A collaboration has been announced today between Skype (News - Alert) and Logitech, a global manufacturer of webcams. The two companies are working together to deliver a new standard of video calls over the Internet: High Quality Video.

With High Quality Video on Skype, people throughout the world can enjoy free video calls that are guaranteed to be sharper and smoother than ever before. The solution is positioned as offering an experience that is so good, it might be better than being there.

“This is a major leap in the clarity and smoothness of free video calls over the Internet,” said Gareth O‘Loughlin, Skype’s general manager, mobile and hardware devices, in a Tuesday statement.

“High Quality Video is a tremendous opportunity to delight our more than 246 million users and take their Skype experience to a whole new level. One in four Skype calls already involve video, so we know our users love to show and not just tell. High Quality Video will take Skype conversations to a whole new level of realism. In the past, only big businesses could afford this kind of video quality. It’s now time to take it to everyone else.”
 

“High Quality Video takes all the promises of video calling – staying connected with family and friends, traveling the world without a suitcase and increasing collaboration among colleagues spread across a global network – and dramatically enhances the quality of the experience,” said Gina Clark, general manager and vice president of Logitech’s Internet Communications business unit, in Tuesday’s statement.

“Once people start enjoying High Quality Video at VGA resolution and 30 frames per second – a level of quality that is sharper and smoother than we’ve ever seen on Skype before – we’re confident that it will quickly become an indispensable way to stay connected.”
 

High Quality Video (Skype 3.6 for Windows and Logitech QuickCam software, version 11.5) is designed to deliver VGA-quality video calls (640-by-480-pixels) at up to 30 frames per second (fps) to people using a broadband connection (384 kbps connection or higher), a High Quality Video-certified Logitech webcam and a PC with a dual-core processor.

It is necessary that both parts possess minimum system requirements to experience High Quality Video. As a result, all parties can enjoy significantly sharper, smoother video calls – even in full-screen mode.

As companies throughout the world are increasingly adding dispersed locations, the need to real-time face-to-face communications is growing. Not all of these companies, however, have the budgets to support consistent international or cross-country travel for its key players.

Instead, these companies are turning to video calls and video conferencing to conduct sales meetings, training classes and strategy sessions. By offering these users improved quality on video calls, they are more likely to implement the process in the say-to-day business, driving opportunities in the market for both Skype and Logitech that can lead to revenue and profit opportunities.

Skype 3.6 for Windows is expected to be available as a free download at skype.com in November and is designed to support 28 languages. The Logitech QuickCam Software version 11.5 is available now for free download at www.logitech.com/downloads.