Cisco Umi Customers Sought By Tely Labs
Cisco Umi Customers Sought By Tely Labs by UCStrategies Staff
Customers of Cisco's Umi personal telepresence, which is soon to be dismantled, are being sought by Tely Labs, a startup videoconferencing specialist. The latter has begun a strong promotions campaign to attract that customer base, and this move could be very beneficial for the channel as well.
It was announced last week that a “Umi Rescue” plan would be implemented so that Umi customers can receive rebates of as much as $100 for Tely's telyHD videoconferencing platform. The telyHD product was launched this month and offers a full HD, two-party Skype video calling to conference rooms and homes through the use of any standard HDTV (no PC is required).
The CEO of Tely Labs, Sreekanth Ravi, stated: “Cisco has proven that it is not easy to build an affordable videoconferencing and collaboration solution that truly meets the needs of consumers of small and medium business users.”
Tely Labs was founded in 2010 and late last year was successful in closing two key funding rounds; this included an infusion of $13 million in September, which was headed by Comcast Ventures and DCM. Another $15 million round was closed in October, headed by Comcast and Rogers Venture Partners.
Customers using Tely Labs' business-grade telyHD are able to connect as many as six different locations at one time. Per location the cost (of the Business Edition) is $499 per location, and this includes the first year of service. However, the regular telyHD per location costs $249 and has no ongoing service fees.
Last month Cisco announced that it would be permanently ending its Umi services on January 31 of this year. Refunds for full hardware are being offered by Cisco until February 28, and service refunds on prepared service contracts can also be claimed.
Tely Labs, who is developing a reseller channel, can benefit from this closure, and has stated that its resellers will be able to take part in updates, renewals and services related to Tely Labs business which has been gained from the Umi promotion. This may potentially be an untapped channel opportunity so long as Cisco does not formally begin to sell units through solution providers.
The vice president of enterprise marketing at Tely Labs, Dave Crilley, said: “The program will begin as a short-term direct promotion from our web site but we will be folding this into our reseller program so our channel partners will get the benefits of ongoing revenue from annual license renewals and future upgrades.”
Umi was first launched by Cisco in October 2010 and hailed that consumers would be able to have business-level telepresence experiences in their homes. The price of the up-front hardware was $600 and following that, a $24.99-per-month subscription which Cisco partners stated would limit the system's appeal to customers. Furthermore, partners commented that Cisco was not making full advantage of the fact that they could sell the system to small business users.
In April 2011, Cisco brought Umi into its business telepresence portfolio and later that year, in December, stated that Umi hardware would no longer be sold. Umi, along with Cisco's Flip video camera and Cius Android tablet, was another product flop for the company. (CY) Link