In a nutshell video conferencing will be as omnipresent as email, cell phones and faxes. We will all have video numbers or video conferencing cloud access for our homes and offices.  The video number and the cloud based video access will be clearly displayed on our business cards.  Even today one can seamlessly access the boardroom video conferencing CODEC, or room system from an iPhone or Droid.    As the manufactured solutions become more refined and the industry matures, new developments will accelerate with higher expectations in the market.  Cloud based video conferencing will certainly play a role.  Even the smallest enterprise will be able to easily afford video conferencing.  In fact, over time, a small business serving other businesses will not be able to function without some kind of video conferencing access.  Imagine trying to function today without email, cell phone or Internet access — Your enterprise would be at a major disadvantage and would shortly be out of business.

If you look closely on how cell phone service developed and became ubiquitous, you will clearly see what will happen in the video conferencing world.  At first cell phone where expensive and needed to be installed in a fixed position in a vehicle.  Then Motorola came up with the first hand held option in the 80’s known as the “Brick.”  One big difference on how cell service developed over video conferencing is the fact cell phones could initially and seamlessly connect to the office or home – initially video could not seamlessly connect to the office or home.  Currently video conferencing can connect anywhere there is a device – Computer; iPhone; iPad or computer.  The new video conferencing acronym is BYOD, (Bring Your Own Device).

Today video conferencing is poised to explode because just about every device like an iPad, iPhone and Droid has front and back cameras.  Also, you can easily purchase a high def web cam with a built in mic at any office supply store or computer store.  This coupled with the availability of broadband access at continually lower prices and higher end user expectation is creating a perfect storm for accelerated technical development.

Many services are including video conferencing in their offerings, i.e. WebEx; GoToMeeting, etc. – but these services will be left behind because they are in communication silos and cannot cross connect seamlessly as in standards based video conferencing.   Robust standards based video conferencing cloud services with data sharing interoperability will replace proprietary conferencing services.  The market will demand video conferencing with the data sharing within a standard based solution that can connect to anyone without the headache of subscribing to bunch of different services.   Video conferencing develops in a market with higher expectation and lower astonishment — It will be race towards ease of use and connectivity to everywhere.