HP SkyRoom's video engine enables all participants to see the presenter's display and each other through a multiway videoconferencing session. The video engine is multithreaded to take advantage of the power of today's multiprocessor and multicore processing technologies. HP SkyRoom's image engine gives remote users a view of the host presenter's desktop and its applications as if they were using a local machine. It enables the display of 2-D and 3-D graphics, full-motion video and multidisplay on a system that only has a 2-D graphics card. The HP SkyRoom software on the presenter's system monitors and updates only changes in screen appearance - not the entire display - then compresses and encrypts the information before sending it to the participants, where it is decrypted, decompressed and updated. In this way, network traffic is greatly reduced, latency and bandwidth requirements are reduced, and the need for dedicated networking hardware is eliminated.

Minimum requirements for HP SkyRoom
To run HP SkyRoom on any vendor PC, minimum requirements are Intel(r) Core 2(tm) Duo 2.33-GHz or equivalent processor with 2 GB RAM, a webcam and Microsoft Windows(r) XP or Vista(r). Minimum network requirement is a broadband network with a minimum transfer rate of 400kb/second. HP SkyRoom must run over a corporate VPN to connect to systems outside the local firewall. Pricing and availability

HP SkyRoom is available worldwide preinstalled at no cost on the HP Z800, Z600, Z400 and xw4600 workstations. Select premium business PCs and notebooks due out from HP in the coming months will include a 90-day trial of HP SkyRoom, which will be available for purchase thereafter. Customers using current HP workstations, desktops, notebooks or non-HP systems can purchase HP SkyRoom for $149 at www.hp.com/go/hpskyroom.
For an optimal quality experience that beta testers have said makes their own environment fall away as they feel present and immersed in the conversation, HP recommends users also purchase the HP SkyRoom Standard Accessory Kit for $119, which includes a high-resolution webcam and headphones. HP also offers a kit with speakers as an alternative to the headset.

More information is available at www.hp.com/go/hpskyroom.

About HP
HP, the world's largest technology company, simplifies the technology experience for consumers and businesses with a portfolio that spans printing, personal computing, software, services and IT infrastructure. More information about HP (NYSE: HPQ) is available at http://www.hp.com/.