InfoBulletin

The eternal problem of getting people around a table is one we all know, but when the table is one place and the people are in different towns, countries or even continents, then expense enters the unpredictable equation too.

Many jet-setting CEOs may have encountered desktop audio-conferencing as a relief for their strained travel budgets if not their posture. Picture strained discussions between equally strained delegates all leaning forward to ensure their voices are picked up by the microphone buried in the R2D2-style device centred on the table. "Are they getting what I'm saying?" is the continual concern.

To overcome this concern, video-conferencing undoubtedly ups the ante in terms of ease of use, mainly because suddenly participants can view each others' faces and gauge reactions.

Microsoft RoundTable is one such video-conferencing solution, a plonk-it-on-the-desk style device with a 360-degree camera. Remote participants need no additional equipment, just their computer and a network connection, to connect to the meeting and view the panoramic and active speaker video.

RoundTable is designed to work with Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 or Microsoft Office Live Meeting. It presents remote meeting participants with panoramic video of everyone sitting around the conference table, fairly comparable to being in the room itself. The 'super widescreen' camera resolution of 3700 x 600 pixels gives away its panoramic credentials (1056 x 144 pixels for video).

Meetings can be more natural since active speaker detection technology determines high-resolution video of the current speaker, switching between participants as they speak. This tracking helps the flow of conversation in real time.

The console itself contains a high-resolution backlit graphical LCD (with device status icons), a touchscreen-based telephone keypad and nav keys, as well physical keys for on/off-hook, flash, mute, volume up, volume down, and a loudspeaker. The plug-and-play USB device that also functions as a standard PSTN speakerphone.

At upwards of £2000 it's not necessarily a minor investment. Factor in transatlantic flight costs and staff time-savings though, and such a device can break even on the first meeting. Moreover, there are fewer cost penalties with involving more people in a video conference - thereby keeping everyone in the loop – then there are with physically shifting people around the planet, wherever your green aspirations lie.