At first glance, Vu Technologies is a telepresence upstart that has very little experience in the IT channel. But take a closer look and you’ll discover that Vu Technologies apparently is a sister company to Zenith Infotech — a backup and disaster recovery specialist that serves thousands of VARs and MSPs worldwide. Here’s the scoop.
The VAR Guy heard chatter about Vu Technologies at CES (the Consumer Electronics Show) in Las Vegas. According to a statement that’s gone viral on the web:
“Vu Technologies has dared to take on global giants in the field of HD Video Conferencing and TelePresence. We have reinvented this technology from the perspective of making it truly omnipresent and a source of business advantage to all. With its official debut at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), 2010 at Las Vegas, the Vu TelePresence™ solution will not only bring people together, but also bridge the divide between various communication platforms.”
A Zenith Infotech Connection?
Hmmm… The VAR Guy poked around and soon discovered an apparent link between Vu and Zenith Infotech — a key player in the MSP channel. Check the CES web site, and Vu’s street address matches Zenith Infotech’s street address in Pennsylvania. The VAR Guy believes the companies share the same corporate parent… but our resident blogger is still checking his facts.
At CES, Vu Technologies apparently demonstrated low-cost telepresence involving systems across North America and India. Sources say VU Technologies intends to compete with Cisco Systems and other telepresence players in the small to midsize business markets.
Picture All This Competition
Vu Technologies’ CES participation comes at a critical time. Hewlett-Packard has been driving down the prices for its Halo systems. Cisco Systems is pushing TelePresence into the home, and LogiTech has acquired LifeSize Communications, a low-cost telepresence specialist.
How does Vu Technologies hope to compete against entrenched giants and nimble upstarts? Hmmm… Perhaps Vu Technologies could leverage Zenith Infotech’s channel expertise. Our resident blogger has reached out to Zenith Infotech for comment.
In the meantime, multiple sources confirm an apparent link between Vu Technologies and Zenith Infotech.
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VU is a sister company of Zenith Infotech (both companies are a part of the $200mn Zenith IT group). Zenith has 4,500+ partners leveraging our BDR and managed service solutions. VU does plan to work with our partners to make telepresence available as a managed service for a low monthly fee. We plan to compete with the big players, like how we did in the backup space. A very good product, extremely well priced, available as a managed service on a monthly fee and a model whereby channel partners can make margins in excess of 60%.
Akash: The VAR Guy appreciates the quick info about VU Technologies, managed telepresence and your parter strategy. The VAR Guy will be watching. As will his sister site, MSPmentor.
-TVG
Vu TelePresence. 5 Multipoint, Low Bandwidth, Streaming & Recording in one device, HD Video Conferencing. Sounds Intresting.
Reality.
Picture quality is not HD. It is less then SD. No Sync in video and audio. Streaming is poor and doesn’t take the data sharing part. In terms of bandwidth it requires 1mbps Static Internet bandwidth to connect per location. That means if you are connecting 5 location you will need dedicated 5mbps static internet bandwidth. CODEC is a CPU cabinet. Camera and microphone are imported from CHINA. If you calculate the bandwidth and the system cost plus the experience it gives it is very much costlier then POLYCOM.
A very poor system from a faliure company.
Hello Vu@3: The VAR Guy noticed you posted a similar comment on MSPmentor in recent days. Are you a Vu rival or an upset partner/customer. The VAR Guy requests that you disclose your motivations for posting a comment. In return, The VAR Guy promises to speak with Vu/Zenith Infotech about your claims.
-TVG
With 33 Vu systems in place, the full impact of how Vu will change the face of small business communications is just emerging. Our goal is to have nearly 125 of our clients running under Vu systems back to LMS, and will begin having them internally start deploying them among themselves. Stay tuned for updates on our progress.
Larry@5: The VAR Guy would welcome an update via email if you have time: TheVARguy [at] NineLivesMediaInc [dot] com.
Thank you for your readership.
-TVG