Photos: Inside BT's world of innovation

One of the most interesting products under development at BT is Senate, the Spatially Enhanced Natural Audio Teleconferencing Environment.

Aside from providing practically hi-fi quality stereo sound, the delivery of all the audio channels to everyone on the call means Senate allows each user to choose the arrangement of their voice over IP (VoIP) teleconferencing experience, through an interface that looks a bit like a radar detection screen.

Each participant in the conference appears as a coloured icon, which flashes when they are speaking. These icons can be dragged around the screen to group participants on the left or right (this makes sense when listening in stereo), or towards the perimeter of the conference circle to quieten or eventually mute the speaker. Additionally, background music can be dragged in for the end-user's enjoyment or, depending on how interesting the conference is, distraction.