Dolch Computer Systems has a reputation of going ahead and offering as products things that cause everyone to say Wow! before wondering uneasily whether there is really any market for the impressive product. But the Milpitas, California company whose recent trick was to come out with a liquid-cooled portable computer built around the Pentium – is still around, so it must earn enough to pay the bills. Now it has teamed up with GTE Corp’s GTE Vantage Solutions in Chantilly, Virginia for just what the world didn’t know it was waiting for – high performance portable multimedia teleconferencing systems. The systems are based on GTE Vantage’s Desktop Video Teleconferencing System and Dolch’s ruggedised Portable Add-in Computer family of Power Portables. The total package weighs about 20 lbs and is fully self-contained with an adjustable colour video camera, microphone, and high-fidelity sound system integrated into the front panel. It operates over switched 56Kbps lines or ISDN. The GTE system provides live video, speech and document conferencing, including exchanges of images and graphics with simultaneous annotations displayed in Windows, so that workers in remote locations to conduct face-to-face meetings and review and edit documents in real time from their desktop or portable machines. The system with built-in video camera, sound system, and complete video teleconferencing capability is expected to be less than $20,000 with ships early next year.
