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Bringing them Face-to-Face

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VoicenData Bureau
New Update

India is the fastest growing telecom market in the world but telecom

penetration is still at a low level. The average broadband bandwidth available

ranges between 128-256 Kbps, and videoconferencing still seems to be a distant

dream. But the Power Grid Corporation of India Limited (PGCIL) seems to have

beaten all odds-the company has successfully deployed a videoconferencing

solution to communicate with its employees located in remote areas of the

country.

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PGCIL has a three-tier architecture. At the top of the hierarchy is the

corporate center, which is followed by regional headquarters, and sub-stations

come at the bottom of the hierarchy. Sub-stations are the most important link in

this hierarchy, but are remotely located, in meagerly populated areas. Thus,

communication links are not very good in these areas, and even normal telephone

lines don't work efficiently.

But, it is extremely important for the company to communicate with these

sub-stations.

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Initially, PGCIL thought of setting up improved telephone lines in these

areas, but later came to the conclusion that it might not work-improved

telephone lines could work for giving specific information, but what if reports

were needed in bulk? The company also thought of getting documents by post, but

it did not appear feasible. “As the company wanted a solution which was

versatile, we decided to deploy videoconferencing facilities,” says a PGCIL

spokesperson.

The Big Challenge



Videoconferencing has always been considered an up-market technology,

normally associated with large or multinational companies; a rare concept. So,

the first challenge was convincing and encouraging people to use this new

technology. This was because videoconferencing solutions were, at that time,

difficult to deploy, and tricky to use.

Yet, making STD calls was a costly alternative, and traveling took a long

time, resulting in delayed decisions. When PGCIL finally decided to implement a

videoconferencing solution, it undertook a major market research and tried

different vendors, before finally deciding on Tandberg as their solution vendor.

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In the key findings of the research, PGCIL found that not only were Tandberg

systems more robust and simple to deploy, PGCIL didn't have to worry about

deployment hiccups; everything was taken care of PGCIL took the major jump in

implementing videoconferencing at a time when other enterprises were using

either normal telephony or emails.

But the main question was: how would they manage to set up the system with

such low levels of bandwidth? PGCIL first leased ISDN (integrated services

digital network) lines. However, in some time, even that seemed deficient; the

company finally set up dedicated converged networks.

According to a company source: “People thought it was an expensive investment

that would not yield the desired results. But we had foreseen the future, and

were sure of its advantages even at that time.” Tandberg analyzed PGCIL's

systems and requirements in depth, and provided the best solution for its needs.

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Tandberg observed that PGCIL needed a high-frequency solution to connect to

its sub-stations, and that it should be able to initiate video calls to 8-10

locations as Tandberg offers a variety of videoconferencing components that

allow powerful live presentations. PGCIL deployed Tandberg solutions as it had

realized that the virtual element has its own share in the communication process

and carries more impact compared to telephonic or email communication.

Another essential prerequisite was that it should be able to work at 2 Mbps

or external network. “Taking into consideration the requirement at PGCIL, we

installed the Tandberg 800, 880 MXP, 1000 MXP, and 6000 MXP videoconferencing

solution,” says Ravi Bhatnagar, key account manager, Tandberg. Tandberg also

gave PGCIL the benefits of a one-step PC and audio plug-in to enable PGCIL

employees with no computer knowledge to operate the system.

Tandberg is a leading global provider of video communication products and

services. It designs, develops, and markets systems and software for video,

voice, and data. The company has headquarters in New York and Norway. Tandberg's

mission is to change the way people communicate.

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The Tandberg Solutions is able to address all the problems it faced; from

accessing reports to analyzing data, from project monitoring to budget

allocation, everything is done via videoconferencing.

The solution has definitely resulted in significant time and cost savings,

and has facilitated knowledge transfer, especially to people in remote sites who

used to feel secluded from developments in the outside world.

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This solution, which began as a solution for communication between the top

executives of the company to get rid of delays in decision-making, is now being

used even at the sub-station level. It has now become an integral part of the

corporate strategy at all levels. The company now also imparts training to

remotely located employees via the medium.

The systems that Tandberg has installed enable taking a snapshot of the

ongoing conference in JPEG format as well as storing a video of the conference.

Over time, PGCIL has realized that the visual component plays more powerful role

in the communication process, and carries more impact compared to telephonic or

email communication.

At times, it is not possible to determine the importance of a situation by

someone's voice, but face-to-face communication helps to do so. The video also

gives managers an insight into what employees are up to; there are times when

they have been conferencing with someone in a sub-station, and realized that

others in the room were sleeping during the meeting.

The company is currently in the process of increasing its videoconferencing

facilities, and is evaluating the techno-economic probability if multi-control

units are to be set up in areas even more remote than the present ones. We can

say that the dream of a connected India is absolutely well and breathing at

PGCIL.

Arpita Prem



arpitap@cybermedia.co.in

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