This occurrence brings into focus the apparent intensifying of competition in the enterprise video conferencing market between the networking giant Cisco Systems and several other players who hope to challenge it, among them Polycom and a start-up called Vidyo.

The second of these two video conferences occurred Tuesday in a telepresence suite at a Cisco office in Manhattan. The occasion was the announcement of Cisco’s latest ASR 9000 router, a powerful piece of gear that can move 96 terabits of data every second, sufficient bandwidth, it says in a press release, to simultaneously stream in a second video recordings of every Super Bowl game and World Cup and Cricket World Cup match ever played.

The meeting was held at multiple sites. Two telepresence rooms in New York were used, two more in California, one in New Jersey, one in Atlanta, and one in Milan, Italy. Execs from various Cisco customers from Comcast, Cox Communications, Tata and FastWeb, service providers all, testified about how great the ASR 9000 is, and how it’s making their business easier and so on.

You’ve probably attended a meeting like this, but if you haven’t it’s a curious experience. Attendees appear on large high-definition video screens arrayed on the other side of a conference table meant to create the illusion that they’re in the room with you. Holding a meeting like this is more effective than a traditional conference call, and cheaper than paying the travel costs that would normally be required to get the same people gathered in a room.

The launch event was meant to follow Cisco’s release last week of its Visual Networking Index forecast, its assessment of how big the Internet is, and how big it’s going to get a few years out. Video, hailed often by Cisco CEO John Chambers as a key strategic play that will eventually help Cisco work its way out of its current troubles, naturally figured prominently in the forecast. Consumers and businesses alike will be demanding lots of video, whether it’s for entertainment or for holding meetings.

If you’re a service provider seeing video demand, Cisco’s ASR 9000 line of routers are proving “increasingly popular” as the analyst Jess Lubert of Wells Fargo securities wrote in a research note to clients on June 6. “Several content, media, and service provider customers are deploying the platform to leverage its advanced video capabilities.” This bodes well for Cisco’s business on the back end of video. And Cisco also participates in the business of selling the front end. All the telepresence gear bore Cisco’s brand. Indeed, video conferencing–or what Cisco calls collaboration–is one of the things that is going right at Cisco these days. It’s on track to be a $4 billion business this year, and is growing at a healthy 25 percent clip.

But there are challenges. Elsewhere in Lubert’s note were some observations that Polycom is winning some business away from Cisco. Demand is strong for gear from both vendors, yet frustration among some customers and partners with Cisco and its Tandberg unit is causing them to steer more business toward Polycom for the moment, Lubert writes.

There’s no denying that Polycom is on a roll. Sales grew 26 percent in 2010 to $1.2 billion, and group telepresence products accounted for $796 million, or 65 percent of sales. Its shares have risen by 135 percent since October. And last week it spent $89 million to acquire Hewlett-Packard’s Halo video conferencing business, a rare divestiture for HP, the world’s largest technology company. HP, a latent rival to Cisco in the networking space, will resell Polycom equipment as part of the deal. Meanwhile Polycom said it will expand its relationship with Microsoft, whose Lync video conferencing software, as Lubert wrote in the Wells Fargo note, is turning out to be a big driver in sales of Polycom equipment. So when we talk about office video conferencing equipment, we know who the two main players are: Cisco and Polycom.

All this brings me to the first of those two video conferences in which I participated this week. On Monday I was introduced to Vidyo, a New Jersey-based video conferencing start-up that aims to upend both of the established players with a product that undercuts them on price and outdoes them on features and flexibility.

Till now, Vidyo was focused on the desktop video business, but it has aimed its sights at higher-end office conferencing systems. Backed by $74 million from Menlo Ventures, Rho Ventures, Sevin Rosen Funds, Star Ventures and the Four Rivers Group, it has now set its sights on the higher-end video conferencing market.

The first thing I noticed during the Vidyo meeting was what I called The Brady Bunch Effect. Nine screens were arrayed in a conference room, for nine different people against light blue backgrounds (as in the picture above) in a way that reminded me of the old TV sitcom. The company calls the product VidyoPanorama, and it can support as many as 20 screens at a resolution of 1080p with 60 frames per second. Vidyo CEO Ofer Shapiro told me that just such a system with nine screens could be set up for $60,000 compared prices in the $300,000 range for similar systems from the bigger players with fewer screens. Vidyo’s starting price for a four-screen system is $40,000. It also supports tablets and smart phones, including Apple’s iPad 2 and phones and tablets running Google’s Android operating system.

All a company needs to get started is a good Internet connection and a Vidyo router added to a rack in its data center. There’s also an application that must be installed on whatever Mac/PC/tablet/phone you want to use for conferencing.

Video conferencing and telepresence are the sort of technologies you keep hearing about, but they never seem to reach any critical mass. I’ve heard people say “This is the year for video conferencing” since about 2003, and yet in 2011, it’s still unusual, at least in my anecdotal experience, to participate in one. Yet the numbers don’t lie. Companies want it, and just as Cisco and Polycom are making a serious go of selling it to them, here comes a start-up ready to turn that business upside down. If I were Cisco or Polycom, I’d be worried.

And by the end of fiscal 2012, said Reitzes, that installed base will have reached over 200 million devices, driven by what he called the “FaceTime networking effect” that encompasses the better part of Apple’s consumer product line–something the company’s rivals may not be able to duplicate with video conferencing apps of their own.

“While Android and competitive devices either have or are working toward incorporating a similar feature, we believe this particular feature benefits from Apple’s vertically integrated model,” Reitzes said. “Experiences across disparate hardware platforms tend to vary–with Apple’s one of the most reliable in our trials. Also, this feature allows Apple to mine the millions of iTunes users who have Apple ID’s–and provide an attractive feature across devices that can be put into use immediately. We believe the ‘FaceTime networking effect’ could enhance a halo effect on Macs and iPads as the feature becomes available.”

Oh, and that FaceTime-compatible iPad that Reitzes says Apple will sell 10 million of? He expects it to be announced over the next month with a shipping date near the end of March or early April. And like most folks, he assumes it will include a thinner and lighter design, front and rear-facing cameras, a USB port, and an iPhone-like high resolution display.

[Image credit: FacePlant]

Kara opened the week with a bier-trinken good time at Gourmet Haus Staudt, better known as the infamous iPhone bar. Everyone has been speculating about Jobs’ reaction to the whole debacle, and midweek Kara broke the news that we may just get to ask him. Kara revealed that Mr. Jobs will be one of the headline interviews at the upcoming D8 conference. Kara rounded out the week with some great analysis of Yahoo’s (YHOO) concerning brain drain. Kara will have to ask Carol Bartz about it when they see each other next–hopefully she’ll let us watch.

Digital Daily this week featured posts on a series of high-profile acquisitions from everyone’s favorite tech giant. John reported early in the week that Apple (AAPL) acquired Intrinsity, the firm behind those A4 chips driving iPads everywhere. Flexing their market-cap muscle again, Apple also bought up digital assistant software maker Siri, whose iPhone app can do things like call you a cab or find you a restaurant, all via voice. John finished out the week with some post-game analysis of what the fallout from the HP-Palm acquisition will be. We can be sure of one thing, HP (HP) won’t force Palm CEO Jon Rubinstein to handle an iPhone. They give him hives.

Media Memo, fresh off new-baby hiatus, opened up the week with news of the acquisition of the cell phone insider
Boy Genius Report by Jay Penske, who will add it to his already rich stable of blogs including that of celeb gossiper Nikki Finke and Bonnie Fuller. Midweek, Peter took a look at Hulu’s numbers after a Comscore (SCOR) report came out saying they were gaining ground, despite losing both Stewart and Colbert as traffic drivers. Peter rounded things out with a post we’ve been waiting for since we got word of the Flashless iPad. It looks like Wired is going back to the drawing board and rebuilding its magazine application on a platform that isn’t banned.

Walt focused on computers of the folding variety this week with a column that runs down all the things you need to know beforebuying a laptop today. The mailbox was full to the brim, and Walt dispatched the questions with his usual all-knowing ease. Weekend Update was particularly interested in hearing all about using the Kindle in Japan. Katie dedicated her post this week to all things video chat. Weekend Update is a little creeped out by the whole thing, but we may have to get used to it if that next iPhone has a camera on the front side.

Stay tuned for the coming weeks. We’re ramping up for the D8 conference, and this is the best time of year to be an AllThingsD reader.

The latest companies to do so are Polycom, which makes video-conferencing systems, and Juniper Networks (JNPR), which makes networking gear. The two companies have a common enemy: Cisco Systems (CSCO), which has long been the market leader in telecommunications gear, and which recently expanded its budding video-conferencing business by buying Polycom’s (PLCM) arch rival, Tandberg.

In a partnership that both companies plan to announce Monday, Polycom and Juniper will make their technologies work together and jointly sell their products. That way, telecommunications providers that normally manage video-conferencing systems for companies will be more likely to buy Juniper gear and recommend Polycom systems, says Bob Hagerty, Polycom’s CEO.

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Earlier this year, Cisco (CSCO) acquired Pure Digital, developer of the Flip video camera, for $590 million. Two weeks ago, the company spent $3 billion on videoconferencing system maker Tandberg. And now it’s purchasing wireless infrastructure outfit Starent Networks (STAR) for $2.9 billion, or $35 a share. That’s a 21 percent premium over Starent’s closing price on Monday of $29.03, but it’s likely money well spent for Cisco.

Starent makes hardware and software to support wireless multimedia services, an obvious sweet spot in the data services market right now. Indeed, Cisco expects global mobile data traffic to more than double every year through 2013. Which makes Starent a pretty good growth bet, from on acquisition standpoint.

If Digg founder Kevin Rose is right, Apple’s next generation iPhone will include not one, but two cameras–the second a front-mounted video camera designed for iChat AV.

During a recent episode of his weekly Diggnation vidcast (see above), Rose claimed that the new iPhone reportedly being prepped by Apple (AAPL) for a summer release will enable video conferencing over AT&T’s (T) high-speed 3G wireless network.

Like most such predictions, Rose’s should be taken with a grain or two of salt. His last iPhone premonition, which had the device featuring slide-out keyboards, dual batteries and CDMA and GSM support, was laughably inaccurate. That said, he did accurately predict the debut of iPod nano ahead of its 2005 debut. So there may be something to his latest claim. Certainly, it sounds plausible.

If Digg founder Kevin Rose is right, Apple’s next generation iPhone will include not one, but two cameras–the second a front-mounted video camera designed for iChat AV.

During a recent episode of his weekly Diggnation vidcast (see above), Rose claimed that the new iPhone reportedly being prepped by Apple (AAPL) for a summer release will enable video conferencing over AT&T’s (T) high-speed 3G wireless network.

Like most such predictions, Rose’s should be taken with a grain or two of salt. His last iPhone premonition, which had the device featuring slide-out keyboards, dual batteries and CDMA and GSM support, was laughably inaccurate. That said, he did accurately predict the debut of iPod nano ahead of its 2005 debut. So there may be something to his latest claim. Certainly, it sounds plausible.

Here are a few questions about computers I’ve received recently from people like you, and my answers. I have edited and restated the questions a bit, for readability. This week my mailbox contained questions about mixing Macs and Windows computers on the same wireless network, setting up video-conferencing and switching email addresses.

If you have a question, send it to me at mossberg@wsj.com, and I may select it to be answered here in Mossberg’s Mailbox.

We have two Windows PCs on a wireless network controlled by a Netgear router. We are thinking of buying an Apple Mac laptop. Can the Mac connect to this wireless PC network?

Yes, you can easily mix Macs and Windows computers on the same wireless network, even if the router isn’t made by Apple, and even if the router maker says it doesn’t “support” Macs — which merely means the maker won’t help you connect them. Apple uses the same Wi-Fi wireless standard the Windows guys do, so it can recognize and connect to any standard wireless router, right alongside your Windows machines. In fact, connections are generally easier to establish on the Mac, which had Wi-Fi before Windows computers did.

You can also do this in reverse. You can add a Windows PC to a mostly Mac wireless network being run off an Apple router. I have done it both ways. In my home, I have a mixture of Windows and Mac computers running on a Belkin wireless router. In my office, I have an Apple router that is mainly used with Windows machines that visitors bring in. No special knowledge, special equipment, or special software is required for such mixed networks.

I want to be able to see and hear my grandchildren on my computer. What equipment do I need to accomplish this?

Assuming both you and your grandchildren have Windows computers, you would need to buy and install Web cameras on each. I recommend Logitech cameras, which are decent and inexpensive. Then, you would have to join an instant-messaging service that has video, like AOL, Yahoo or MSN. Then, you just initiate a video session with the grandchildren, and you’re in business. (If you have trouble doing any of this, the grandchildren can probably set it up for you on their next visit.)

Another interesting video-conferencing service for Windows users is Paltalk, at paltalk.com. Skype, at skype.com, also now has a video-conferencing service, for Windows users. If you and your grandchildren have the latest Macintosh desktop computers, both the cameras and the video service are built in, and the video experience is vastly better than with AOL or Yahoo or MSN.

I want to quit AOL, where I’ve been for years, but I need an easy way to move over my address book, forward my email for awhile, and notify everyone of my new address. Does such a thing exist?

Yes. To notify everyone of your new address, move over your address book, and generally to help with the switch, try a service called TrueSwitch, at trueswitch.com. It costs $20, unless you’re switching to MSN, AT&T or SBC/Yahoo, in which case it is free. TrueSwitch will even copy your saved emails, Web bookmarks and calendar entries. I have tested it, and it works, though only with Windows computers.

* * *

Because of the volume of e-mail I receive, I can’t routinely answer individual questions by e-mail, or consult on individual problems or purchasing decisions. I read all questions I receive and select three each week to answer in the column.

Write to Walter S. Mossberg at mossberg@wsj.com