Videoconferencing Systems

Videoconferencing allows users in remote locations to view one another through signals transmitted through computers. Digital videoconferencing systems work by a device within the computer known as a CODEC (COder/DE-Coder), which digitizes and compresses live video and audio analog signals from cameras and microphones. The signals are then transmitted to remote users through a communications interface such as ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network), a long-distance digital media. Signals can also be transmitted over LANs (local area networks) and the standard analog phone lines of POTS (plain old telephone service). Once the data arrives at remote sites, a CODEC reverses the process and the signals are decoded and divided into both video and audio signals, which are output to speakers and monitors. To minimize bandwidth usage, CODEC compression technology shrinks video and transmits only changing information such as movement that occurs between frames and "selectively discarding unneeded or hard-to-perceive image data" (Desmond, 1995, p. 178). Therefore, small background mo

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is speed. Substantial time savings can accrue from having teams of professionals working on projects simultaneously. For instance, in the high-stakes world of investment banking, even jet travel is often too time-consuming. One engineering firm estimated that it cut development time for a new workstation computer by 30 percent through videoconferencing the work efforts of personnel at four remote work sites (Boroughs, 1995, p. 47). As one executive puts it, "Customers have discovered that videoconferencing expands the number of people that can be involved in team projects, shortens the time frame for decision making, leads to greater productivity, and enhances intra- and inter-organizational communications" (U.S. Congress, 1991, p. 19). The applications for videoconferencing are almost endless, for both business and personal use. Systems are used in education by universities to link satellite campuses and by elementary school teachers to hold classroom discussions with children's book authors. Family reunions are enhanced by videoconferencing with homebound relatives. Videoconferencing cuts the cost of medical care by allowing physicians to shuttle X-rays online or to "see" patients in remote, rural locales. In 1993, mor
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Approximate Word count = 1978
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page)

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