LANNION, France -- A telepresence wall designed and developed by France Telecom R&D lets people hundreds of miles from one another communicate as if they were face-to-face, including eye contact and life-like 3D synthetic images of the other person. This innovation is being trialed over the summer between the offices in the Paris suburb of Issy-Les-Moulineaux and France Telecom R&D's facility in Lannion, in Brittany. It provides researchers at the sites with a permanent informal "meeting window". Participants no longer have to use complex remote controls, dial up teleconference numbers or look into a camera. They just sit in front of the image wall to see and hear (and be seen and heard) a life-size image of people in the remote meeting space. The 3D exchanges include everything from friendly banter during coffee breaks and discussions between experts to follow-up on a formal videoconference meeting, complete with demonstrations. The open access wall can be used for impromptu meetings of up to 20 people at a time and enables both group and individual exchanges, just as if everyone were in the same room. "This is a true 'communications tunnel' between two interconnected sites," says France Telecom R&D project manager Georges Buchner. "Our solution recreates the sound and visual conditions that give users a feeling of natural conversation, just as if the other person were physically in the room. This little technological revolution opens the door to all sorts of exciting possibilities that will radically change the way people think about using videoconferencing systems. It introduces all the sounds and images of a face-to-face meeting." France Telecom SA