💾 Archived View for gemini.spam.works › mirrors › textfiles › news › videocon.txt captured on 2020-10-31 at 16:29:19.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-
VIDEO CONFERENCING BEN & JERRY'S SAVES MONEY, ADVANCES OFF-BEAT CORPORATE CULTURE Clear-channel T-1 video conferencing service links company sites Where else but at Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream would you find a "Communications Queen?" What other corporate headquarters features blue jeans as the style of choice? And where else would you find people actually having -- brace yourself -- fun with their video conferencing system? OK, where else outside of California? The fact is, employees at Ben & Jerry's corporate headquarters in Waterbury, Vermont and their colleagues at the company's Springfield, Vermont manufacturing site some 74 miles away, have time for fun because their serious video conferencing time is so productive. The system, which is based on PictureTel hardware and a New England Telephone Superpathsm 1.5M bps T-1 line, provides special advantages for a company based in such a rural and rugged location. "Video conferencing allows us to meet more frequently without interrupting our schedules," says Communications Coordinator (a.k.a."Communications Queen") Maureen Martin. "And, as we get into winter, it will get used even more, helping us avoid the drive between Waterbury and Springfield, which is about an hour-and-a-half." LIVE, FROM "THE FOOTBALL FIELD" A typical Ben & Jerry's video conference includes between 10 and 13 people. However, sometimes high-ranking company officials will use the system for one-on-one meetings. Although two rooms at the Waterbury headquarters site are wired for video conferencing, the conference room (referred to affectionately as "The Football Field"), with its circular tables and room-length "white board" is the site of choice. There are two cameras in the room. One is fixed on top of one of the system's 32-inch monitors, and the other sits on a tripod that can be automatically moved to focus on fixed settings such as the white board or speakers. The monitor has a small "window" that allows the transmitting site to see what's coming out at the other end. There are no special unit's keyboard, from which it comfortably picks up commentary from anyplace in the room. The system uses a clear-channel T-1 configuration, which allocates 64K bps for each of the 12 channels dedicated to video transmission. Another 10 of the remaining 12 channels are used as voice tie lines between the two locations. According to telecommunications specialist Melody Plante, "Another channel is used to transmit data, eliminating the dedicated 56K bps line we had. We're leaving the last channel open, anticipating future growth." THE VIRTUAL OFFICE IS CREATED On the voice side of this configuration, the Springfield location is a virtual extension of the Waterbury site, meaning there are no toll charges for calls made between them. This also means anyone at the Waterbury site can be paged from Springfield. This virtual extension also creates a phone-mail system between the two sites. Plante says that an initial bandwidth problem was solved when New England Telephone agreed to supply the clear-channel T-1 link. Beyond that, the major obstacles consisted of getting all the participating vendors to decide on dip switch settings and video parameters. Those vendors included New England Telephone, PictureTel, GTE, the Southern Vermont Telephone Company and Telesource, a muliplexer manufacturer. Plante lauds the role played by New England Telephone technicians, who acted as "testers." "All the vendors relied heavily on New England Telephone," Plante states. "They were great." Savings accumulated via reduced toll and private line charges will enable the multiplexer unit, which was installed during March of 1992, to pay for itself within 14 months. The system's value increases even more when time and travel expenses are factored in. POSSIBLE BOSTON CONNECTION Martin says the Ben & Jerry's video conference system will reach out beyond Vermont. "Eventually, we will want to hook up with outside video conference users, such as our attorneys in Boston," she notes. A visitor need not go beyond the reception area of the Waterbury headquarters building to get, ahem, a flavor of the Ben & Jerry's corporate culture. Every wall is plastered with some brightly colored piece of Ben & Jerry's bric-a-brac. The video conferencing system can be an inadvertent purveyor of this color culture. "One time when we got done with a conference, somebody in Springfield noticed that we had a new promotional piece on the table," Martin remembers. "It had just come out that morning, but they wanted to get it as soon as possible." And just where does the fun, what is known within the company as "Ben & Jerry-izing" it, come in? Although such activitiies are not yet observed on a company-wide basis via video conferencing, "We've done everything from Barry Manilow's birthday to Elvis day," Martin observes. It seems only fitting that the Queen of Telecommunications would commemorate the King of Rock and Roll.