Cisco’s high definition video-conferencing gear lets you catch every nuance of human expression. But at $550,000 a room, no-one’s going to buy it. At least, that's what I thought.

When I first saw Cisco’s Telepresence solution demo’d at the company’s Auckland office, I thought it was so brilliant it was almost unreal.

Three 60-inch, high-definition plasma screens displayed people video conferencing in from the other end.

Cisco controls the whole Telepresence set up, from the IP and compression technology behind the scenes to the TVs, the light fixtures and face-flattering mood lighting, the make of the table and even the colour of the wall in each suite. The idea is that your half-table, which runs 'into' the three giant screens, perfectly matches the half table in the Telepresence room you’re dialling into.

With people appearing full-size on the giant plasma screens – and able to move from screen to screen as they walk with spatial audio following them; an uncannily real experience of one virtual room is created.

I could literally see the time on the watch of a PR guy calling in from a US Cisco office, and every bored twitch playing on the face of his seriously bored offside.

Forget stuttering traditional web video, this is the sort fidelity that delivers Desmond Morris-level cues about what the other guy is thinking; the sort of medium you could use for serious negotiations (the system also supports more meat-and-potatoes activities with a ceiling mounted camera for displaying photo sample on the three 1920 x 1080 pixel screens, and a projector for sharing files via collaboration software like Windows Live Meeting).

It’s not perfect. After your initial “wow” period subsides, you notice little things: the cameras can’t be at everybody’s head-height, for example, meaning the person you’re talking too doesn’t exactly look you in the eyes.

But Telepresence is still one of the coolest tech toys I’ve seen, full-stop.

My second thought: nobody is going to buy this. At $US299,000 per room (or around $550,000 - and remember, you need a room at each end) for the full three screen version, tagged Cisco Telepresence 3000, it seems priced for the largest multinationals only (a “cheaper” one-screen version, originally designed so Cisco CEO John Chambers could conference into work from home, sells for $US79,000).

Then there’s the cost of the 5Mbit/s churning through your internet connection to sustain the high-def picture.

Wrong. Last week, I reported in NBR’s print edition that Gen-i has bought six suites – and the full whack too: three Telepresence 3000 rooms, plus three Telepresence 3200 rooms (which add a second row of seats to the suites half table).

The Telecom division’s Auckland office gets two suites, with one suite each being installed in the company’s Wellington, Christchurch, Sydney and Melbourne offices.

Back-of-the-napkin maths indicates Geni won’t get much change out of $4 million once the kit-outs are complete.

But with three suites already live, Gen-i head of integrated communications Selwyn Rimmer says the rooms are already booked out.

Payback in four years
Payback will come within four years, Mr Rimmer says, by dint of a 20% saving in travel as virtual Telepresence meeting are substituted for real-life get-togethers between Gen-i staff in other cities.

Mr Rimmer is also close to confirming plans to rent out Gen-i‘s suites by the hour to other companies (Telepresence can also be used to videoconference with those using more routine video technology, stepping down to match their quality.)

To ensure the travel savings, new chief executive Paul Reynolds has cut Gen-i’s travel budget up-front. No wonder those rooms are already booked out.

Doc Reynolds’ approach follows that of Cisco chief executive John Chambers, who has lopped $US1 billion off the US company’s travel costs, and installed 200 Telepresence rooms to help move things along.

Tie me air ticket down, sport
When I last checked in, Cisco had sold another 170 or so rooms on top of that, not counting Gen-i, or a new $A13 million Telepresence deal with the Australian government.

The federal government has bought 20 Cisco Telepresence 3000 suites, which will be rolled out around the country.

Along with the usual spiel about trimming travel costs, finance minister Lindsay Tanner says the videoconferencing suites will ease the hassle of travel, making it easier to retain staff.

Mr Tanner says the government spends $A280 million a year on domestic air travel. He hopes the Telepresence deployment will shave $A15 million a year from that.

To make a bigger impact on that travel total, Mr Tanner will have to install something close to Cisco's 200 or so Telepresence rooms.