??? 我們不妨把它叫做視頻聚餐新風尚。

??? 暖洋洋的房間內，火鍋冒著騰騰的熱氣，同事們就坐在桌對面吃著，他們如真人般大小，而且還都是高清的。歡迎來到中國最受追捧的火鍋連鎖店——海底撈（Hai Di Lao）。在這里，你可以通過遠程視頻會議系統，與身處中國另一個大城市的朋友或是家人們一道享用火鍋（目前，該服務僅限海底撈北京和上海的門店）。

????海底撈以超乎想象的優質服務而出名，比如用iPad來點餐、顧客在排隊的時候可以獲得美甲、按摩甚至是擦鞋服務。但自打去年年初，這家餐廳在其兩家門店內安裝了華為公司（Huawei）出品的遠程視頻通訊系統之后，才算真正地有了點炫酷的味道。這間“智真套間”約為15平米，內有6把椅子和幾幅3.65英尺大屏幕（當然，它們已經經過了過防油防煙防霧處理），房費為每小時200元人民幣（約合30美元），外加500元餐費，共計約合110美元。

????去年2月，當海底撈將這個消息發布到微博上之后，被轉發了25萬次。許多人呼吁海里撈在他們所在的城市也推出這樣的視頻聚餐系統。華為統一通信與協作營銷運作部副部長馮杰克（音譯）說：“這項服務相當受歡迎，業務發展很快。”

????在人們印象中，這類精密的高科技設備通常只是為高級行政套房所準備，所以，海底撈把視頻會議系統“草根化”應用之后在中國掀起了熱議也就不足為奇。但是這樣的系統究竟代表著餐飲業的未來，還是僅僅只是這家火鍋連鎖店吸引眼球的營銷手段？

????“人們能真真切切地體驗到情感上的交流。他們會感覺如同身處一室。人們可以看到遠方的朋友、家人或生意伙伴并與他們共進午餐或晚餐，”馮杰克說。他預計未來會有更多的餐廳加入這個行列，還華為與海底撈會繼續在該項目上攜手合作，因為兩家公司都有著以客戶為中心的企業文化。

????雖然這種“視頻聚餐”在中國尚屬新鮮事物，但這類概念卻早已有之。早在1995年，后被寶利通公司（Polycom）收購的TeleSuite公司就曾經宣布，將在包括帕爾瑪酒店（Palmer House）和比佛利希爾頓酒店（Beverly Hiltons）在內的40家酒店內推出遠程視頻聚餐套房。當時，《大眾科學》雜志（Popular Science）似乎都已經看到了“視頻聚餐”的光明前景，還特地推出了一些“視頻聚餐小貼士”，其中就包括“吃完飯要說‘我吃好了，你那邊繼續’”還有“千萬別叫對面視頻墻里的侍者給你倒水”等。

????雖然視頻聚餐遠未形成氣候，但仍有一些餐廳會提供“視頻聚餐”套間，特別是那些商務人士云集的餐廳。比如，佛萊明牛排館酒吧（Fleming's Prime Steak House and Wine Bar）就在其65家分店內為顧客提供思科（Cisco）的遠程視頻通訊設備。顧客可以在店內遠程連接到弗萊明其他分店的視頻通訊設備，還可以通過BlueJeans、Skype或是谷歌（Google）聊天工具等第三方視頻工具提供商來連接到其他非弗萊明餐廳的視頻設備上。

????Call it a new spin on TV dinner.

????The room is cozy, the hot pot steaming, and your peers eating across the table, they're life-size and in high definition.?Welcome to the brave new Hai Di Lao, China's wildly popular hot pot franchise, where you can now break bread (er, slurp hot pot) with friends and family a major Chinese city away via video conference. (For now, the teledining experience is limited to a branch in Beijing and one in Shanghai.)

????Hai Di Lao is already known for its over-the-top dining experience -- iPads are used for ordering and customers can get manicures, massages, or have their shoes shined while they wait for tables -- but the restaurant really raised its gee-whiz factor when it installed Huawei telepresence systems in two of its dining rooms earlier this year. Time in the "Real and Smart Suite," a 15-square meter room that holds six chairs and 3, 65-inch screens (specially protected from oil, smoke and fog), costs 200 yuan/hour (about $30), plus a 500 yuan charge for food, about $110 total.

????When news of Hai Di Lao's initiative hit?Weibo, China's Twitter, in February it was retweeted 250,000 times. Many called for telepresence hot pot in their own city. "It's very popular, the business is growing very quickly," says Jack Feng, Vice President of Unified Communications & Collaboration Marketing for Huawei.

????Sophisticated technology usually reserved for suits in executive suites, it's perhaps not surprising that telepresence served up for the masses is causing a stir in China. But is this the future of dining, or one hot pot chain's gimmick?

????"People can really experience an emotional connection. They feel just like they're in the same room. They see their friends, family, and business partners and have lunch or dinner together," says Feng. He imagines more restaurants will be interested in the technology in the future, and says Huawei and Hai Di Lao came together on this project because of their shared customer-centric cultures.

????Though teledining is new to China, the concept has been tried before. Back in 1995, TeleSuite, a company that has since been acquired by Polycom (PLCM) announced plans for remote dining suites in 40 venues including the Palmer House and Beverly Hiltons. At the time, Popular Science, perhaps imagining a brighter (or not) future offered "teledining tips" that included "Finish with the phrase, 'Over to you'" and "Never ask the waiter on the other side of the video wall to pour you water."

????While teledining has never really taken off, there are still eating establishments that offer telepresence suites, particularly those that cater to business crowds. Fleming's Prime Steak House and Wine Bar, for example, offers Cisco (CSCO) TelePresence suites at all 65 of its locations. Customers can connect with other Fleming's telesuites, non-Fleming's video conferencing systems, or by using a third-party bridging company called BlueJeans, Skype and Google (GOOG) chat users.