ITHACA, N.Y. -- SightSpeed makes easy-to-use software that turns desktop computers into high-end videoconferencing machines, thanks to new technology developed at Cornell University.

Now the startup company will be able to take its innovative product to market as early as this spring with help from an investment by BR Ventures, a venture fund run entirely by MBA students at the university's Johnson Graduate School of Management.

"While high-quality videoconferencing has been the domain of the boardroom, SightSpeed makes it affordable for everyone," says CEO Brad Treat, Cornell MBA '02, who predicts the technology will fundamentally change the way people work and live. "We have much more than a replacement for high-end videoconferencing," Treat comments. "It's a tool that will significantly enhance collaboration between people via the Web and make human interaction much more personal." In addition to corporate conferencing, "people eventually will use SightSpeed to connect with family and friends, check on their dog at home, monitor places that are unsafe for people to go."

"We believe SightSpeed has a truly unique value proposition," says MBA student Amit Nisenbaum, a BR Ventures fund manager and a director of BR Incubator, a Johnson student-run organization that provides incubation services to fledgling businesses. While details on the size of the investment are not public, the funding will be used to build SightSpeed's technical staff and bring a corporate version of its product to market this year.

SightSpeed software offers on-screen images as good as the kind produced by costly corporate videoconferencing equipment. With the purchase of a basic $80 computer-mounted camera, a SightSpeed user can see, hear and talk with anyone with a standard high-speed Internet connection, another camera and the software. "The quality is not compromised," says Treat. The full-motion, 30-frames-per-second video in full color is comparable to systems costing thousands of dollars. In contrast, previous efforts at low-cost desktop video technology produced results as jumpy and uneven as an old home movie, at 15 frames per second or less. "Studies showed it literally gave people headaches," Treat notes.

A video-compression algorithm developed in Cornell's Discover Laboratory by Toby Berger, the Irwin and Joan Jacobs Professor of Engineering, and Aron Rosenberg, B.S. '02, made the new technology possible. The research team studied how the eye perceives video images and, in essence, figured out what information could be eliminated to offer a more believable, less cumbersome image in real time. For example, in the new technology the edge of a person's hand is emphasized, while details such as the life lines in the palm are suppressed. The approach is analogous to what MP3 does to produce high-quality sound. Less extraneous visual information means the application uses a bandwidth narrow enough for the system to run over a cable modem or DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) Internet connection.

Rosenberg is now the chief technology officer and VP Engineering for SightSpeed.

Currently a select group of people are using the software and reporting back to SightSpeed on how they are putting it to use. Once the product goes to market, it will be leased to clients who will receive upgrades and technical support in return for a fee that starts at about $30 a month. They may share it with user groups at no additional fee.

In 2001-02 Treat, then an MBA student of entrepreneurship at the Johnson School, met Rosenberg, who was looking for help in turning the technology into a viable business. Treat put together a business model and plan, with assistance from BR Incubator. He also found seed money and investors through the Cornell Entrepreneur Network, a national network of Cornell alumni that fosters career success. After assuming the CEO post following graduation, he moved the startup first to Baltimore and then to Berkeley, Calif., to join its investing firm, the Roda Group. The group's two principals, Roger Strauch and Dan Miller, both Cornell '78, are active in the network.

Investing in SightSpeed allows BR Ventures to start to diversify its portfolio, says Nisenbaum. Last year the student-run venture fund selected its first investment, GNS (Gene Network Sciences), an Ithaca-based bioinformatics company.

The student fund managers of BR Ventures hope that dollars to invest in future startups eventually will come from shares that their fund has in SightSpeed and GNS as well as future investments. Current funding comes from donations made to Cornell. The fund's advisers include Cornell entrepreneurship faculty and alumni.

For information about BR Ventures see http://brv.cornell.edu . For more on SightSpeed, see: http://www.SightSpeed.com .