Today videoconferencing is already part of the corporate communications infrastructure in most large enterprises. Personal communications involve both acoustic and visual components. Besides the importance of the spoken word, gestures, attitudes and eye contact convey important messages, which are not fully perceived when just listening to spoken words. For this reason, face-to-face meetings are of great importance for the resolution of important problems and for complex negotiations.

Videoconferencing is broadly used in the offshore and maritime environments, mainly for its characteristics of bringing people closer together and of developing a trust-based relationship between users. Its main results are in accelerating decisions, which are taken with much more confidence than over conventional phone lines.

The use of videoconferencing is not limited to work meetings. Applications like telemedicine, distance-education and corporate communications are also a reality in the offshore world today.

There are many videoconferencing solutions available, starting with compact videophones for personal use and going up to immersive telepresence systems. However, most offshore companies today tend to prefer the traditional 4-10 participant videoconferencing room solution, which can also be equipped with peripherals such as document cameras, video recorders, audio recorders, and others.

How it works

Videoconferencing consists of encoded video and audio transmission between sites. Videoconferencing systems may operate in point-to-point or in multipoint configuration, involving several sites in the same session.

Due to the widespread use of the internet and of IP protocol based telecommunications networks, the most modern videoconferencing systems are now supplied with IP interfaces.

There is a growing international demand for the standardization of video communications, so that people with terminals from different vendors are able to intercommunicate. However there are some advantages in standardizing a corporate network with equipment from a single supplier, especially for customers who need to set-up multipoint videoconferencing sessions.

For this reason the majo oil company in Brazil standardized its network using POLYCOM’s videoconferencing end points. C.FOSTER supplies and installs POLYCOM’s product line in Brazil.

Scope of a Standard Project

C.FOSTER supplies and installs video-conferencing rooms in ships and platforms of varying sizes, meeting the highest quality standards required for this type of installation.

C.FOSTER relys on a highly skilled and trained technical team, composed of professionals with extensive experience with maritime and offshore customers, most of whom have been trained abroad at our partner equipment vendor’s facilities.

Project and installation activities typically include:

• System conception according with the needs of each customer
• Engineering design including plans and descriptive drawings
• Supply and delivery logistics according to the project schedule
• On-board installation and commissioning
•  “As built” documentation, including updated plans and drawings
• Training programs for customer personnel