Holo - communicator The holo - communicator was a type of communications technology employed by the Federation and the Klingon Empire . It allowed two parties to converse as if in the same room by sending hologram s of each other courtesy of projectors . During the 2250s , the was installed with an early version of this type of device for use on the bridge and in private . This device was prone to glitches . ( ) In the same era , the technology was also in use by the Klingon s . Their version of the device produced monochrome images when used between Klingon ships , but more color when communicating with a Starfleet one . ( ) They were later included on the bridges of ships such as the and ; Captain s Sisko and used theirs for the first time to coordinate an attempt to capture Maquis leader Michael Eddington . The Maquis had been able to " procure " a holo - communicator of their own , allowing Eddington to use it to contact Sisko during the hunt . As the communicator was installed after a cascade virus that damaged all other systems on the " Defiant " , it continued to work throughout Sisko ' s pursuit of Eddington . A holo - communicator was also installed in Captain Sisko ' s office on Deep Space 9 at this time , and was used by Odo to communicate with Sisko aboard the " Defiant " . ( ) The holo - communicator in Captain Sisko ' s office was later used to allow him to converse with Rear Admiral on the matter of Doctor Julian Bashir ' s genetic engineering . ( ) Kurros of the Think Tank used a similar technology , which created an isomorphic projection of himself aboard the vessels of potential clients . The projection was sophisticated enough to taste beverage s . ( ) Shinzon used a holo - communicator to demand Jean - Luc Picard ' s surrender in 2379 . His device was more advanced , however , as it was able to be projected into an area without holo - emitters and it was impossible to trace the signal back to the " Scimitar " . ( ) Appendices . Background information . The idea for the holo - communicator was Ronald D . Moore ' s . According to Moore , " " That ' s something I had been pushing for because I just think it ' s so absurd that in the twenty - fourth century they have holodeck technology that allows them to recreate Ancient Rome , but everybody talks to each other on television monitors . It ' s just so lame . The viewscreens have been around for over thirty years . Can ' t we move to something a " little " more interesting ? But it ' s like pulling teeth . " " ( " " , p . 419 ) Ira Steven Behr was completely behind Moore ' s idea ; " " Viewscreen scenes are always difficult to pull off . The longer they are , the more boring they are , and having a character talk to someone on a viewscreen is very distancing . And it did work in this episode . We never could have had Eddington on the viewscreen for all of his scenes . It would have been dramatic death . " " ( " " , p . 419 ) Despite this , however , the holo - communicator was not seen as successful , something alluded to by Gary Hutzel , " " It was a terrible idea from the get - go . The idea was to create this amazing 3 - D image , but TV ' s a 2 - D medium , so it ' s hard to show that it ' s 3 - D . So you have to move the camera around so that audience can see that it ' s 3 - D , but then it could look to them like the guy beamed in . So you have to find a way to deal with that . It created all these problems that the writers hadn ' t thought about , and it missed the whole point of why Gene Roddenberry wanted a viewscreen : so you could avoid unnecessary expense . " " ( " " , p . 420 ) It would seem that the use of the holo - communicator was eventually discontinued by Starfleet , as it never appeared after " Doctor Bashir , I Presume " . Ronald D . Moore suggested that it was moved into the " Defiant " s ready room for Season six . As for the production reason , he stated that the writers never had a " viewscreen - type scene " that would be more effective with the holo - communicator . The holo - communicator was re - intruduced in , used frequently , albeit with more primitive graphics . Recalling how the idea of using holo - communicators so often in the series was decided on , Aaron Harberts characterized them as one of multiple " just slightly different ways of making it feel a little more contemporary . " Much like the " later " 24th - century attempt to re - introduce the technology , it would seem that this iteration of the technology was discontinued as well , as nothing of the sort was seen in . One similar technology was visible in , where Azetbur on " Kronos One " viewed the President of the Federation on what appeared to be a monochromatic holo - communicator . Also , the Cardassian viewscreens on Deep Space 9 projected the image horizontally between two separate devices , not on an embedded device such as on Federation starships , suggesting that holographic technology is at least involved in Cardassian viewscreen design . The Xindi used a similar device in the 22nd century . Apocrypha . In the novel " Demons of Air and Darkness " , Starfleet uses an advanced version of this system to hold a meeting of numerous starship and station captains across the Federation . Each captain entered their own holodeck or holosuite , which then transmitted their own image to every other holodeck and received similar transmissions in turn , making everyone appear to be in the same room despite being across the Federation from each other . In the novel " Articles of the Federation " , press briefings from the Office of President of the United Federation of Planets were conducted via holo - communications as of 2380 . These briefings had formerly been conducted in person , but increased security during the Dominion War prevented this from continuing . From the point of view of the participant , they were in a room full of reporters from all over the Federation without ever leaving their homeworld , home , or even office .