One of the challenges associated with getting customers to adopt high-definition videoconferencing is that most of the better known approaches rely on dedicated hardware that are not very compatible with each other.

In sharp contrast to those approaches, the folks at Vidyo have developed a software-based approach to videoconferencing that leverage the processing horsepower of industry-standard client systems. The latest iteration of that offering is VidyoMobile, high-definition videoconferencing software for smartphones and tablet PC devices such as the Apple iPad 2 or the Motorola Xoom.

Vidyo CEO Ofer Shapiro says the company’s videoconferencing software VidyoMobile will not only span PCs, mobile devices and room-based systems, but will also be extended out to embedded systems and a wide variety of applications.

Rather than relying on CODEC processors, the Vidyo approach leverages  what the company describes as a Vidyo router, This approach not only allows Vidyo to leverage advances in standard processor technologies, it also means that via a standard application programming interface the VidyoRouter software can be embedded in any number of applications.

The VidyoMobile offering is designed to primarily run over WiFi and 4G LTE-class wireless networks, which the company expects will become more prevalent over the coming year. VidyoMobile provides support for up to 720p high definition resolution and can be connected to a variety of third-party HD videoconferencing systems.

The goal, says Shapiro, is to deliver HD videoconferencing for a few cents per minute, versus relying on hardware-centric approaches that ultimate wind up costing companies dollars per minute to deploy and manage.

Video represents of huge opportunity for solution providers over the next decade. But rather than thinking about video in terms of network hardware, Shapiro is making a case for treating video as a software-based communications system platform that solution providers depending on future opportunities will be able to extend in any number of future directions.