"People are doing more and more videoconferencing, but all this data is not captured in an analytic way," she told me.
Many colleges are rebuilding computers instead of buying new ones, limiting the purchase and use of campus vehicles and scheduling more videoconferences and less travel.
At a press conference this afternoon, CDC director Thomas Frieden said the agency would also save $100 million in administrative expenditures, in part by reducing travel and encouraging more videoconferencing.
Today's remote-presence robots are crude by comparison, amounting to little more than videoconferencing on wheels.
Adam Lowry, a co-founder of Method, a San Francisco manufacturer of biodegradable cleaning products, sends fewer employees on trips, relies more on videoconferencing and tries to visit several cities on one trip rather than take many round-trip flights to factories and customers, say, in the Midwest.
As the movement to gigabit builds momentum, we are already starting to see the possibilities: a better Internet experience with no waiting; an improved television experience with affordable, high-resolution 4K displays; immersive gaming using compute resources in the cloud; and more realistic videoconferencing.
Sony's latest gizmos, for example, let consumers record and edit their own video CDs, and enable businesses to videoconference more cheaply via the net.
Basic videoconferencing, more properly called video chat, can be achieved with an inexpensive Web camera and low-cost or free software.
Analysts have said Cisco's offer, regardless of when and how it closed, could prompt more deals involving videoconferencing companies, like the No. 2 player, Polycom.
Corporations are doing more high-definition videoconferencing, especially simultaneous sessions with multiple overseas clients, and technologists are eager to see what new businesses will be created or how existing businesses will be enhanced through the new gigabit capability.
