For example, imagine there're five people who need to meet for six hours at a company's location in Washington D.C. to discuss the status of a particular project. Let's say one of the meeting participants is based in the Washington area and the other four are traveling from California, Ohio, Texas, and Mississippi. The person from Ohio should be able to travel during the evening before and after the meeting. The others will need to spend most of the day before and after the meeting spending fairly unproductive time flying. The incorporation of desktop video systems can significantly lower these types of expenses.
Many vertical markets can benefit from desktop conferencing.
Desktop conferencing permits interactivity in distant learning situations, allowing course participants to ask questions and remain interested in the course. It also provides a mechanism to present live and recorded training directly to the person's office. Telemedicine receives a great boost with desktop conferencing by providing immediate access to appropriate medical specialists from remote locations. Either an 8mm or CCD video camera captures the image of the person sitting in front of the computer and converts it into a video signal. The microphone picks up the voice and produces an audio analog signal.