David Briddock tracks the beginnings of video communication
As the telephone network grew to touch every corner of the globe, our planet seemed a smaller place. Despite this, many people still missed face-to-face contact with family, friends and work colleagues. Spotting this opportunity, telecom companies began to divert profits into video telephony technology research.
Videophones
Early devices were just standard telephones with a simple camera and small screen. US-based AT&T started building prototypes as far back as 1927, and by the late 1930s several European post offices offered person-to-person videophone services based on dual-cable-circuit telephone transmission technology.
AT&T's Picturephone service began in the early 1970s: large, cube-like devices that took decades of research and development and cost hundreds of millions of dollars. Despite this, they used poor-quality analogue transmissions and only worked over short distances. A few years later ВТ, released its own rival, the Viewphone, but again it delivered poor picture quality, and with the growth of personal computer ownership, new opportunities emerged.
ISDN And IP
By the 1990s, videoconferencing systems had migrated almost exclusively to the digital Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) and Internet Protocol (IP) transmission standards. ISDN and IP technologies could cope with the large volumes of data generated by high-resolution cameras and multipoint microphone arrays. Adding video compression technology to ISDN and IP permitted PC-based videoconferencing, such as Tim Dorcey's CU-SeeMe application, released for the Macintosh in 1992 and Windows in 1994.
A more famous example is Skype (skype.com), originally developed in 2003 by Niklas Zennstrom from Sweden and Janus Friis from Denmark. The Skype Corporation was subsequently bought by Microsoft in 2011 for a whopping $8.5bn, and its software and technology is now an integral part of Microsoft's consumer and business software suite. Skype apps run on most smartphones and tablets, while Skype Qik enables mobile consumers to exchange video messages (as individuals or a group) or record, upload and steam live video. Today, consumers spend well over 200 billion minutes using Skype every quarter.
Business requirements went beyond a simple person-to-person capability, though. Corporate customers wanted interactive team-based communication spanning multiple geographically diverse locations, with the goal being to make it seem as if all participants were present in the same room. Known as 'telepresence', this illusion requires very high levels of video and audio fidelity. While the best of these systems are expensive, they're often found in corporate headquarters, with the high cost being recouped by reduced travel expenses.
From Anywhere
These days, virtually every smartphone, tablet and laptop has a built-in camera - sometimes more than one. This proliferation of real-time video capability led to innovative, low-cost mobile collaboration apps. Consequently, most platforms are sold with a video chat app.
These modern apps combine video, audio and on-screen drawing capabilities, so you can have real-time face-to-face conversations with family and friends or conduct interactive business meetings, from home a local cafe or wherever you might find a wi-fi connection.
Smart TVs, with their built-in computing power and video cameras, are another way to catch up with family and friends, this time on a big screen and from the comfort of your own settee.