Venture Capital Firm with Offices in Dallas, Austin and Chicago Utilizes High Definition Video Communications to Save Travel Costs and Enhance Business Interactions
Lifesize, the high definition video communications company, today announced that AIC Ventures has installed Lifesize® Room™ in three locations to enable its staff to collaborate with each other, investors and clients without having to travel between offices. Lifesize Room is a high definition video communications product that delivers exceptional video and audio quality at any bandwidth, allowing geographically distributed participants to interact more effectively across distances.
AIC, which provides capital to middle-market companies, originally purchased Lifesize Room in order to debut a new branding strategy to all of its employees without having to fly them in from the company’s three offices in Dallas, Austin and Chicago – a move that provided instant savings between $20,000 and $30,000 when it was deployed earlier this year. Since then, AIC has used Lifesize Room to conduct internal meetings between offices and to hold “live” meetings between investors, clients and employees – regardless of which of the three offices the participants are visiting.
“When I first saw the technology during our branding meeting this summer, I called our IT team in Dallas to congratulate them,” said AIC Ventures Chairman Paul Robshaw, who works in the company’s Austin office. “It was beautiful. I felt as if I could walk through the screen and right into our other offices. Since then we have made Lifesize an integral part of our business communications strategy.”
AIC began investigating videoconferencing options in early 2006. Working with GBH Communications, a leading provider of end-to-end video and audio solutions and a Lifesize channel partner, AIC chose Lifesize Room because it was the only solution that offered true high definition resolution at the lowest possible bandwidth. In addition, the system cost less than traditional solutions yet provided more functionality and better quality.
“Other vendors were charging a similar price for their low resolution products but did not provide the quality that Lifesize did,” said AIC President and Managing Partner Peter S. Carlsen. “The quality of Lifesize Room’s video and audio was clearly superior. And in our business, being able to look someone in the eye is as important, if not more so, than any documentation we may share. Lifesize Room lets us do that without having to bust our bottom line on travel.”
Lifesize Room, with its patent-pending industrial design and high definition technology, offers the very best price-to-performance value available on the market. By delivering better video quality at any bandwidth, Lifesize Room enables all types of businesses to benefit from a greatly enhanced user experience through more effective communications.
“What is especially gratifying about AIC’s experience is that they saw quality and cost benefits with their very first use, and instantly realized that Lifesize could play a larger role in their daily lives,” said Craig Malloy, CEO of Lifesize. “As with AIC, we believe all our customers, from small businesses to the world’s largest enterprises, can realize great productivity improvements with Lifesize high definition video communications solutions.”
Today’s announcement reinforces Lifesize’s leadership in the high definition video space and the momentum it has gained in recent months. On September 18, Lifesize announced that it had secured $25 million in Series D funding. On August 21, the company announced that it was broadening operations in Japan, India and Germany. And on July 26, it announced more than 1,000 Lifesize Room systems had already been shipped worldwide – just over six months after releasing the product. In August Lifesize also started shipping a new, lower cost system designed for small group conferencing – Lifesize Team™ – based on the same innovative technology as Lifesize Room.
About AIC Ventures
AIC Ventures provides capital to middle-market companies by acquiring their owned real estate via a sale-leaseback transaction. This delivers shareholder value and financial flexibility, enabling companies to invest in their higher-returning core business rather than real estate. AIC Ventures has closed transactions representing over $675 million through 32 private partnerships and five funds. The partners and professionals have more than 100 combined years of experience in real estate, debt, capital markets and corporate finance.
About GBH
Established in 1986, GBH Communications (www.gbh.com) is the leading provider of end-to-end solutions that include video and audio endpoints, hardware based gateways and bridges, and network transports. Specific examples of these products include video conferencing systems, audio conferencing microphone/speakers, monitors, headsets, video bridges, PBX extenders and IP PBX’s. With a nationwide sales force and sixteen branch offices coast-to-coast, in-house, factory certified technicians, state-of-the-art repair facilities and unmatched technical support, GBH Communications serves decentralized organizations with solutions that enable them to transition to the conference IP world.
