In 1999, Ringrose gave Mark Lamon, director, informatics, and Lori Fite, manager, videoconferencing and collaborative computing, funding and responsibility for finding and deploying the latest video communications and collaborative solutions for PRI use. During the first half of 2000, Lamon and Fite deployed more than 40 Polycom ViewStation video communications systems in 13 primary research sites. Although there remain more legacy than Polycom systems in the network today, the hours of videoconferencing usage have doubled since the introduction of the ViewStation systems. This increase in usage is directly linked to the ease of use, remote site management capabilities and high-quality video and audio provided by the ViewStation systems. Ease of Use - Scientists and executives are both frequent ViewStation users, but neither need extensive training to initiate their own meetings.
People are thrilled that videoconferencing has become so user friendly.
Since the ViewStation system has produced stable meeting connections and a higher picture quality than in the past, these features have dramatically increased usage. Executives are now able to make calls at the spur of the moment which definitely speeds up many decision making processes. In addition to an intuitive user interface, another reason the scientists and executives can get meetings started quickly with less on-site video staff support is the universal address book. The August release of Global Management System 2.0 software includes a number of new features that will simplify ViewStation use even further. And the users experienced the difference as well.