Videoconf. Co. Revisits On-Campus Concept

Though most of the recent attention paid to videoconferencing solutions has centered on desktop or portable systems, one supplier is betting that buyers will be more interested in a very different product: life-size, large-screen conferencing in dedicated rooms on corporate campuses.

Englewood, Ohio-based TeleSuite Corp., which gained notice in 1996 by forming an ill-fated partnership with Hilton Hotels Corp. to develop such rooms in hotels, and again in 1998 by becoming part of Rosenbluth International's roster of travel alternatives, has seen business spike since Sept. 11, as have many remote conferencing suppliers. However, TeleSuite, which sells directly to corporations and counts Cigna and AOL Time Warner as clients, is banking heavily that corporations will be more interested in a permanent alternative to travel.

"This is not for everyone, but it's for a lot of people," said TeleSuite CEO David Allen. "Other forms of videoconferencing are not good enough or real enough."

TeleSuite's full-screen form is geared toward corporations that have offices in several locations, particularly those with at least 20 employees. It is compatible with any other videoconferencing system, and just about every customer it has uses TeleSuite services in conjunction with an existing videoconferencing product.

The company has a variety of offerings for rooms that seat four to 48 people. The rooms are installed and connected to the corporate network infrastructure by TeleSuite, but it's not cheap. Buying a prefabricated TeleSuite room costs an average of about $250,000 plus a monthly service fee, Allen said, or the company could be charged $7,500 monthly in a lease agreement with unlimited usage. "That sounds like a lot, but it's not compared to airline expenditures," he said. "It doesn't take too many monthly trips to justify the expense, and you can use it as much as you want."

Pointing to portable group videoconferencing solutions as a more popular offering, remote conferencing consultant S. Ann Earon, president of Telemanagement Resources International of Skillman, N.J., said, "Companies are very concerned with budget and when looking to upgrade videoconferencing, they are focusing on group systems because IP networks are not totally built out. TeleSuite is a niche market and while their business is growing, it's not at a fast rate."

The company, Allen said, is in a better financial position than it ever has been. "We just closed $14 million in financing and we're well-capitalized," he said. "This is the greatest moment for me and the company. We've sweated bullets."

The company is exploring the possibility of public access or fractional-interest setups, but nothing has been developed as of yet.