Most video conferences involve people sitting behind tables, so if you think it’s hard to give a dynamic presentation on a video conference call, then Cisco has an innovation for you.
Cisco's PresenterTrack is a combination of a camera positioned at the back of the room and face-detection and image-processing software that enables the camera to automatically find and follow presenters as they move around at the front of the room. PresenterTrack allows people who are speaking during video conferences to move about more naturally while presenting, says Ross Daniels, senior director and Collaboration Marketing leader at Cisco.
The TelePresence Precision 60 camera, positioned at the back of the room, shows the front of the room and the audience in the room. When a person gets up to make a presentation, he or she moves to a predefined "trigger zone," which activates the PresenterTrack technology.
The software finds and the camera frames presenters, following them wherever on the stage they move. The camera is able to follow multiple presenters who enter the zone at the same time. Once the presenter(s) leaves the zone in the front of the room, the camera switches back to the broader view of the video conference.
Customers already using Cisco's MX700 or MX800 room systems or SX80 codec can get PresenterTrack by downloading the software and buying a Precision 60 camera. The software and camera work seamlessly and automatically, reducing the need for users to bring in the IT staff for help.
Other video conferencing vendors offer multiple cameras that can zoom in on the person talking, but those cameras are positioned at the front of the room. Cisco says “PresenterTrack is the only one that is situated at the back of the room, offering a single, integrated experience and following speakers as they move around in front of the others on the conference.”
PresenterTrack is part of their “Intelligent Views” group of technologies, which also includes the SpeakerTrack 60 dual-camera technology for active speaker tracking.
On another point: Cisco now includes video capabilities with every subscription of WebEx Meeting Center at no extra cost. Now everyone can use video in WebEx, whether that’s within WebEx itself or in other system, such as a telepresence solution or Microsoft's Lync technology.
In addition, people using video-capable devices such as smartphones, desktops, notebooks or room-based systems—even Microsoft's Skype for Business systems clients and Polycom systems—can join a WebEx meeting at no extra charge.
WebEx has been a key driver in Cisco's overall collaboration business. In the last three months of 2015, WebEx revenue grew 17% year over year, helping the larger collaboration business gain 3% in revenue and offsetting some softness in the company's unified communications business.
