2nd February 1996, Creative Labs today published a survey of the UK's IT Top 1000 companies, exploring planned usage of desktop video conferencing (VC). The 200 responses revealed widespread plans for adoption of the technology, along with extensive development of teleworking strategies.

The survey was carried out as part of a market development plan for Creative's ShareVision personal conferencing product. Companies who took part in the survey included Pirelli, Hilton International, British Gas, Great Universal Stores and Granada.

ShareVision, the only full VC system to run on ordinary telephone lines, was launched in the UK twelve months ago. Since then, it has garnered an estimated 10% of the UK market with an installed base including Plymouth College, Rank Xerox and Shell.

To support the increasing demand for ShareVision, Creative recently appointed Ingram Micro who will launch a reseller marketing campaign to key vertical sectors.

"ShareVision was quite a departure for us," said Mandy Birtles, Creative's marketing manager. "It required an entirely different approach from the traditional Blaster range, so we're thrilled with the inroads we've made so far. ShareVision now has a dedicated team behind it and a new distribution deal. We commissioned the survey to identify market hot spots. The findings, particularly the demand for a non-ISDN solution, are very encouraging."

Corporates' Plans for Use of Video Conferencing
Of the 200 respondents to the survey, 70% are considering the implementation of video conferencing products, 9% are already using them and the remaining 21% have no plans.

What's Driving the Growth of Video Conferencing ?
The Creative Labs' survey went on to ask about the primary business driver for installing video conferencing. 33% of corporates intend to use the technology as part of a teleworking strategy, 55% see video conferencing as a means of cutting travel budgets and time spent in meetings, the remaining 12% are large sites, such as manufacturing plants, who plan to use video conferencing to improve internal communications.

ISDN Seen as Video Conferencing Inhibitor by Many
48% of the companies with firm plans to implement video conferencing do not have ISDN lines installed. Those organisations who intend to use the technology as part of a teleworking strategy see the installation of ISDN lines as an inhibitor to their plans. Creative Labs has identified this as a particularly strong niche for its ShareVision product - the only video conferencing system that can run on normal telephone lines.

A typical comment came from Kevin Coleclough, Information Systems Officer for Arab Bank, who took part in the survey and is now evaluating ShareVision. "Arab Bank decided to evaluate a system that could be used over standard telephone lines," said Coleclough. "As a worldwide operation, we support and train users as far away as New York and Sydney. ISDN does not yet have the coverage or the standards that we would need from a videoconferencing system. ShareVision provides the ideal solution without being too expensive."

Team Work is Key Business Benefit
When corporates were asked which features of desktop video conferencing were considered most important, face-to-face communication was pipped to second place with 60%. The most useful feature was considered to be application sharing, with 63% of the vote.

Buying Criteria - Price is Paramount
Respondents were asked which factors were most likely to influence their ultimate choice of product. 73% considered price the most important factor, with a figure of £1000 per head most widely noted as 'the right price' for large scale (5 units and above) installations. This view is endorsed by market research company Ovum who recently identified £1000 as the critical price point to give video conferencing mass market momentum.

Future ShareVision Developments
Creative Labs is expanding the ShareVision range to include ISDN systems (interim product due April '96, multi-party version due October '96) and fully networked desktop conferencing which will offer a comprehensive range of products.

About Creative ...
Creative Technology Ltd. develops, manufactures and markets a family of sound, video, software, telephony and multimedia products for PCs under the Blaster family name, and the ShareVision line of desktop video conferencing products for PCs. The company's Sound Blaster sound platform enables PCs to produce high- quality audio for entertainment, educational, music and productivity applications, and has been accepted as the industry standard sound platform for PC-based software.

Creative Technology was founded in 1981 and is based in Singapore. The company's subsidiaries include Creative Labs in China, Europe, Japan, Taiwan and the US. The European head office is based at Ruscombe, near Twyford. In January 1994, Creative opened its technical support group in Dublin, which provides telephone support to French, German and English-speaking customers across Europe. Creative's stock is traded on the NASDAQ exchange, with sales in FY 1995 of $1202.3 million - a 83% increase on 1994.