By Casey King, CTO, Lifesize

Groundbreaking technology can’t just be 50 percent faster or 30 percent easier to use. It has to beat existing standards by ten times. At Lifesize, we call that “The 10X Factor.” It means a way of thinking about innovation as a collection of advancements. For example, a new product may have 2X better compression, be 2X more affordable, and be 6X more efficient to deploy. Add it all up, and you have a 10 times better overall product, and a real groundbreaker. Actually it’s even better than that since you should multiply the gains together, but you get the idea.

Lifesize Cloud brings the 10X Factor to both video conferencing users and enterprise IT professionals. Cloud technology lets us offer more features at a lower cost than almost any physical on-premise infrastructure. In the cloud, people can get on board more quickly, and sharing data and collaboration are much easier – paving the way to hit that coveted 10X Factor goal. We can also advance the product quicker with a much more consistent experience.

In developing Lifesize Cloud, we had to continually reinvent ourselves. We were constantly throwing away what everyone thought was possible, to look at problems with fresh curiosity for potential. We made sure that everyone understood that moving to the cloud is a fundamentally different way of thinking about technology. We continue to ask these questions and push what is possible.

For one thing, the cloud is a disruptive innovation, not incremental. In the cloud you can really put the “network effect” into practice for video conferencing users. Here’s what I mean: Popular electronic devices have limited value by themselves. That value is multiplied when you connect them to networks of other things. The same is true for Lifesize Cloud. Users easily connect to applications and people. Your directory automatically updates whenever new users register endpoints. Collaboration is as easy as “point and click.” And the more people you collaborate with, the more useful the service becomes.

The network effect comes with real cost savings, too. Cloud-based video conferencing can outperform much more expensive on-premise solutions several times over. Faster servers, global redundant coverage, more connected devices, and more sophisticated mobile applications on smart devices and remote desktops have made the technology practical.

But what gives Lifesize Cloud the 10X Factor is more than the infrastructure alone. We’ve also taken a fresh look at simplicity and ease of use. Among our competitors, the things that make video conferencing a valuable collaboration tool – things like connecting calls, adding callers, and sharing files – were still too complicated. Lifesize Cloud, like all Lifesize products, is built for simplicity. It’s as easy to use and understand as the applications on your smartphone. And the more you use it, the more features you’ll discover that you may not even known were there. It’s that intuitive.

I truly believe that the cloud is the future of video conferencing deployment. From connectedness to collaboration, from simplicity and affordability to intuitively obvious functionality, cloud deployment is changing video communication. And Lifesize Cloud leads the pack.

No matter how you add it up, cloud technology – and Lifesize Cloud – has the 10X Factor we’re all looking for.