Panasonic Corp. (PC) has launched its new HD Visual Communications System at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. This new device is expected to be useful for enterprises looking to enhance productivity, without incurring substantial incremental costs. The full HD video conferencing system is expected to improve the customer’s videoconferencing capability, thereby reducing the need for frequent business travel.
 
Apart from high definition sound and video quality, this new video conferencing system employs H.264 video compression technology and requires roughly half the bandwidth compared to the other systems available in the market. The multiple HD cameras can be used to get a detailed view of projects and figures being discussed in the meeting, which can then be displayed as sharp images on desktops or big LCD screens.
 
We believe that Panasonic will have many takers for this new generation video conferencing device, although the price has to be competitive compared to other products available in the market. Apart from introducing cutting edge products at regular intervals the company is also making key changes to senior management positions, including the Boards of Panasonic and SANYO Electric Co. Ltd. (SANYY).
 
Effective from February 1, 2010 the Panasonic board appointed Junji Nomura as the Managing Director of the company. This apart, the company also made several changes in key management positions of SANYO, some of the more important being the appointment of Senior Executive Vice President – “Susumu Koike”, Executive Vice President – “Junji Esaka” and Senior Vice President – “Kenjiro Matsuba”.
 
Although the company faces stiff competition from other large players such as Sony Corp. (SNE) and Hitachi (HIT), along with large international companies such as those in South Korea , we believe that the introduction of new high quality products and addition of capable business leaders in key positions will help the company scale new heights in the days to come.
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