Selecting the right conferencing equipment is key to getting value from your video network. While there are several good choices, consideration of the following items should help to narrow your selection to one or two products and manufacturers.

Budget
This is usually the number one concern. Consider whether you will have more capital available now or in the future. Compare this with the ability to obtain operating funds for personnel, network usage, training and maintenance costs.

Value
This is the balance between price and several other factors such as: ease of use, longevity of equipment, reliability, cost of network calls and cost of upgrades or updates. Determining these factors in advance of your purchase can significantly affect the choice of systems.

Vendor Partnerships
Seldom considered at the early stages of acquiring video communications equipment, vendor selection is likely to have the most long lasting benefit or cost to your network. Most vendors (also called resellers of equipment) are available to offer services long after a product is discontinued or a manufacturer changes focus. Therefore, the longest relationship you will have with respect to your video network is likely to be with your vendor of equipment and not the equipment itself. A good selection of a vendor can minimize headaches with systems, service and upgrades for many years.

Equipment Manufacturers
Often, manufacturers don't interact with customers unless serious problems arise. That is why a good vendor can be of such help. They can buffer your interaction with the manufacturer and ensure you get proper support and they will usually steer your organization toward the best manufacturers. Equipment manufacturers' can assist in selecting the best product in their own product line for your application but they seldom recommend other manufacturers products that may be equally satisfactory. A good vendor will represent several manufacturers' products.

Project Management
This is key when installing new equipment and especially when upgrading a network. Good project management, installation, vendor-to-manufacturer communication and RMA procedures are essential to meeting timelines and budgets. Most buyers and many vendors fail to adequately include project management for installations and upgrades to video networks. Good project management is key for projects of any meaningful size.

Currently, although there are many manufacturers of quality equipment in the video conferencing industry, TKO regularly recommends only four manufacturers (Tandberg, Sony, Polycom and Initia) for video communications and networking equipment.

Codian is a manufacturer of Multipoint Control Units (MCU), ISDN and IP gateways, video conferencing recorders, and streaming video solutions. Codian was selected as the recipient of Frost & Sullivan’s 2006 Videoconferencing Entrepreneurial Company of the Year Award. Codian is nowa division of Tandberg specializing in enterprise solutions for video conferencing network infrastructures.

LifeSize manufactures a wide array of HD video communications solutions using advanced technology to deliver a truly stunning exerience. LIfeSize products enable the highest quality video conferencing solutions available on the market today, and each system is built to be user friendly, reliable, and to create a truly interactive audio and visual experiences

Tandberg^®- A global leader in video conferencing. They design, develop and manufacture video conferencing systems. Tandberg has its headquarters in Oslo, Norway and has major offices in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, China and Japan. The company is publicly traded on the Oslo Stock Exchange under the symbol TAA. Tandberg offers a full range of video conferencing endpoints from small room systems to fully integrated educational video conferencing systems. They also manufacture their own Multipoint Control Unit (MCU).

Sony has developed an array of quality equipment and optional accessories for the fast growing video conferencing market. The "user friendly" Sony PCS-1, PCS-11, TL50 and G70 systems has further enhanced your next video conference meeting to be more affordable, easy and effective. The futuristic designs of the systems with the latest vido conferencing technolgy has made Sony a perfect match for businesses that need easy-to-use video communications.

Polycom^® - Manufactures and markets a full range of high-quality, easy-to-use and affordable voice and video communication endpoints along with video management software, web conferencing software, multi-network gateways, and multipoint conferencing solutions. Polycom's menu of products includes popular products such as the ViewStation^(SM), an end-point video conferencing system, and the Accord^(SM) MGC which is an MCU for video conferencing.

Initia^®, Inc. - Manufactures a capable product called the AccessSwitch^™, an ISDN routing system. This product is an ISDN/T1 based switching device that can emulate many different communications modes including T1, E1, PRI, BRI, 5ESS, 4ESS, DMS 100 and DMS 250. The Initia AccessSwitch is the most capable enterprise switching system available. It economically accommodates both public and private network call routing for video conferences. This is a significant feature for many large enterprises.

TKO Video Communications
TKO also provides satellite broadcasting, audio conferencing, audio and video streaming as well as training in telecommunications and video conferencing.

Group Meetings | Monitors | Cart | Conference Tables | Meetings
Tandberg 1000 | 7000 | 8000 | MCU | 550 | 880