Abcam turns to BlinkPipe for reliable video conferencing

Leading life science company, Abcam, has been using BlinkPipe for ‘just dial’ HD video conferencing since January 2012. BlinkPipe caught up with Dr Ed Ralph, CIO, and Dr Fay Moutevelis, Senior Project Manager, at Abcam to discuss the impact that BlinkPipe has had on their business.

Abcam supplies protein research tools including over 120,000 antibodies, kits, proteins and other reagents.  Abcam is headquarted in Cambridge, UK, with additional offices in the UK, USA, Japan and China. They also have software development teams based in India.

Abcam has been using BlinkPipe for ‘just dial’ High-definition video conferencing since January 2012.                      

BlinkPipe caught up with Dr Ed Ralph, CIO, and Dr Fay Moutevelis, Senior Project Manager, at Abcam to discuss the impact that BlinkPipe has had on their business.

The drive towards BlinkPipe

Abcam has existing Polycom systems - two in the Cambridge office, one in Boston, one in San Francisco and smaller versions in Tokyo and Hong Kong.

Abcam had outsourced some software development to India and, being fully aware of the business benefits of cloud-based video conferencing meetings, wanted to conduct daily stand-ups between the UK and India using video conferencing.

However, there was limited availability of the Polycom systems in both offices (the boardrooms are hard to block book for daily stand up meetings), and cost was a barrier to equipping other meeting rooms with similar equipment.

Seeking an alternative solution, Abcam initially tried Skype for these meetings but encountered problems.

Ed Ralph, CIO explained, “We were doing distributed stand-up meetings between the UK and India, trying all kinds of things – e.g. a typical stand-up would have had us using Skype for video, and then dialling into a phone bridge.  The Skype video was usually too small and poor to be useful and setting up (who is going to call whom etc.) was a nightmare.”

 “The main problem with Skype is that it needs a good internet connection end to end.   With our calls being between the UK and India it is often unreliable and a lot of time is wasted.  If you take the time of 30 people you can’t afford for this to happen.  For us, Skype wasn’t a good solution,” said Fay.

This is where BlinkPipe came in.

“I just wanted to flick a switch and see the other team.  The cost structure of the BlinkPipe cameras made for a low barrier and the ease of use was a no-brainer, so we tried them out,” said Ed.

Heavy use of BlinkPipe HD Video Conferencing

Abcam has made over 2800 minutes of BlinkPipe calls in the last 30 days alone.

“I use BlinkPipe from 9-12 every day for software development team stand-up and other regular meetings with typically 8/9 people in Cambridge and 10/11 people in India,” explained Fay.

“At Abcam the BlinkPipe advantage is not having to compete with people to book Internet video conferencing. Being able to dial the other meeting room and the video just coming on is fantastic,” said Ed.

Would Abcam recommend BlinkPipe?

“I’m very happy with BlinkPipe and would recommend it for businesses wanting an easy to use best web conferencing software system. With BlinkPipe I can focus on the meeting and not on the technology which is a win-win for Abcam,” said Fay.

“Just do it,” concluded Ed.

Call out box

In the last 30 days…

BlinkPipe in meeting room ‘Derbyshire’

2600 minutes of calls using 1 camera @£49/month 1.9 pence per minute.

Polycom in the boardroom

1080 minutes of calls at £280/month = 25p per minute

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Article Source: Abcam turns to BlinkPipe for reliable video conferencing