by Charles Waltner, News@Cisco
"This brings a whole new meaning to the concept of face-to-face meetings. It could geometrically expand our efforts."
On Friday evening, November 30, Cisco Systems hosted a group of high school students from Irvine, Calif., and Tsukuba, Japan. It served the youngsters juice, cookies, and a chance to experience the future of communications.
The students, who spent time together during the summer as part of a home-stay exchange program, reunited using Cisco TelePresence, the networking leader's new video-based meeting system that creates a revolutionary "in-person" experience. Under the auspices of the exchange sponsor, the Irvine Sister Cities Foundation, the students with their parents gathered at a local Cisco office in each country to participate in the serendipitous reunion.
The event happened thanks to Chris Burtis, a Cisco systems engineer who learned about the international exchange program from a neighbor. Realizing Cisco TelePresence could provide a way to bring these children back together and add to their already formative experiences, he suggested the idea to Cisco and Sister City organizers, who enthusiastically pulled the event together.
To start the reunion, the students made presentations about holiday customs in their countries, but mostly they spent time "smiling, laughing and finding out how they were doing," said Keiko Arzouman, one of the exchange students from Irvine. "It was a lot of fun. It felt like we were in the same room together," she said. "At the end, I had to ask, 'When can we do this again?'"
Due to space constraints, Sister City organizers, parents and other participants watched the event from another room over a live video feed. But near the end of the two-hour session, parents joined their children in the TelePresence rooms. This was the first time the parents from the different countries were able to meet each other.
Cheryl Arzouman, Keiko's mother, said the realistic communications of Cisco TelePresence made it easy for the children and families to build on the friendships established over the summer. "It helped with communicating in two languages because you could see everyone's face so clearly," Arzouman said. "Both Keiko and her Japanese exchange sister Hana have dimples, and they were quite noticeable when they both smiled. That gave us something to share and talk about. The Japanese tend to be a bit shy and reserved. I think being able to see each other so well helped everyone feel more relaxed."
Near the end of the get together, the American group spontaneously started doing "the wave," a popular sporting event activity that looks like an ocean wave as participants stand and raise their hands in succession. Once explained, the Japanese group responded with their own wave, with both sides alternating in a boisterous conclusion to the evening.
James Dunning, president of the Irvine Sister Cities Foundation, said Cisco TelePresence helped the students to just be kids and talk and share their lives, describing the event as "almost like an online party."
Dunning said it took everyone a few minutes to get use to the innovative video communication system, but by the end people were conversing fairly naturally. From what he saw of Cisco TelePresence, Dunning believes that it is tailored-made to the goals of his organization. "This technology is such a natural fit for our group," he said. "Now this brings a whole new meaning to the concept of face-to-face meetings. It could geometrically expand our efforts."
United States President Dwight Eisenhower helped form Sister Cities International shortly after World War II as a means to promote world peace. The organization's "citizen diplomacy" philosophy holds that direct contact among ordinary citizens from different countries can be more effective at cultivating international harmony than any effort through more formal political channels. Today, Sister Cities International recognizes relationships among 2,500 municipalities in 126 countries.
The Irvine Sister Cities group also has active relationships with Hermosillo, Mexico, and Taoyuan, Taiwan. Last month, for example, planners, engineers and architects from Hermosillo traveled to Irvine to meet with Sister City counterparts to discuss public works and private development projects. While these professionals use other networking tools such as email to share information, Dunning said TelePresence would make it even easier for these individuals to collaborate.
Launched last year, Cisco TelePresence greatly improves upon the traditional video conferencing experience. Using life-size, high-definition video screens with three-dimensional spatial sound and carefully crafted meeting rooms, TelePresence creates an illusion of being in the same room with people who might be thousands of miles away.
Cisco TelePresence, which costs roughly $75,000 to $300,000, has garnered excellent reviews during its first year on the market and is proving most popular with corporations, national governments and other large organizations. Cisco is now working on ways to bring similar types of high-quality video technologies to smaller organizations and individuals.
Nancy Iriye, a Cisco representative who is promoting Cisco TelePresence for use in public schools, said the technology has potential for helping both inside and outside the classroom. She says educators are now looking into TelePresence to make it easier for students to meet directly with professors and subject matter experts from around the world.
But just as importantly, Iriye said, Cisco's virtual meeting technology can help with the business of education. "There's lots of money and time spent by administrators traveling around their districts, so TelePresence can certainly reduce that kind of overhead," she said.
For the children involved in the reunion, however, TelePresence was just about having an unexpected chance to spend time with new friends. Ellie Quinby, one of the Irvine students, said the event was a big surprise because she thought she would never see her Japanese friends again. "Though I still would love to go back to visit, this was the next best thing."
Charles Waltner is a freelance writer in Piedmont, Calif.
source: cisco.com
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