eSP - IT Solution Providers in Europe

A white box with a touch screen on the outside cover that lets heart patients make video calls with their clinicians may prove the basis for an emerging home health market.

Aetna releases preliminary results of a joint study with Intel showing chronic heart failure patients who use a remote health management system (with an in-home patient device, the Intel Health Guide PHS6000) avoided some hospital stays and increased their independence from hospitals.

The service combines Intel’s PHS6000 with its online platform that allows clinicians to monitor patients and manage care remotely via videoconferencing. You can also connect other devices for blood-pressure, weight, pulse and blood-glucose. It records your past medical data.

Last month Intel announced it will expand the Intel Health Guide into Europe. Why is home health of interest to IT?

First, we have already have hospital facilities as clients for 3D, displays and videoconferencing. A boom in home health care means all those consumer units will have to endpoint in an environment that deals with multiple inputs and that means industrial strength routing and control of incoming video.

Also, as research like this Aetna/Intel study validates home health care, corporations may decide to jump in provide services to employees much in the way they today provide gym, creche, and other services that keep their workers healthy.

Go Intel & Aetna on Home Health Care

Imago Group plc will manage the launch and distribution of FaceVsion’s HD video camera to Skype video conferencing users throughout the UK and France.

The TouchCam N1 from FaceVsion is the only webcam currently available with an embedded H.264 encoder certified by Skype. This compression algorithm is essential to ensure the camera is fully HD capable.

The TouchCam also has an autofocus wide angle lens with 78 degree at 720p delivering a wide viewing angle which broadens the scope for multi-participant conferences, previously difficult to achieve on Skype-enabled web cams. In addition, it features uni-directional dual microphones and 3x DVD resolution.

No software drivers to install, the camera just plugs into the USB drive, ready to use. It weighs 90g and measures 100mm wide and 60mm tall.

Ian Vickerage, MD Imago Group, says, “A recent survey demonstrated that for a video conferencing user, the quality of the picture is the most important factor, closely followed by ease of use. Both of these are key features of the FaceVsion TouchCam N1. It is specifically designed for video conferencing, which accounts for more than 70% of all webcam usage, so we believe it will revolutionise the use of Skype in the business sector as an accessible and free video conferencing tool.”

The TouchCam N1 will work with other webcam applications such as Polycom’s CMA Desktop and RADVISION’s Scopia Desktop ranges. It will be marketed to Imago’s video conferencing and etail channel with availability from the end of July.

Go Imago Group plc

Go FaceVsion

Polycom calls it the most sophisticated conferencing system in the market today.

Dubbed the OTX, Polycom’s newest Telepresence Experience is just plain AWESOME!

With a newly designed, more contemporary look, the new OTX solution includes embedded preview monitors for presentation content or document collaboration that slide up from inside the tables (on both ends), connection ports inside the tables and separate displays for VTC and document content.

Go Our Sister Publication rAVe NOW made this video in an OTX room at InfoComm 2010

ClearOne launches the VIEW platform, what they say is a new line of IP-based HD audio/video distribution and control network products based on its patented StreamNet technology.

The VIEW solution claims to offer functionality beyond just AV distribution- it also provides source control, a GUI - graphical user interface-, sensor and relay control-- all user controllable and programmable.

Distributing AV over IP is an obvious transition in our market and one that rAVe's been saying is coming for a few years, and the ClearOne's VIEW has what they are calling LAN Cloud Matrix Switching system, allowing any source to be dynamically routed to any display or audio zone.

The VIEW will debut in hardware form at InfoComm.

Go ClearOne VIEW