Videoconferencing has moved beyond the boardroom. Despite the economic slowdown, the Gartner Group released projections in March predicting that the videoconferencing system market would grow 20 - 30% annually in 2008 and again in 2009. What's driving this growth? According to Randy Riebe, Director, Integrator Channel Sales at Tandberg, a need to reduce the high cost of travel is part of the answer, but even more important are several long-term improvements that have come together to position video as a mainstream communications technology. "The biggest factor," says Riebe, "is the proliferation of IP networks." The move from ISDN to IP-based connections has driven down bandwidth costs, made systems easier to operate, and brought about the possibility of high-definition conferencing with dramatically improved video quality. "This is no longer an exotic technology," says Chris Wilson of Sound Vision. "We can help our customers connect easily and cost-effectively with almost anyone." Learn more about videoconference trends and high definition conferencing systems Good lighting is a rare commodity in many videoconferencing rooms, but it doesn't have to be that way, says Gerard Darville of Lutron Electronics. According to Darville, there's a lot you can accomplish if you know something about lighting fixtures and their placement, the concept of main and fill lights, contrast, background lighting, windows, glare and the shape, color and reflectivity of furniture. "We know studio lighting would not be practical in most conference rooms," he says, 'but we can apply what we learn from the studio and get very good results." Read our videoconferencing lighting tips. Learn how some simple ideas and well-designed equipment can greatly improve the image quality that you get from your videoconferencing system. Christopher Wilson has joined Sound Vision as a System Sales Engineer. "We have been designing and installing videoconferencing systems for a number of years," says John Miles, SVI's president, "but Chris brings us an extraordinary depth of experience in the field, particularly in network infrastructure." Wilson comes to Sound Vision after 22 years of work with technology and telecommunications firms. Since his graduation from Ohio University in 1986, he has helped customers deploy, add on to and maintain data and voice networks and install videoconferencing and multimedia rooms. His resume includes many years of experience at a local exchange carrier as well as almost nine years at AV systems integrators. "Traditionally, in the AV world, we look at videoconferencing as one of the applications in a custom room, whereas I look at it from the perspective of a corporate network infrastructure," says Wilson. "I've spent years helping customers install backroom equipment to support teleconferencing, including firewall traversal, network management and multipoint control units, or bridges if you will. If I'm not mistaken, I sold the first high definition Codian MCU in the Midwest." "One of Chris' references was the regional manager for a large manufacturer of videoconferencing equipment," Miles says. "He told me that Chris is the most knowledgeable person working in the Chicago area." Contact Chris with questions about videoconferencing systems

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