Cisco bringing high-end video conferencing to homes

Cisco, which sells videoconferencing equipment to companies, said it would partner with Verizon Communications Inc in the United States to sell it to homes.

Cisco has been expanding from routers and switches to more consumer-oriented products through acquisitions, including its 2006 deal for cable set-top box maker Scientific Atlanta and its more recent plan to buy Norway’s Tandberg, the world’s leader in videoconferencing equipment.

“Home telepresence will make a difference in consumers’ lives by allowing them to enjoy natural video communications with family and friends wherever they are located,” Marthin DeBeer, senior vice president and head of Cisco’s emerging technologies group, said in a statement.

The latest announcement, which coincides with the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, also comes as competition in high-quality video communications expands to the living room from the boardroom.

No. 2 video conferencing company Polycom Inc, which mainly targets corporate customers, also unveiled a videoconferencing system this week, using technology by IBM.

Skype has recently joined the fray, responding to demands from online video chat users for more life-like video quality. The privately held company has forged deals with consumer electronics makers LG Electronics and Panasonic to move its Internet video service to home TVs.

Cisco’s advantage is its close relationships with telecommunications providers. Adopting bandwidth-heavy services like online video would also benefit the rest of its business, like the routers that support Internet connections.

Slow Internet connections have been the main obstacle to expanding high-quality videoconferencing into homes, and Cisco executives have said a partnership with an Internet service provider would be crucial to ensuring high video quality.

Cisco said Verizon would be an “early partner” — leaving room for more partnerships ahead.

The new videoconferencing system will use consumers’ existing high-definition television sets and broadband connections, it said.

It also said field trials in France will start later in 2010, in partnership with France Telecom.