Closed‐circuit Conferences

Videoconferencing, which uses live television to permit face‐to‐face business meetings between executives at separate locations, has been brought within the reach of many companies following the introduction of a portable videoconferencing unit. The concept has been successfully used over the last few years by many international companies, including BP, Ford, Barclays, Hewlett Packard, Boeing Aircraft Corporation and British Gas, and it played a key role in the merging of the Royal Bank of Scotland and Williams & Glynns. Essentially it permits groups of people in one location to have a face‐to‐face meeting with colleagues at another site, in the same country or abroad. However while many users of videoconferencing — and there are over 1,000 installations in the USA alone — have reported substantial benefits, costs of acquiring an in‐house facility have up to now involved a significant investment.