
A: Our people are passionate about our mission and our products.  We have a very open door policy and will take innovation from wherever it arises, whether it be from one of our engineers, or from an idea someone posts on one of our social networks.   We also like to have fun, like to work with one another, and try not to take ourselves too seriously and I think that makes people more comfortable to be willing to shout out ideas and try something, knowing that not every idea is going to go into a product.

Q: What are the biggest challenges your company sees in video in the coming years?
A: For us the biggest challenge is getting people to adopt video the same way they have adopted the phone.  Our way of doing that is by making our products easy to use, easy to understand, and affordable to a wide array of people and companies.

Q:   What are the biggest opportunities?
A:  The new trend of cloud and virtualization is very hot right now, as is mobility.  We see so many opportunities in expanding our products in these arenas.  Another thing we’re excited about is being able to deliver video to people who probably would never have been able to have it if it weren’t in a cloud or virtualized platform.  We really feel like mobile, cloud, and virtual products are going to open the doors for so many uses- many of which we have not even begun to think about.

 Jens Didriksen (@h323tech)

Videoconferencing Administrator at James Cook University
Townsville, North Queensland, Australia

Q: When have you started looking into telepresence / video communication?
A: I got involved when I was employed by JCU as an Audio Visual & Videoconferencing technician in 2000. I was heavily involved with migrating the existing ISDN videoconferencing services to IP and replaced ageing PictureTel systems with Tandberg endpoints.

Q: Why are you interested in video?
A: That was a natural progression for me as my background is in maritime communication; terrestrial and satellite, as videoconferencing is just another form of communication.

Q: What are your specialties / What do you like most about your work?
A:  Working with infrastructure devices to ensure our videoconferencing services actually works, working with other universities and organizations to ensure interoperability, provide technical support to our own front-line support staff. Also I enjoy running info/training sessions for academic/administrative/technical staff to ensure they get the most out of their “telepresence experience”, particularly HD desktop videoconferencing solutions such as Movi (now Jabber).

 Eyenetwork (@EyenetworkVideo)

Q: How long has your company been in business?

A: Eyenetwork was established in 1996 and has grown to 14 staff. We have over 3500 worldwide video conference facilities in our network which covers over 100 countries, all available for hire by the hour.

Q: What are your company’s core values?
A: We want to free the world from the curse of so much completely unnecessary business travel.

Q: What drives innovation at your company?
A: A volcano of innovation has blown the top off the video communications industry, from Telepresence to iPads and many other devices. Our priority is to keep looking after our thousands of customers to ensure they get the best possible service whilst embracing these changes.

Q: What are the biggest challenges your company sees in video in the coming years?
A: Everybody knows that compatibility is the primary issue; telepresence, video conferencing and mobile devices all need to connect together. Eyenetwork offers a multilingual service and a multipoint bridge that we aim to connect everyone. We will continue to roll out our capability in every language and every country so people realise that joining Eyenetwork means you can do business anytime, anyplace, anywhere.

Q:   What are the biggest opportunities?
A:  To be at the forefront of these changes. More devices offering video conferencing can only be a good thing.

Editorial: More accounts will be listed shortly in agreement with the owners. Thanks to all the contributors and friends so far!