NTT released SIP and H.323 IP videophone

[Keisuke Hashimoto]

NTT released SIP and H.323 IP videophone that is also capable of
internet browsing and emails etc.. for home users.
62,790 yen ($576) per unit.

NTT’s new FLET Phone VP1000 video phone
http://peripherals.engadget.com/entry/5573682036957882/

[Keisuke Hashimoto]

Looks like they plan to sell 100,000 units of them nationwide for the next one year according to their press release in Japanese.

[tom9933]

For the cost this looks like a really slick unit, I wonder if they will also market it to the US.

[Toney]

Seems like a good idea, does look quite slick. The price is excellent, fits rit in between the webcams and solutions that the Polycoms and Tandbergs offer. For that price, they would be ideal for home use.

[Toney]

One things, Keisuke, perhaps you could give us a product review when they come out?

[Keisuke Hashimoto]

Hello, everyone. I have been away for almost a month from VTCTALK.COM but I am just back. Apology for the delayed
reply.

As for the product, it is very interesting because one thing is that it supports the bandwidth up to 2Mbps for IP video on either IPv4 or IPv6, enough to have a quality video at home. I had a chance to briefly try the product, and I found the video and audio quality were good even enough to use the product for business meeting as well. I will be happy to report to you regarding the product review on this VTCTALK.COM if I can have a chance to use the product in the near future.

As for marketing this product abroad, as I do not think that they will do that because all the products marketed by them are usually just tailored to Japanese market to be used domestically.

[Keisuke Hashimoto]

Some pictures are available at the following url.
http://bb.watch.impress.co.jp/cda/news/6018.html

[Keisuke Hashimoto]

Even though they offer VP1000 that is compilant with H.323, the product is supposed to be used only for within their IP video service, so you can not just install VP1000 per se on any IP network, you need to sign up for particular ISPs and for particular IP video service tailored for VP1000. Therefore, VP 1000 can not communicate with other H.323 video endpoints that you know of on the market. You can not even configure IP address but you will be assigned IP phone number that has 9 digits starting from 050. It is like a phone number. 050 number is what you get when you sign up for any VoIP service on the public internet in Japan.
I talked to NTT people today at CEATEC, or IT show near Tokyo where NTT displayed the products.

CEATEC
http://www.ceatec.com/en/2004/visitors/index.html

[Keisuke Hashimoto]

I confirmed that VP1000 can communicate with other H.323 video endpoints. I saw a demo of UCM's MCU connecting five of VP1000s and one TANDBERG 880 yesterday. In this case, NTT plans to position this VP1000 as inexpensive H.323/SIP video endpoint for business, that can be operable up to 2Mbps.
UCM is a Japanese company specialized in MCU development.
Also VP1000 can be operable with NetCS or MCU server developed by Hitachi.