ChannelVision Sept-Oct 2017

technologies that ensure reliability and quality in every critical connection between patient and clinician, all with “touch-of-a-button” simplicity. For instance, on the telemedicine front, Yorktel has released the Uni- vago HE telepresence system for global healthcare use. It’s a fully managed subscription-based service comprised of everything needed to connect patients by video with remote clinicians, health- care experts and family members. The platform includes comprehensive moni- toring, hardware, software and licenses, intelligent analytics and clear reporting for healthcare providers. It also can sup- port multiple inpatient workflows such as patient monitoring in intensive care units (ICU), virtual rounding in acute units, stroke assessment, behavioral health, vir- tual sitter, interpreter services and more. “The demands for telemedicine are growing, but the industry has not yet delivered at the rate we all expected a few years ago,” said Yorktel senior vice president of healthcare, Peter McLain. “Clinician adoption and widespread utilization are held back by video con- ference room technology that is neither stable nor reliable enough for the clini- cal setting. The video technology at the core of telemedicine needs to just work 24/7, 365 days a year; it should fade into the background as clinicians focus on delivering patient care.” Research & Markets also said that many government authorities also are planning to establish telepresence rooms. “Recent technological innovation in robotic telepresence video conferenc- ing is also one of the major factors driving the growth of telepresence equipment market,” the firm said. “The major advantage offered by telepres- ence equipment is as it offers life-sized video conferencing, which gives the feel of real person [experiences].” Good news for resellers, the market for various telepresence endpoints is also expected to grow significantly over the forecast period – although the high cost of installation is one of the restraints for growth overall. “High initial investments and high installation costs are acting as major chal- lenges to the growth of video conferencing market,” Transparency said. “Video confer- encing systems that are designed to pro- vide a close-to-real experience of a person present in another location require high- quality video devices. These systems also need to be protected with firewalls and security software for secure data transmis- sion that add to the cost of the system.” Costs aside, this complexity also offers channel partners an opportunity to consult and advise on these deployments. Desktop Conferencing Global opportunities aren’t restrict- ed to the high-end systems; desktop video conferencing is on the rise too. For instance, to promote Skype for Business for international customers, Arkadin has begun to integrate and re- sell Unify Square’s PowerSuite software and cloud managed services as part of its Total Connect Enterprise set of busi- ness applications and services. Arkadin’s geo-dispersed local Skype International Agents Channel Vision | September - October, 2017 54