A Maryland company is leading the charge to bring new teleconferencing technology to the marketplace.
Presidio Corp., headquartered in Greenbelt, was invited by Cisco Systems Inc. to provide TelePresence advance technology to clients across the nation.
“This is not video teleconferencing,” Presidio?s President Rudy Casasola said. “This is an all-new category.”
The technology brings teleconferencing into the world of high-definition, allowing up to 12 people in one room to interact with people off site over the Internet using a large LCD, liquid crystal display, television screens.
“It?s life-size,” Casasola said. “The quality is such that you can see eye and body movement. People like face-to-face meetings, and [with TelePresence] you can pick up on body language and read a lot into how people sit or move.”
Presidio is one of four companies nationwide chosen by Cisco to install the TelePresence system, which Casasola said costs about $250,000 to install in one facility.
Casasola said law firms, health care organizations, manufacturing concerns and any business that does work away from its home office are ripe for TelePresence.
“It is very cool,” he said. “With this solution, you can bring clients into the Baltimore office and meet a specialist in Chicago. The meeting is like you are there. Without a doubt, this is a big change in how organizations interact and do business.”
Already government agencies have chosen the new technology as a way to speed business and save money.
“The Florida Supreme Court and the Fulton County Jail [in Atlanta] use it for video arraignment to reduce costs,” said Thad Anderson, Presidio?s director of service operations. “This technology hopes to drive itself based on saving time and travel.”
Presidio, with 265 employees nationwide, has 160 people in its Maryland headquarters. The privately held company has grown about 17 percent annually in recent years, Casasola said, with its advanced technology division growing 37 percent.
Two private equity firms, Columbia Capital in Alexandria and Oak Investment Partners in Palo Alto, Calif., hold equity stakes in the company.
