Zacks’ neutral recommendation of video conferencing specialist Polycom’s shares has been re-confirmed, utahpeoplespost.com reports. 

In a statement, the stock rating body revealed that Polycom’s results from the first quarter of 2013 went above and beyond Zacks’ Consensus Estimate; allowing Zacks to re-affirm the neutral status.

The news came as a result of Polycom’s significant advances in recent years, Zacks stated and its latest partnership agreement with AT&T. The statement continued: “Polycom currently is in the midst of its transition from hardware-centric to cloud and software-centric business model.

“Meanwhile, Polycom has made several product enhancements… We believe that Polycom is currently fairly valued as the stock price soared 51 per cent in the last year.”

Other stock rating leaders, such as Mizuho and Piper Jaffray, have maintained a neutral status for Polycom too. Meanwhile, two other analysts have given Polycom’s stock a ‘buy’ rating and nine have issued a ‘hold’ rating.

It is likely that, in addition to Polycom’s technological advancements and business transitions, its decision to launch a $100 million (£65m) share buyback scheme will have boosted its popularity as well – as well as further cementing its place in the video conferencing industry, which Zacks said is becoming “immensely competitive”.

Cisco Systems, Inc. is expected to reveal its latest financial results in a couple of days, istockanalyst.com reports.

On May 15th, Cisco will publish its quarter three financial results – an announcement which has set the telecoms market ablaze with speculation.

A drop in America’s public sector spending could have a negative impact on the results, some suggest, whilst others say the steady overall spend on telecoms within the US could balance things out. Plus, Cisco’s awareness of public sector spending cycles and worldwide reputation often helps it weather financial storms, in addition to its sensitivity towards businesses’ expenses.

Predictions from Wall Street suggest the IT/telecoms giant (which manufactures everything from video conferencing technology to routers) will announce a 49 cent earning per share on total revenue of $12.19 billion (£7.9bn). The company itself has estimated a revenue total of $12.05bn to $12.28bn, nbcnews.com confirmed.

A BMO Capital Markets analyst, Tim Long, also suggested: “Given our view of the revenue mix, including a better performance in the US and sequential improvement in routers, services and wireless, we would expect some upside to gross margins.

“We still believe the combination of Cisco’s mid-single-digits growth rate, proactive approach to capital allocation and attractive valuation limits any downside from near-term macro weakness,” the analyst concluded.

Patients across remote areas of Alaska are reportedly receiving visual appointments from health professionals through video conferencing technology.

Xconomy.com claims doctors and patients around rural areas of the US state have long experienced trouble trying to reach each other, as the vast landscape can separate the two parties by 75-100 miles.

Around 2,500 health care providers across Alaska are required to service municipalities and villages across over 660,000 square metres of terrain. Doctors have in the past been known to take a snowmobile out with them in order to reach certain patients, while in some instances an air ambulance is used to lift patients to the hospital.    

After much consultation, the providers decided the best way to address the issue was to limit the amount of face-to-face appointments and instead try to promote the use of visual exams, conducted through video conferencing technology.

According to telephonation.com, the system used by practitioners around Alaska differs from conventional forms of the technology in that it allows them to access information regarding each patient as they conduct their check-up. 

The real-time video communication system also lets them use electronic stethoscopes and other devices in order to thoroughly asses the condition of the patient there and then.

Doctors are already claiming to have seen a rise in follow-up calls with patients who book through the visual service, while the provider of the technology believes that medical practitioners can successfully reduce the rate of rehospitalisation by promoting its use.

Telepresence is being utilised in the short-term insurance industry as well as education and healthcare sectors, according to one expert writing for bizcommunity.com.

Alain Schram, a South African technology expert, details how telepresence technology is being used in the insurance industry to allow assessors to view damaged vehicles or property to speed up claim processing.

In addition, the real estate industry is also benefiting from such technology, allowing clients to view properties through live video before deciding to visit the property in question.

However, it is the education and healthcare sectors that are benefiting most from conferencing technology, according to Schram.

“With the constant pressure to increase the quality of patient care and the desire to provide new services, while at the same time controlling costs, healthcare providers are leveraging the power of video networks to link patients, specialists, and clinicians, thus extending the reach of healthcare,” he said.

In an education capacity, telepresence can help deliver “enriching” content to students as distance learning “can provide advanced and elective classes”. This is helpful as education faces a number of major challenges and needs across the globe.

“By deploying video systems in the classrooms, provinces can pool their resources and deliver innovative and enriching content to students,” added Schram.

Logitech will continue to provide video conferencing solutions through its LifeSize brand following a strategic review of the operation, reports reuters.com.

The company had announced in January that it would decide within 90 days whether to keep the asset it purchased for $405 million (£264 million) in 2009.

Cisco and Polycom continue to dominate the video conferencing market with little opposition, but Logitech is confident that LifeSize will be able to take a chunk out of their business after slashing its value by more than half.

Bracken Darell, chief executive of Switzerland and California-based Logitech, said: “We made the decision after a pretty hard look at the market.

“We’re going to reduce overall overheads and take it back to the small, competitive, hungry business it was when we bought it.”

As reported by yahoo.com, the announcement comes after Logitech reported a 12 per cent drop in sales in the fourth quarter of its fiscal year. The company welcomed two per cent growth in Asia during this period, but this was offset by a two per cent drop in equipment sales in the Americas and similar declines around the EMEA region.

However, the company claims retail business was starting to stabilise and poor results across the EMEA could be a result of the weak European economy.

Taking into account the savings made through its recent restructuring, the company expected improved profitability in fiscal 2014.

Polycom’s earnings for the first quarter of 2013 have beaten analysts’ expectations, at $0.13 earnings per share, $0.02 higher than the original estimate. 

According to its latest report, released on April 23rd, revenue for the quarter stood at $338.8 million. This also beat estimates, which stood at $336.2 million – although the actual revenue level showed a two per cent year-on-year drop. Net profit dropped by over $10 million when compared to Q1 2012, too.

Regardless of the drops, Goldman Sachs’ analysts have upgraded Polycom’s share rating from ‘neutral’ to ‘buy’, utahpeoplespost.com reports – potentially making them more attractive to investors.

The company, which manufactures a range of video conferencing and telecommunications products, also confirmed its operating expenses for the first quarter. These total $199.5 million, up slightly on 2012′s figure of $190.3 million.

Polycom’s chief executive officer, president and director, Andrew M. Miller, said he was “extremely proud” of Q1′s figures. Making reference to a “solid financial performance”, he told seekingalpha.com that Polycom saw particularly strength in America’s enterprise market during the first three months of 2013.

He went on to reiterate Polycom’s company ethos: “At Polycom, our vision is to make video collaboration truly ubiquitous. To deliver on this video, our strategy is to make video collaboration simple to use and available to everyone.”

Polycom Inc. has announced the latest edition to its RealPresence video conferencing line up – the Polycom RealPresence Group 700.

The Group 700 allows users to stream content alongside a video conferencing session. ITwire.com reports that the Group can connect up to eight parties on a single call and at the same time run 1080p at 60 frames per second, allowing users to share additional content, without degradation in quality.

Chris Thorson, director of product and solutions marketing for Polycom, said this was possible thanks to a better allocation of network resources. Thorson explained that in the past, all users wanted to share was documents, so very little bandwidth was allocated to streaming.

The Group 300, 500 and 700 are all based on the H.264 Scalable Video Coding (SVC) technology compression standard, which will allow businesses to conserve network resources.

“High-definition video and content will use more bandwidth, but the standard really allows users to get the most out of their bandwidth, while still providing high quality video,” he said.

Thorson said that there were multiple uses for such technology and gave an example of a movie studio playing high-definition video to a remote office.

Ira Weinstein, senior analyst at Wainhouse Research, told searchunifiedcommunications.com that he could think of multiple sectors where the technology would be useful, including health, education and medicine.

A slight decline in revenue for video conferencing equipment suppliers says a lot more about the overall economy than the technology itself, according to communications expert David Byrd. 

IDC recorded a 8.6 per cent fall in the worldwide enterprise video conferencing and telepresence equipment market when comparing the fourth quarter of 2012 with the same period in 2011. According to eweek.com, the full year total in 2011 was $2.71 billion (£1.76 billion) with last year finishing on $2.64 billion (£1.71 billion).

However, Mr Byrd believes the decline was a result of global macroeconomics rather than issues with the technology itself. He actually went one further by stressing that the benefits of using video conferencing equipment are still firmly intact.

Writing at channelpartnersonline.com, he commented: “The value proposition of video conferencing remains. Reduce travel and cut down cost of airfare, lodging and lost productivity. Improve communication and collaboration between organisations and geographically disperse employees.”    

Mr Byrd also highlighted that good growth was seen in the room-based video conferencing market, which rose by 4.1 per cent year-on-year at the tail end of 2012.

Personal video conferencing also experienced growth, lifting by five per cent, while Mr Byrd believes the market will bounce back in May 2013 as a result of a drop in costs from suppliers.  

New video conference software which allows thousands of participants to take an active role in discussions has been unveiled.

ClassInteract, created by Watchitoo, supports face-to-face interaction with every participant in an online conference. This would allow, for example, lecturers to see the faces of all their students whilst delivering a lesson.

According to campustechnology.com, the cloud-based software allows 25 students to appear on-screen at one time, with thousands more viewing the lecture in real time.

With one click of the button, the speaker can drag a participant out of the audience and “on stage” so that they can contribute to the lecture. The audience can break off into smaller private chat groups if they wish to and can potentially gain access to polls, learning materials and previous conferences.

In an interview with xconomy.com, Watchitoo CEO Rony Zarom predicted that there would be a growing demand for software that could replicate a lecture theatre filled with thousands of people.

“There is a transformation happening in education from on-campus to online. A lot of universities are interested in having separate entities that deal with for-profit education. When many universities look at their business plans, they envision serving [virtual] classes of 100,000 people,” he said.

California’s Modesto Junior College is providing “high-end instruction” to its medical students, thanks to its recent investment in telepresence technology.

According to campustechnology.com, the college is now able to transmit its lessons to off-campus students using telepresence, whether they’re in a dedicated telepresence studio or otherwise.

One of the college’s IT specialists, Mel Ainsworth, explained why the telepresence specifically (rather than regular video conferencing) had helped improve the education on offer. He said: “High-definition video, in particular, has enabled us to make significant upgrades in the quality of instruction we can offer at a distance.”

Ainsworth also gave an insight into the College’s future investments in telepresence, stating: “We expect to see many more telepresence applications throughout YCCD [the Yosemite Community College District, in which Modesto Junior College is situated] in the future. We are living in a telepresence age.”

He concluded by saying that telepresence has so far shown “real promise” for the health education sector, particularly as the system his college has invested in allows students from other areas to take part in Modesto’s lectures.

Ainsworth has been so impressed with telepresence that he plans to speak on the subject at the upcoming Campus Technology Forum in San Diego. His talk will be entitled ‘Reaching new students through telepresence technology’, according to edmediaevents.com and Ainsworth will discuss how telepresence can be integrated in other higher learning intuitions.