Telepresence market to touch $40mn by 2012

Zinnov Management Consulting released findings of a study on 'Opportunity
Landscape for Telepresence in India'. According to the study, conferencing
market has undergone a paradigm shift with the emergence of telepresence as the
business solution for real time communication. This market is estimated to grow
at a rapid CAGR of 53 percent and reach $40 million by 2012. The current
telepresence market is pegged at $7.2 million.

Over the years, the conferencing market in India has evolved a great deal
from audio conferencing (PSTN/ISDN) to audio conferencing (VoIP), followed by
video conferencing (VPN/leased line) and finally tele-presence. Key factors that
have led to this growth so far and moving forth, would in-turn take the industry
to the next level are improve-ment in broadband infrastructure, increase in
travel cost, going green initiatives and globalization.

Customized efforts targeting sectors like education, government, BFSI and even SMEs can significantly increase telepresence in India

While segments like IT and ITeS would typically become early adopters of
telepresence in India due to growth in the number of R&D captives and shared
service centers at multiple locations, other sectors where telepresence can
truly make strong inroads are education, government and BFSI, according to the
study.

Pari Natarajan, CEO, Zinnov Management Consulting said, "The importance of
telepresence needs to be reinforced through specific marketing initiatives as it
is the next big wave in conferencing. Customized efforts targeting sectors like
education, government, BFSI and even SMEs can significantly increase
telepresence in India. Various factors like increase in broadband penetration,
the rollout of 3G services, government efforts and initiatives by the BFSI IT/ITeS
sectors paint a very bright picture."