The ProMedia Group presents a new addition to its portfolio.  In this Tampa Bay Conference Room, The ProMedia Group proves that glamor and substance can coexist.   With a 65″ Panasonic Plasma Display, in full 1080p High Definition, this conference room is not just another pretty face.  The Smart Board Frame allows this conference room to be a fully functional Training Environment, turning this AV display into a touch screen, and interactive white board. (Smart Board Demo)  The system is controlled by a Crestron Wireless Touch Panel, so that the equipment can be hidden from view, and the equipment can be run without bothering the IT department.  View all photos

Polycom, Inc. (Nasdaq: PLCM), the global leader in telepresence, video, and voice communications solutions, today announced a portfolio of Unified Communications Professional Services delivered through Polycom Global Services, Polycom Open Collaboration Network partners, and certified Polycom partners designed to help customers successfully integrate Polycom voice and visual communications solutions into their unified communications (UC) environments.

The new services further the Polycom Open Collaboration Network strategy of providing open and interoperable collaboration solutions that give customers greater flexibility and investment protection for their UC environment. By working with leaders in unified communications and networking, such as Avaya, BroadSoft, HP, IBM, Juniper, Microsoft and Siemens, Polycom is able to deliver its productivity-enhancing and cost-saving telepresence, video and voice collaboration products as an integrated part of core UC environments, making the technologies easily accessible as part of the everyday workflow within a comprehensive solution that can be provisioned and centrally managed.

Why this is important

The new Polycom UC professional services address growing demand for integrated unified communications and collaboration solutions. The services support Polycom Open Collaboration Network initiatives by enabling customers to easily deploy Polycom integrated solutions for POCN partner environments, beginning with Microsoft.

Additional information

http://www.polycom.com/services/professional_services/unified_communications.html

Contact:

info@theProMediaGroup.com

For Sales and Consulting.

LED Signs offered by The ProMedia Group in Tampa Bay

The ProMedia Group will assist your company with any digital signage needs.  Indoor LCD panels, and outdoor LED installations will provide great return on investment over standard signs.  Please schedule a consultation with us in Tampa, Clearwater, Brandon, St. Pete, Sarasota or Brandenton, and we will visit your location to provide information, design and pricing.

please also visit www.hitechled.com for more applications and product views.

Supplied by Ken Avis,

The ProMedia Group:  Digital Signage, Video Conferencing, Commercial Audio Visual Integrations

Desktop video is here: Clearly the major vendors are pushing it and momentum is quickly building. I believe desktop video solutions will experience significant growth this year based on several factors. The biggest drivers are low prices and SIP standards simplifying inter-organizational video dialing. Now that video over H.264 over SIP is reasonably interoperable, expect to see more video-enabled hard and soft phones. Tandberg’s booth showcased their new EX90 with the industry’s first 1080p30 desktop system. We were impressed with the quality and bang for your dollar of both Vidyo and Avistar who have launched their companies around the software based video market.

The ProMedia Group is assisting businesses throughout the Tampa, Clearwater, Saint Petersburg, Sarasota, and Orlando markets deploy combinations of Polycom Video Conference Systems, Tandberg Video Conference Systems and Lifesize Codecs with newer computer based products that all communicate on the same network.

TH-85PF12U Plasma
• 3.9-inch depth
• Approx. 260 lbs.
• Easily installed by a two-person crew
• 120 volt, no special circuitry required

Now there’s a large-screen Professional Plasma that’s not only light enough to go anywhere — it has a spectacular contrast ratio of 40,000:1 and a moving picture resolution of 1,080 lines for stunning full high definition images.

The 85-inch Pro Plasma with NeoPDP™ technology integrates the latest Plasma innovations to deliver brighter, more vivid, images with deep, rich blacks in a thin, lightweight display, that is more energy-efficient, and large enough to show images life-sized.

See the 85-inch in action:

The Tampa Mayor, Pam Iorio, emphasized how public transportation influences large companies to move or not move to Tampa Bay. If Tampa is going to grow and be successful, it is obvious we need to be a corporation friendly city, like many other average size cities are already doing.

For More info visit: www.goHART.org

Continue to read discription of the event as listed on Tampa Bay Business Journal’s web site:

The Tampa Bay Business Journal’s March 2nd Community Conversation Breakfast will take on the critical topic of transportation, key to the future of Tampa Bay planning and growth. Now that the Tampa Bay Area Regional Transportation Authority has adopted its master plan and is now seeking a funding source, longer-term issues surrounding the sector are ripe for discussion. Topics for this lively panel are likely to include light rail and route choices, high speed rail and why it is a critical part of the local transportation infrastructure development, transit-oriented development, workforce housing and even Hillsborough County’s referendum on a penny tax to fund what’s planned. As gas prices remain high, and demand for energy independence scenarios continue, what happens in the transportation sector is critical to everything from quality of life to business recruitment and retention.
This lively, candid and informative discussion will be moderated by TBBJ Editor Alexis Muellner.

Any new technology follows a business implementation curve that has become an industry expectation.

As the new technology develops, the acceptance and quality are low, and the expense and difficulty are high.  As the quality increases and the expense decrease we see a large swell in acceptance and popularity.  Cell phones are a prime example of this phenomenon.  So the question becomes, where is video conferencing on this timeline/curve?

Since 2000, the modern video conference system has become somewhat common place.  It was still plagued by unreliability of the hardware, or codec, which has the responsibility of encoding voice, video and data and decoding the same signal from a compatible far end codec.  During this same period, IP connectivity was completely unpredictable, so it was always recommended to use ISDN lines, just as you would use a phone line to make a phone call.

ISDN lines and long distance charges continued to make these calls cost prohibitive, and the quality was good, not great.

Fast forward to today…

Today’s HD Systems:  Polycom – Tandberg – Life-size

High Definition Systems:

• 720p video resolution for clear crisp images (1080p is on the horizon)
• High quality audio reproduction
• Advances in hardware and firmware, enable better encoding and decoding
• High quality computer image sharing to far side
• Backward compatible with legacy systems

Connectivity:

• Cost effective wide bandwidth availability and improved internet connections
• As an option – Priority connectivity to guarantee mission critical calls at additional cost
• MPLS and Quality of Service options can be deployed within current networks with firewalls

NOTE:  ISDN lines are being phased out by most companies.  On the rare occasions that you need to connect with someone using ISDN, I would recommend a conference service provider that can connect your IP system to the far side by means of a bridge and ISDN gateway at a metered rate.

Product Evaluation – Ease of Use

Any new technology is only as good as the implementation into standard business functions.

It must be easy to use, and the philosophy behind its use must be companywide and from the top down.

In my experience, the most valued systems became part of the normal meeting policy.  To accomplish this, they must be as easy to use as a telephone.  They should be easily integrated into the normal meeting, by the touch of a button.  As a rule, if the audio visual system, including the video conferencing, takes longer than 5 minutes to set up, it will be more of a distraction than an asset.

This bad experience can be avoided.  The team responsible for deploying new technology must include:  Senior level management, IT department, Training and/or Marketing (the most common presenters) and partnership with a reliable audio visual systems integrator.  This team must work together to completely understand the way your company functions and a clear picture of its strengths and weaknesses.  This team should strive to develop long range goals for the technology, so that components implemented today will fit in with long term solutions that will become part of your company’s culture.

Return on Investment

Today’s company understands that ROI means more than just money spent.  In addition to spending money more wisely, a company must look at productivity as well.  How much more efficient and effective can your company be, by employing current technology.

Frequent Corporate travel is not just expensive; it often creates undue stress and can lower quality of life, and employee satisfaction index, causing increased loss of productivity.   Can this technology improve the current work environment?

Not to be left out, video conferencing is quickly becoming the technology choice of companies concerned with their carbon footprint and have marketed this feature as a way of “going green”.

For any questions or collaborative information please contact:  www.theProMediaGroup.com