????購買思科系統（Cisco Systems）的高端視頻會議解決方案——思科網真（Telepresence）的似乎都是財力雄厚的公司，如商務軟件公司SAP（SAP AG）和美國銀行（Bank of America）等。為什么這樣說呢？因為，單單在一個房間內實現思科網真所需要安裝的屏幕、攝像機、基礎設施、燈光和家具就要耗資300,000美元左右。

????因此，視頻會議服務領域的規模稍小的公司——如視頻會議服務供應商Vidyo公司——正試圖用低價戰略搶占思科的市場也就不足為奇了。上周，這家位于美國新澤西州的創業公司，推出了VidyoPanorama遠程呈現解決方案，這款解決方案的成本更低，更加大眾化。該公司表示，VidyoPanorama可同時支持多達20個屏幕（這意味著，在20個不同地方的員工可以同步參加視頻會議），而成本卻只有當前遠程呈現系統（比如思科網真）的10%。

????思科也不甘示弱。作為回應，周二上午，思科發布了一系列與其網真相關的產品，其中包括“思科網真遍天下”（Telepresence Everywhere）終端，這款新產品支持客戶更輕松地在多個房間實現遠程呈現。

????思科公司的發言人大衛?麥庫洛奇在寫給《財富》雜志（Fortune）的電子郵件中表示：“價格始終是客戶考慮的一個方面，但是，市場開始越來越關注易用性、可集成性和可互操作性，而不是價格。作為最優秀的遠程呈現產品供應商，思科占有較大的市場份額。能夠在上述三個領域全面領先，我們深感自豪。”

????思科網真是思科協作業務的一個組成部分，過去五個季度，其增長速度約為25%，甚至更高。預計該業務今年將為公司帶來40億美元的收入。但與此同時，網絡公司的股價卻下跌到了約15美元。思科首席執行官約翰?錢伯斯近期表示，思科需要重新調整產品組合。不過，思科不可能把此項業務廉價出售。公司在遠程呈現業務上投資巨大。思科近期進行了一些列多樣化的嘗試，多數以失敗告終（如近期關閉的Flip攝像機業務），而遠程呈現業務則是其中為數不多的亮點。

????思科發言人麥庫洛奇表示， Vidyo“自然樂于把它的產品與思科最高端的旗艦產品進行比較（以突出其價格優勢）。”思科網真確實昂貴，但是思科表示它同時也提供最低價格在300美元左右的視頻會議臺式機解決方案【2009年收購騰博公司（Tandberg）的成果】。而且，思科可能會在近期繼續推出價格更低、更靈活的思科網真。舍得花300,000美元安裝視頻會議系統的公司畢竟數量有限。

????Vidyo公司的創始人奧弗?夏皮諾表示，公司并不僅僅依靠低廉的價格進行競爭。憑借7，400萬美元風險資金的支持，Vidyo已經開發出能夠支持多達20個屏幕的遠程呈現系統，而不是普通的三屏或四屏解決方案。而且，公司還表示，該系統可以更有效地利用帶寬，不需要專門配置價格高昂的網絡。

????但是，說到底，價格才是Vidyo最大的競爭優勢。

????Vidyo公司的創始人兼首席執行官夏皮諾打了這樣一個比方：“他們（思科）賣的是勞斯萊斯和蘭博基尼，而我們賣的是本田和謳歌。”

????Buyers of Cisco Systems' (CSCO) high-end videoconferencing solution, TelePresence, tend to be deep-pocketed enterprises like SAP (SAP AG) and Bank of America (BANK). Why? It costs about $300,000 to set up the screens, cameras, infrastructure, lights and furniture necessary to TelePresence-enable just one room.

????So it's no surprise that smaller players--like newcomer Vidyo--are trying to undercut Cisco. Last week the New Jersey-based startup introduced a lower-cost telepresence solution for the masses called VidyoPanorama. According to the company, VidyoPanorama will support as many as 20 screens at a time (meaning employees from 20 different locations can participate in a simultaneous video conference) for as little as 10% of the cost of current telepresence systems like Cisco's.

????Not to be outdone, Cisco responded on Tuesday morning with a flurry of telepresence-related announcements, including the "Telepresence Everywhere" endpoint, a new product that will allow customers to more easily telepresence-enable multiple rooms.

????"Price is always relevant to customers, but this market is rapidly moving beyond price to focus on ease-of-use, ease-of-integration and ease-of-interoperability," David McCulloch, a Cisco spokesperson, wrote to Fortune in an email. "As the number one telepresence vendor by a big share, we feel really good about our leadership in all three areas."

????Telepresence is part of Cisco's collaboration business, which has been growing at about 25% or more during the last five quarters and is on pace to bring in $4 billion in revenues this year. Meanwhile, the networking company's stock has plummeted to about $15, and CEO John Chambers recently said the company needs to refocus its portfolio of products. But it's unlikely that Cisco's collaboration business is going to be sold off. The company has bet big on telepresence—it's one of the few bright spots in its string of failed attempts to diversify (it recently shuttered its Flip video camera business).

????According to McCulloch, Cisco's spokesperson, Vidyo "conveniently compares its offerings to Cisco's top-of-the-range flagship product." TelePresence is costly, but Cisco says it offers a videoconferencing desktop solution (the fruits of its 2009 acquisition of Tandberg) starting at about $300. And it's likely Cisco will keep coming out with cheaper, more flexible versions of TelePresence in the near future. After all, there are only so many companies able to shell out $300,000 for a videoconferencing system.

????Vidyo's founder, Ofer Shapiro, says his company's not just competing on price. With $74 million in venture backing, Vidyo has developed a telepresence system that will allow up to 20 screens instead of the usual three- or four-screen solution. The company also says it uses bandwidth more efficiently and doesn't require any special, costly networks to be deployed.

????But, bottom line, price is Vidyo's big differentiator.

????"They [Cisco] are selling Rolls-Royces and Lamborghinis," says Shapiro, Vidyo's founder and CEO. "We're selling the Hondas and Acuras."