Four years after it first ventured into personal computer videoconferencing, Compression Labs of San Jose, California is having a second stab at the market. The company’s new launch consists of two systems, based on Pentium-powered personal computers running Windows 3.X and Windows95. The smaller, Desktop Video 1000, costs $1,500 and includes a telephone handset, camera and ISDN Codec. The device supports transmission speeds of between 56Kbps and 128Kbps. The high-end Video 2000 supports transmission rates of up to 384Kbps through an optional add-in board. The company claims that the system can display full-screen video at 22 frames per second (30 frames per second at CIF resolutions). The system complies with the H.320 videoconferencing standard for interoperability and it also interoperates with Compression Lab’s existing installed base. Compression Lab’s first attempt, four years ago was Cameo which was a Macintosh-based product. This time around the company is sticking with Windows-based personal computers. Where Cameo was, if anything, ahead of its time, the Video line is following a well-worn path. Compression Labs says that the two products are the first in a series of personal computer-based products that it intends to launch, the others include videoconferencing over regular analogue telephone, Isochronous Ethernet and Asynchronous Transfer Mode. The are no details of when these subsequent products will arrive. Part of the company’s strategy is to work with existing data collaboration tools. Initially it is supporting Intel Corp’s Proshare Premier, and it is promising support for DataBeam Farsite.
