Star Trek Technology Becomes Reality in Texas

The old cliché, "You can't be in two places at once," was proven false on Friday during a demonstration of a groundbreaking new technology called teleportation.

While Texas Governor Rick Perry was in Austin, his three-dimensional, holographic image stood before a crowd seated in an auditorium at the University of Texas-in Dallas.

Gov. Perry began to speak, addressing the 3-D image of the auditorium projected in front of him. Cameras hidden behind the image captured his every move and transmitted them to the Dallas audience via a special network connection called Internet2.

In the educational arena, teleportation could make distance learning an appealing-and feasible-option for universities across the world.

The teleportation technology was developed by Teleportec, Inc., a British company that recently opened its international headquarters in Richardson, Texas. The company is selling its teleporters for roughly $70,000 per unit.

The greatest advantage of teleportation over similar technologies such as video conferencing is that the speaker looks directly at the audience-not at the camera, which is hidden behind the image-thus allowing for eye contact and a personal connection with the audience.

According to David Booth, a vice president of Teleportec, the potential applications of teleportation are innumerable. The most practical uses of the technology will be for corporate board meetings and conferences that wish to have guest speakers from other locations.

-Staff writer Kate L. Rakoczy can be reached at rakoczy@fas.harvard.edu.