Thought Leaders in Cloud Computing: Chris Lauwers, CTO of Avistar (Part 6)

SM: Interesting, very interesting. I’m interested in also exploring the implications of collaboration/cloud-based collaboration outside of the enterprise. Is that something that you can talk to? Have you been following the evolution outside of the enterprise? >>>

Thought Leaders in Cloud Computing: Chris Lauwers, CTO of Avistar (Part 5)

SM: Why do you need that? I guess what I’m trying to understand is Skype-to-Skype calls are very easy. Everybody knows how to do Skype-to-Skype video calls. Where do you come into the picture?

CL: It goes back to the user experience and how easy is it for users to manage the sessions, initiate the sessions. If that can get done all from within the context of the application he’s using all day, that is a simpler user experience, and that will [give] them the incentive to use the technology. >>>

Thought Leaders in Cloud Computing: Chris Lauwers, CTO of Avistar (Part 4)

Sramana Mitra: I think the desktop experience, which should be getting significantly richer over the next couple of years, is going to put pressure on telepresence.

Chris Lauwers: Absolutely. I completely agree with that. If you don’t mind, I’d like to come back to your earlier question. You asked about phasing and evolution of communications, especially unified communications as it relates to cloud computing. >>>

Thought Leaders in Cloud Computing: Chris Lauwers, CTO of Avistar (Part 3)

Sramana Mitra: Yes. However, they are at different stages of evolution. I think in terms of product road map, they’re all on this path that you just described. But I noticed from my own experience that WebEx does not yet have multi-skin video conferencing, for instance. Neither does Citrix. HD Faces is just starting out, but it’s not available in an event product, right?

Chris Lauwers: That’s correct. It’s still segmented and segregated even within the product offerings from individual organizations. But I think it’s clear what the long-term direction is. There’s a lot of product development that needs to get done to provide the seamless, integrated user experience with the skinable UIs and what have you. That’s a matter of product development on the vendor’s side. But also, I think, customer adoption is probably somewhat lagging for some of those products. >>>

Thought Leaders in Cloud Computing: Chris Lauwers, CTO of Avistar (Part 2)

Sramana Mitra: Absolutely. The cloud-based collaboration, or in any kind of cloud strategy, collaboration is featuring as one of the top items right now. Now, given your experience with the industry, would you talk a little bit with some historical perspective about where we have come from in the cloud collaboration technology and where we are today?

Chris Lauwers: Well, let me take that in a couple different phases. Let’s talk first about collaboration and communication. Collaboration, historically, has been somewhat of a segmented market. You’ve had Web conferencing technologies that have become widely adopted, primarily for giving presentations to customers and remote meetings. You, obviously, have had your telecom infrastructure and your telephony infrastructure that, over the years, has evolved to VoIP. You’ve had video conferencing that has been somewhat of a niche market, but with very well-defined applications and value propositions. Historically, those have been discreet segments that, at least in the enterprise, have been managed by discreet groups that didn’t collaborate all that much. >>>

Thought Leaders in Cloud Computing: Chris Lauwers, CTO of Avistar

In today’s global marketplace, efficient video conferencing is a must. Since 1984, Avistar has been offering such services to its clients in the education, health care, finance, manufacturing, entertainment and media industries. Over the years, the company has made video conferencing faster, smoother and more affordable for its growing global clientele. Says Avistar on its website, “We believe our software-only approach is advantageous for both end user populations and our OEMs and resellers. For everyone, it means quick deployment, lower cost, and right-sized buying.”

Sramana Mitra: Hi Chris. Let’s set the context with some information about Avistar and some of your background information so the audience knows where all this perspective is coming from. >>>

2012: Top Trends and Opportunities

New year. Fresh energy. Time to take stock of trends and open problems for 2012. The most notable change this coming year is that Steve Jobs is dead. In death, however, he has become even larger than life, and his legacy will drive this decade’s technology movement for a while at least. One of his key legacies is the marriage of technology and humanities, which I believe will shape the next phase of evolution in the IT industry. I elaborated my vision in Silicon Valley: The Next Decade.

In Top 10 Tech Trends For The Decade, I outlined a set of key movements which are pretty much the driving factors for the time being:

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Indian Product Entrepreneurs: Your Time Has Come

We have discussed the topic of technology product companies from India on this blog for many years now. In 2012, finally, we will see the first major crop of Indian entrepreneurs playing on the global stage. I can say this with confidence based on my first hand experience mentoring a number of serious and promising Indian product entrepreneurs in the 1M/1M program, one of whom, Freshdesk, has just raised financing from Accel Partners.

To put this evolution in context, let me offer you both some historical commentary, and also a bit of a blue-print of what is working, and why this is going to be a major trend, as opposed to a one-off happenstance.

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