It’s the TelePresence announcement I’ve been awaiting for about six months. A major hotel chain, a major service provider and a major technology vendor are partnering up to deploy managed TelePresence services (a.k.a. next-generation video conferencing) at hotels worldwide. Here’s the scoop. Plus, the implications for managed service providers.
First, the news:
Marriott International is announcing it will offer telepresence technology in its hotels worldwide, using AT&T’s fully-managed AT&T Telepresence Solution. Cisco TelePresence(TM) technology will enable Marriott to offer customers the widest array of meeting options, whether in-person, virtual or both.
There’s a simple message here for MSPs: You need to master video. Fast. As your customers begin to spot TelePresence services in major hotels, they will begin to ask you about lower-cost video services for their own businesses.
At first, TelePresence was cost-prohibitive for many MSPs and their customers. A typical TelePresence video conferencing room could cost $300,000 or more to deploy, plus ongoing monthly service management fees. Gradually, Cisco Systems, Hewlett-Packard, LifeSize Communications and other companies have introduced lower-cost TelePresence options.
Now, major service providers and hotels are jumping into the action, offering TelePresence services to hotel guests for a flat hourly fee.
According to a press release:
Initially, Marriott plans to locate telepresence meeting suites in 25 global gateway cities, including New York, San Francisco, Washington, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Frankfurt and London, in its Marriott Hotels & Resorts(R), JW Marriott Hotels & Resorts(R) and Renaissance Hotels & Resorts(R) brands. The first telepresence meeting suites are expected to go live at the end of October.
Of course, TelePresence and high-definition video have multiple applications. Many MSPs are starting to offer managed video as a service (MVaaS), which allows retailers, government offices and school campuses to closely monitor their properties.
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Tags: AT&T TelePresence | Cisco TelePresence | managed telepresence services | Managed VaaS | managed video as a service | Marriot International TelePresence
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I think the spread of video conference tools is great, although these hotels are going to have a hard time paying off the cost of these solutions. Not only is there the cost of the equipment, but now you need IT resources to set up and maintain the equipment, you have technology obsolescence, and you need very high bandwidth circuits. Hotels might be better off partnering with a web conferencing company to allow guests to take part of video conferences right from a laptop in their room. I’ve used Vonei Meeting from hotel rooms with no issue, and I take my account with me when I travel. Vonei Meeting
Alex: Thanks for the Vonei tip. And here’s another thought: Perhaps some hotels aren’t paying for the telepresence technology.
I wonder if there’s an inverse business model, where the service provider (AT&T, for instance) “leases” the hotel space for a fixed monthly fee from the hotel. And then the service provider pays for the space by creating a time-share telepresence approach… charging users an hourly fee that more than covers the cost of the leased space plus the technology…
Interesting point Joe. I have a contact at Starwood and I’ll ask him to see if he knows their financial arrangement. The model could be similar to Kinkos or Regus where they rent time on the system, which I’ve seen is $100+/hour. Perhaps the hotels get more revenue from the room lease than they would by revenue sharing with the web conferencing companies. And the salesperson and marketing person from Cisco get their quotas covered so it works for them. AT&T may be taking the business model risk in this case.
As a user I see no need to pay that amount of money just to hold video conferences which I can do with my laptop and webcam from my office, home, or Panera Bread’s wi-fi. I also find it a bit ironic that video conferencing is designed to reduce travel, yet hotels cater to the travel industry…For me give me a low cost service that is location independent with 24×7 access.
Joe – you were right, the telepresence system did not cost the Hotel a dime. Evidently there is a 4th player in the mix (Cisco, AT&T, Starwood, and …). From what I was told the 4th player is taking on the business risk. Seems to be a very big risk to me given the effectiveness of Vonei, WebEx, and the other web conferencing services. Convincing businesses to spend $100+/hr might be tough in today’s environment.
Alex: It was a lucky guess on my part. Let me know what you hear about that 4th player, how they’re feeling about the risk, early potential rewards, etc. I’m all ears if/when they’d like to share more info.
-jp