Item: Lifesize Video Conferencing
Rating: 9
Author: Verified User

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

LifeSize Video Conferencing is used for allowing lenders, branch managers, and other staff to be able to join meetings from various geographical locations. It is also used as a training tool to facilitate video conferencing without additional travel. It has minimized the traveling for meetings and allowed staff to be more productive by joining these type of events from the convenience of their own offices.

Pros and Cons

The hardware provides very good quality audio. The satellite microphone is also used as a speaker and the touch screen navigation menu is easy to use.
Allows for third party vendors to join by simply dialing or clicking on a link.
Good quality video without compromising network resources. Each LifeSize call is capped at 2MB per call.

Wish it had collaboration capabilities such as Microsoft Teams.
It requires a client to install. Unable to join the call by simply accessing a web browser.
It does not integrate well with other vendors such as Polycom or Crestron devices.

Return on Investment

We have been able to reduce travel costs to meet with customers and vendors.
Increased productivity by minimizing time spent on travel between sites.
Has allowed for working more efficiently by hosting meetings including training sessions via video conferencing.

Implementation Rating

We did run into a few issues originally. These included having to add the required firewall rules in our environment and also adjusting the quality of service for optimized video and audio. Had a few troubleshooting calls that involved Cisco tech support to assist on making sure QOS was setup properly. After these changes were made the quality improved significantly.

Alternatives Considered

Skype for Business (formerly Lync) and Cisco Webex Calling

We liked the LifeSize audio and video equipment. Its proprietary but the quality of the hardware (such as the lens for the camera) is very high end. This makes for clear image transmission and high video quality. It allows for big conference\meeting room setups without compromising picture clarity due to its high-end zoom capabilities.

Likelihood to Recommend

If you're trying to integrate LifeSize with any other type of audio/video equipment, it does not integrate very well. LifeSize systems join the calls best in the cloud. If you are hosting a video conference from one particular endpoint and have many calls this could cause some congestion. Best use is with the hosting in the cloud.

LifeSize Review

Overall Satisfaction with Lifesize Video Conferencing