BANGALORE, INDIA: Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp and Panasonic Corp will allow users of their videoconferencing systems to connect with each other by adopting a single telecommunications protocol for such products, the Nikkei business daily reported.
Under a recently signed partnership deal, the pair also agreed to work together to tap the promising videoconferencing market, with an eye on grabbing a combined share of more than 30 per cent domestically in five years, the daily said.
This autumn, NTT plans to release a high-definition videoconferencing system priced at 500,000 yen, which will use the new protocol and connect via the firm's next-generation fiber-optic network, the business daily said.
Panasonic, which began selling high-definition videoconferencing systems last fall, will make them compatible with NTT's next-generation network, which is more reliable than conventional Internet connections, Nikkei said.
NTT aims to generate more than 30 billion yen in annual global sales from its videoconferencing systems by 2015, while Panasonic hopes to increase shipments of such systems several-fold this fiscal year from 130 units last fiscal year, the daily said.
Over four years, the domestic market for such systems doubled to 20.7 billion yen in 2009, according to industry estimates, and after including related products, the market is projected to grow to 100 billion yen by 2015, Nikkei said.
Currently, the market is dominated by systems that use equipment costing up to or more than 10 million yen, and expensive Internet-based systems that can only transmit low-quality images, the paper added.
The three major players making high-end systems - Polycom Inc. of the US, Cisco unit Tandberg ASA and Sony Corp, the daily said.