The IPEX group, owned by the Israeli family Shulav based in Melbourne, Australia, and Intel International, have jointly developed a video conferencing system called "Convergence" for conference rooms. The system combines video transmission, multimedia, voice and data in one system. "Convergence" has the capability of bringing together discussion groups of up to 15 participants in each room, located at six different sites, at a virtual site.
The IPEX Australia group, in parallel, began to market "Convergence" in Australia. The system, developed in the IPEX laboratories in Melbourne, is marketed under the IPEX label. IPEX will launch the system at the Telecom 97 Exhibition, at the pavilion of the Barak company.
Gary Sapir, Marketing Manager of Clal IPEX, said "The system could save tens of thousands of shekels a year, in time and in resources, wasted in business conferences in Israel and worldwide. Since Israel’s market is limited with respect to client numbers, the IPEX group is channeling its marketing efforts into Europe."
"Convergence" will be sold at a starting price of $25,000. The system is based on Intel’s video-conferencing platform ProShare 200, and operates on local networks and ISDN lines.