Video Conferencing news & articles

LifeSize Unveils LifeSize® PlanetWiseTM and Announces Global Partnership with The Climate Group (22nd January 2008)

LifeSize Communications, the global leader in high definition visual communications, today announced LifeSize® PlanetWise™, a comprehensive environmental initiative to promote green technologies that reduce pollution, improve the company’s environmental efficiency and provide pro-bono support to leading environmental non-governmental organizations.

“LifeSize believes in the power of high definition video to change the way we work and live,” said Craig Malloy, LifeSize CEO. “Video communication has a tremendous potential to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. Each trip avoided by using video has a direct, measurable reduction in an organization’s carbon footprint. By reducing the need to travel, LifeSize can have a profound and positive impact on the environment.”

“Real environmental change can only happen when many people change their behavior. Our greatest contribution to the environment is to create a communication experience so lifelike that it is preferable to travel and affordable enough for mainstream adoption. We will continue to push the price-performance envelope with products like our LifeSize Express that make high definition affordable for everyone, everywhere.”

As part of the company’s PlanetWise program, LifeSize conducted a thorough environmental audit of company operations to measure the company’s carbon footprint and identify opportunities for environmental improvement. LifeSize will share the company’s best environmental practices through the PlanetWise program.

“LifeSize is dedicated to being an environmentally friendly company, and our commitment starts with our own operations,” said Craig Malloy, LifeSize CEO. “With our audit complete, we can implement practices to help minimize, monitor and continually improve our environmental performance as we grow to be the market leader in our industry.”

“We learned in our audit that LifeSize is on the right track. Our use of video communications instead of travel has helped us build a world-class, high-growth company with global development, manufacturing and sales operations with greater speed, better business results and less pollution” said Craig. “In the future we will rely even more on video and less on travel.”

LifeSize PlanetWise education materials will provide information about the environmental benefits of video communication, strategies for successful implementation and tools for accurately measuring cost savings and carbon footprint reduction.

LifeSize is supporting The Climate Group, an independent, nonprofit organization which works internationally to advance business and government leadership on climate change. LifeSize has donated high definition video conferencing systems to The Climate Group to support their global communication needs while reducing the international NGO’s need for business travel. The Climate Group works with more than 40 forward-looking member companies and governments like AIG, Barclays, Bloomberg, Johnson & Johnson, JP Morgan Chase, Starbucks, Timberland and Virgin.

“The Climate Group welcomes LifeSize’s generous pro bono donation and their real-world solutions will support our international work with government and business leaders to accelerate a low-carbon economy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions” said Steve Howard, CEO, The Climate Group. “Their technology can truly change the way we all work, reduce the need to travel and have a profound and positive impact on the environment”.

“The Climate Group recently launched the Voluntary Carbon Standard - a global benchmark standard for project-based voluntary emission reductions” said Steve Howard. “LifeSize’s technology means we can engage with all potential users of the standard with face-to-face meetings over video, reducing the need for carbon-intensive business travel. It will allow us to work faster and more efficiently across our global network of offices and partners – and reduce our own carbon footprint as well”.

“LifeSize is pleased to teaming up with The Climate Group and supports their efforts to help companies and governments improve environmental and economic performance through better business practices,” said Craig Malloy, CEO, LifeSize. ”Companies are beginning to realize that doing the right thing for the environment actually improves their bottom line and capacity to innovate, and they look to The Climate Group for leadership on delivering low carbon business solutions.“

LifeSize’s equipment will be supporting The Climate Group in its work with its international coalition of corporate and government leaders to accelerate a low carbon economy.

“Working with The Climate Group puts LifeSize in the company of forward-looking businesses who are looking to identify the best environmental technologies and ideas and put them into widespread practice” said Craig Malloy.

« Back to News Listing

back to top

Glossary

Video conferencing on a personal computer using a webcam and software. Ideal for individual use.
Video conferencing on a small-integrated unit designed to sit on your desktop. Ideal for individual use or very small groups.
A video conferencing system that is built into your room. There are many integrated furniture options and plasma screens can be wall mounted.
High Definition is the newest set of standards for high quality video conferencing. High Definition standards have been defined by the ATSC (Advanced Television Systems Committee) as picture resolutions of 720p and 1080i/1080p. High Definition has a refresh rate of 24,25,30,50, 60 frames per second and a resolution image of 1280x720 pixels or 1920x1080 pixels. The higher number of pixels translates into sharper and clearer pictures. The higher refresh rate results in less flickering to the human eye. High Definition uses the progressive scan format rather than interlacing, treating the entire video image as one frame and does not suffer from jagged edges in the picture.
Polycom HD Voice delivers over twice the clarity of ordinary phone calls for life-like, vibrant conversations. Polycom HD Voice products have wideband technology for over twice the clarity of ordinary phone calls. Polycom's patented Acoustic Clarity Technology 2 combines next generation industry leading full duplex, echo cancellation, and noise reduction with advanced voice processing.
Polycom, Inc. is the worldwide leader in unified collaborative communications that maximize the efficiency and productivity of people and organizations by integrating the broadest array of video, voice, data and Web solutions to deliver the ultimate communications experience. Polycom's high quality, standards-based conferencing and collaboration solutions are easy to deploy and manage, as well as intuitive to use.
Certified Polycom Service Partners have been specially and extensively trained to support Polycom video conferencing systems.
Certified Polycom Service Resellers have been specially and extensively trained to support Polycom video conferencing systems.
Polycom Gold Certified Partners have demonstrated their extensive knowledge in Collaborative Communication technologies through rigorous testing in their selected product categories and the associated service requirements. They have the knowledge, skills, and commitment to implement technology solutions that match your exact business needs. They are highly skilled in providing the appropriate solution for your company's need. Gold Partners must also maintain a higher service standard to ensure that you receive the necessary support for your Polycom products.
Certified Tandberg Partners are trained to consult on, supply and support the full range of Tandberg's video conferencing solutions.
Videoconferencing is a live communication between people in separate locations. It usually involves audio and text as well as video. Videoconferencing in its simplest form transmits static images and text between two locations. Sophisticated video systems today can transmit full-motion video images and high-quality audio between multiple locations.
Video conferencing solutions comprise of everything you need to enable video communication between people in separate locations. Video conferencing systems can range from simple desk top systems for one-to-one video calls through to a sophisticated system, fully integrated into the design of your room for a video call between many people at a number of different locations.