Sony product opens up VC market to resellers

Electronics giant claims new system is a true plug-and-play offering that is suitable for SMEs

The latest addition to Sony’s Ipela range of videoconferencing (VC) products will open up the VC market to traditional IT resellers for the first time, the vendor has claimed.

Sid Stanley, senior manager of the enterprise solutions division at Sony UK, said: “Traditionally VC has been a very video-specialist product because of the amount of expertise that’s needed to sell and install it.

The new PCS-TL30P system is a true plug-and-play offering which is suitable not just for corporate users, but also SMEs and home office users. I expect both audiovisual (AV) resellers and traditional IT VARs to sell the new system.”

The PCS-TL30P is a desktop system consisting of a 17in LCD screen with a built-in VC system, camera, speakers and microphone. The screen doubles up as a PC monitor and can show both PC data and live VC images at the same time, according to the vendor.

“We expect to start shipping the TL30 this week and we will be pushing it through our Sony 1 resellers, IT resellers, AV resellers and also the Cisco channel because it is compatible with Cisco networks,” Stanley said.

The TL30 will be added to Sony’s Ipela showroom in Basingstoke which the vendor opened in July (CRN, 25 July) to enable its partners to demonstrate the range to end-users.

Ian Vickerage, managing director of distributor Imago, said: “It’s a great new product and brings a new price level to VC as it’s below the £2,000 mark at £1,994.”

Although Imago is the largest distributor of market leader Polycom’s VC products, Vickerage said the TL30 fills a gap in the market.

“Polycom doesn’t have an equivalent product to this. VC is fairly prevalent in the corporate and education markets, but because it has been complicated to understand, SMEs haven’t really specified it before. The TL30 changes that. It is designed as the plug-and-go anywhere VC system. It’s also fully compatible with Cisco’s Skinny Call Control Protocol.

“The initial allocation of demonstration units we ordered for resellers have already sold, and only a quarter of those dealers had actually seen the TL30 in action,” Vickerage added.