With so many contenders wrestling each other to control desktop endpoints, videoconferencing seems to have lost track of the bigger battle: integrating desktop video with mobile video users.

Now Damaka, a specialist in mobile video and unified communications, launches Kalisto to unite the two.

Siva Chaturvedi, CEO of Damaka, says, "Videoconferencing companies have forgotten collaboration is the higher umbrella, a higher level than video by itself." As Chaturvedi sees it, the goal is to further collaboration, not just place video phone calls.

While current telepresence solutions target medium and high end businesses, Kalisto positions itself as very cost effective (by an order of magnitude) by using patented P2P "Direct Peering" technology and by not requiring sophisticated or proprietary hardware (demanded by some of the competitive solutions).

For example, Kalisto's architecture is standards-based (does not require a media server) and can use the existing infrastructure including the HD web camera.

The Kalisto solution can connect to systems that are RTP based SIP end points – and it can mix and match HD with non-HD endpoint sources – a clear differentiator in the market.

Kalisto software can work with Polycom, Tandberg/Cisco endpoints to create a HD videocall and collaboration solution. Whereas most systems today drop HD quality to the lowest common denominator (like a mobile video call), Kalisto allows you to see the mobile video caller at its native resolution while viewing the desktop video caller at in its original HD.

"We believe the price point is critical," says Chaturvedi. He set the price point, without volume considerations which would apply, at $500 per endpoint. That makes Kalisto an affordable HD conference solution for SOHO, SMB and enterprise that is bandwidth friendly and supports HD, SD, LD video.

A new telepresence platform that overcomes cost barriers to provide high quality, yet affordable conferencing on desktops, laptops and mobile endpoints (smartphones and tablets), Kalisto has a management application which emulates office room concepts, provides an intuitive interface and enhances the experience of the meetings.

The solution can be customized to match the business processes and culture of the user organizations.

According to the 2010 Cisco Visual Networking Index, mobile video is projected to represent 66% of all mobile data traffic by 2014, increasing 66X from 2009 to 2014.

Damaka is betting that mobile is the Trojan Horse that can carry Kalisto inside the gates that keep videoconferencing fenced off and in the castlekeep of large enterprises.

If Cisco's prediction is true...and with the industry's first mobile endpoint integration with enterprise video systems...Damaka's Kalisto may indeed hold the key differentiator that video conferencing needs to create the much coveted dream of videoconferencing in day-to-day use in every size of business..

Go Kalisto, the industry's first mobile endpoint integration for enterprise conferencing