India businesses eager for high-definition videoconferencing

Lifesize®, the high definition video communications company, today announced that it has expanded its commitment to the India market by adding three new channel partners to increase its ability to serve the booming India market. Lifesize has signed distribution agreements with leading resellers Actis Technologies, Enkay Technologies and SEC Communications. These partnerships will provide considerable depth across India in the areas of integrated video communications solutions, convergence and collaboration.

“India is a priority market for Lifesize because leading businesses here recognize the benefits of high-definition videoconferencing,” said K. Shivasankar, Country Manager, Lifesize Communications – India. “Lifesize is committed to fostering long-term channel partnerships to bring this powerful technology to the India market.”

Experts credit much of India’s recent growth in international trade to the early adoption of leading-edge telecommunications technologies by forward-looking entrepreneurs, enabling the country’s skilled workforce to compete globally. Lifesize believes India’s success in the global technology industry make it an ideal market for low-cost, high-definition videoconferencing.

“High-definition videoconferencing allows more meaningful and productive engagements between employees and organizations across different geographies, said Craig Malloy, CEO, Lifesize. “The human face speaks in a universal language. When people can see one another, communication is greatly enhanced. Unlike a telephone call or an email exchange, video gives instant feedback. The ability to collaborate across continents is far greater.”

The company’s own experience with cross-continent video collaboration has been a tremendous success. In August 2006, Lifesize established a Design Center in Bangalore to focus on software development and its Bangalore engineering team uses the company’s products to collaborate closely with their counterparts in Austin, Texas. Because of the success of this collaboration, LizeSize continues to add personnel to its design center in India.

Lifesize will work with new partners Actis Technologies, Enkay Technologies and SEC Communications as well as existing channel partner PLUS Business Machines to aggressively expand presence in the India market. With a large number of systems already installed in India, Lifesize and its channel partners aim to reach out to customers in key verticals such as government, large enterprises, BFSI, telemedicine, the education sector and the technology and service industries. Lifesize has the highest number of true High Definition endpoints installed worldwide.

Lifesize delivers superior quality, high definition video communications over any public or private internet connection. Lifesize systems were created specifically to enhance human communication with transparent technology and complete reliability, ensuring that each and every interaction is meaningful. Lifesize is committed to constant innovation, which enables to the delivery of the best price-to-performance products in the market, offering the highest quality video at all bandwidths.

According to industry estimates, the audio-video conferencing industry in India stood at Rs. 100 core at the end of 2006-07, up from Rs. 65 core in the preceding financial year and is likely to grow at a CAGR of 24.9% through 2011. Traditionally, the corporate sector has been the biggest buyer for conferencing solutions. In the recent years, leading service providers such as Bharti, Reliance and VSNL have emerged as the most important buyers of conferencing solutions. Distance learning and telemedicine are also driving growth within this segment.