Hewlett Packard, in its move to revolutionise boardroom video conferencing, has launched the Halo Collaboration Studio in partnership with animation giant Dreamworks. CNBC-TV18 finds that the new technology comes with an expensive price tag that could limit its appeal in India.

In the new security environment, flying has become a hassle for executives. HP offers an alternative to getting on airplanes. HP calls it the Halo Collaboration Studio.

The concept is simple - why fly thousands of miles for a one-hour meeting when you can walk into in one of these state-of the art-broadcast studios to experience face-to-face interaction through cyber-space.

Halo studios can connect up to four locations around the globe with a click of the mouse, but the experience doesn''t come cheap. A single studio like this one costs $425,000 (Rs1.95 crore) with an additional $18,000 (Rs826,000) monthly fee. Customers are lining up; companies including GE, Canon and Pepsico have bought multiple suites worldwide. For a technology that costs almost half-a-million-dollars, the Halo collaboration studio is remarkably simple. All it has are four plasma televisions, four high-resolution cameras, a table and six-chairs.

Hidden behind the simple set up though is a robust Fiber optic system that allows for a 45-megabit-per-second bandwidth connectivity. The result is crystal clear picture quality that conveys every hand gesture, or a raised eyebrow, even if multiple members are talking at once, all with no audio or visual delay.

But with limited fiber-optic connectivity and an expensive price tag, will Halo work in India? Yes, says HP because it makes employees smarter.

Vyomesh Joshi, Executive Vice President, HP, says, "In India there are a lot of big companies that work with companies in US and Europe. So the value proposition of Halo is that you don''t have to travel. You''ll be spending 12 to 15 hours in a plane you have a jet lag. And for a two-hour meeting you''ll be wasting two days. With Halo you can make that meeting happen right at your location."

Currently 63 Halo studios, including one in Bangalore, are installed across the globe. The California based-company says smaller firms that cannot afford a studio will be able to rent one for a fee.