Sony Video Wares to Integrate with Cisco VoIP

The integration will enable Cisco's IP telephony customers to launch video calls as easily as they make phone calls, said Eric Murphy, vice president of conferencing solutions at Tokyo-based Sony.

"This is part of the ongoing quest to make [videoconferencing] easier for end users and to utilize the telephony features that people are more familiar with," Murphy said.

The two vendors are now working together to identify Cisco VoIP partners that would be a good fit to take on Sony's wares, Murphy said, noting that some of Sony's traditional videoconferencing partners are also now considering the plunge into IP telephony.

Sony has licensed Cisco's Skinny Call Control Protocol and expects to begin shipping compatible videoconferencing products in April, Murphy said.

Through Skinny, Sony's PCS-1 and PCS-TL50 products will interoperate with Cisco's CallManager 4.0, the call processing software at the heart of its IP communications solutions.

Sony's PCS-1 conference room system includes a camera, microphone and speaker, while the PCS-TL50 desktop unit includes a 20-inch LCD screen, camera, microphone and speaker.

Sony's videoconferencing products also interoperate with IP telephony solutions from NEC, while Cisco's VoIP platform supports video endpoints from Polycom and Tandberg.