Lifesize + Skype is another strong indicator of the upcoming *merger* between place-based video and person-based video. TBD if the *merger* is a fairly nasty head-on collision, or two rivers flowing into a lake that all users can then swim in, but likely it is initially a collision that then leads to better waters. The Lifesize Passport can be place-based or person-based but of course Lifesize has plenty of place-anchored video and telepresence endpoints. Details from Lifesize (Lifesize announcement) and Skype (Skype announcement).
Some interesting questions:
1. Unified registration and directory? Seems you can dial from Lifesize to Skype, can you do the opposite?
2. Did Lifesize do this by adding a Skype client to Passport, or leveraging Skype APIs, or both? What signaling and media protocols are used for these calls? Bridge/MCU support?
3. Are Skype TV and Skype mobile included?
Answers to those three questions will help determine if this is a ripple or a wave, but either way Lifesize and Skype are moving to the leading edge of the merger between the worlds of place-based video and person-based video and telepresence.
As more endpoints free themselves of room anchors, and move to our desktops and mobiles, this merger will accelerate. Not to mention purple video…
Google+-
Bruce
