Web Conferencing Resources

Saving Money and Increasing Productivity with Web conferencing

Cost savings of webconferencing services have now been realized my thousands of companies that have implemented the technology. Travel is becoming increasingly expensive and with the advancements in video conferencing technology, online meetings can seem almost as real as being in person. When replacing travel that requires flights and overnight stays, online meetings can shave up to 94 percent off the cost of an average meeting.

Productivity however is where web conferencing becomes an asset to a company. Money aside, web conferencing saves a great deal of time and effort in meeting and collaborating with clients, partners, suppliers, distributors, etc. People all over the world can instantly be connected with one another. This not only saves time wasted with employees in travel, but also presents them from being weary when they reach their destination. In an independent study on www.webconferencing-test.com, researchers claim that web conferencing increases productivity by reducing the lead time to descion making. In many cases of conventional meetings, certain entities fail to show up, or meetings turn out to be a stale-mate and a waste of time. With no return on the time invested on a useless meeting, the productivity and financial costs can be huge. However, in a web conference, this type of meeting can quickly end and cost the company almost nothing.

Finally another huge push in the web conferencing industry has been an initiative by many responsible companies to “go-green” and reduce their carbon footprint. Sending employees traveling by car and air can create a great deal of carbon pollution, while web conferencing, like all digital communication is very clean in comparison.

Posted in Environment, Web Conferencing | No Comments »

Dimdim Webconferencing, Thriving in an Uncertain Economy

Dimdim, the low-priced webconferencing service has made some big strides and gained competitive ground in a market filled with deep-pocket competition like Cisco and WebEx in the one and a half years. The MA-based startup seems to be thriving in not only a market that has lots of competition, but in an economy that has many startups struggling to stay alive.

Dimdim has all of the basic features required for successful webconferencing, including document sharing, screensharing, whiteboards, and voice and video chat. The system is entirely web-based, and does not require any downloads, allowing people to quickly connect and collaborate on any computer with a browser and internet connection.

The company now claims to have over 2 million active users and hosts about 1 million minutes of web conferencing services each week. Their platform is entirely open source and large organizations like Drupal and Moodle are designing projects on their platform. Other companies are using components of the Dimdim system, such as the chat and document sharing modules.

This week, Dimdim is set to release version 5.0 of its services that will supposedly include a host of new, as-of-yet unannounced features.

www.dimdim.com

Posted in Web Conferencing | No Comments »

Online Collaboration Tool Brings Freelancers Together

These days, a lot of people are going out on their own, working for themselves and doing freelance projects. The problem many freelancers are finding though is that most larger projects require a full team of developers and analysts, making it difficult to find other freelancers to pull together a team.

A new collaboration network has been setup for such freelancers to productivily put together teams and increase their opportunites for contracts in the UK. freelanceadvisor.co.uk allows freelancers to search for people with similar skillsets and create a virtual team online, greatly increasing the scope of projects that they can bid on.

Freelanceadvisor.co.uk Advisor, Darren Fell:

We have created an online collaborative network that allows individual contractors and freelancers to build a virtual team online. Its tough enough out there for freelancers and contractors and there is no need, with the technology tools we have available now, for communication to be a barrier

The site provides tools for the team to stay in touch as if they shared an physical office, ensuring that the entire team knows where they are on the project and enabling everyone to stay on the same page. While the “Network” as it’s more commonly known by won’t fit every style of contractor, for many it has become a way to broaden its offerings in contract bids.

Posted in Collaboration | No Comments »

ReadyShow Web Conferencing

Today, many small, medium and even big businesses are switching or at least considering web and video conferencing services to cut travel and other expenses during this economic crisis. Video conferencing saves not only money, but can greatly increase productivity among remote teams and sales forces along with being a “green” solution for collaboration.

ReadyShow Web conferencing is a unified conferencing solution by The Conference Group which provides audio, video and web conferencing services. The service allows groups to collaborate anywhere in the world as if they were in the same room, all while reducing operation costs. ReadyShow can be tailored to suit the design and features required by each business.

ReadyShow is a stand alone application that also includes a web-based application so that it can be used cross-platform and without requiring a download. The service can then be accessed from any computer, anywhere in the world as long as it has a reliable internet connection.

Features of the service include online PowerPoint, Excel and Word documents, and the ability to share applications and documents via screensharing in real time. A feature (which sounds more like a gimmick than anything) is that audience members can actually raise their hand to ask a question or vote on an issue. So if a poll is taken, the cameras recognize who has raised their hands and instantly tallies the result, making the meeting seem more realistic than other online polls that require you to check a box. While I haven’t tried this feature, I’d have to think that the quality and accuracy of the system and camera recognizing a raised hand opposed to someone scratching their head might make this feature a bit annoying. Whether valuable or not though, it’s nice to see this company thinking outside the box.

Posted in Web Conferencing | No Comments »

Portable High Definition Video Conferencing with Movi

Last week, video conferencing company tandberg annonced a mobile client for its high end video conferencing system, Movi. Movi will allow the company’s services to be run on portable devices like laptops and netbooks.

Tandberg CEO, Fredrik Halvorsen:

With Movi, there are no boundaries to where business can take place. Everyone in an organization can stay visually connected at all times

Movi licenses are expected to be as low as $93 per registration, based on 2000 users. On the server side, the software is a free update for TCS and VCS customers who havea a maintenance contract with their service.

Movi has the full support of the company’s video conferencing infrastructure such as firewall traversal, recording and archiving video and the ability to connect with legacy systems such as ISDN services. Eventually Movi will support 720p/30fps video. Tandberg is also set to release an HD web camera that supports that resolution.

Posted in Video Conference, Web Conferencing | No Comments »

Online Video Calling with ooVoo

ooVoo has been out for a few months now and is continuing to expand features in its services. The service provides free video calling service, allowing everyone to see and hear each other, as if they were all in a physical meeting.

ooVoo lets you not only video conference, but also record video messages, create video chat rooms, and share files between meeting participants. the navigation system is straight forward and stylish.

The video quality is impressive and the audio is pretty clear, although I’ve noticed a lot of echoing in my trial uses with the product. Both video and audio quality (and the echoing problem) are going to be dependent on each user’s individual setup. If one user has a low quality camera, their video quality will be lower, and if one user has his microphone too close to his speakers, there’s going to be an echo.

The free version of the service is monetized by annoying ads at the bottom of the video conferencing window. Ads also appear in chat windows, and in most windows that are used in the system. While annoying, remember that the service is free. If you love the service, but hate the ads, ooVoo does ofer a pay service for $10 a month that includes 1000 minutes of video storage, up to 6 people in a video conference, and most importantly, no ads.

Posted in Video Conference, Video Phone | No Comments »

Nestle Foods Selects InstantPresenter for Multi-Branch Webconference

Nestle USA, the world’s largest food company selected InstantPresenter, the leading provider of Flash-based video and web conferencing services to conduct a multi-branch web conference earlier this month. The local event was hosted in Glendale, CA and connected hundreds of the company’s employees. Nestle, like many companies are switching away from conventional conferences that require employee travel, to online meetings that save time, money and the environment.

InstantPresenter was given only a one week lead time on the project and was able to put it together without a hitch. InstantPresenter provides onsite conferencing at any location that has a reliable high-speed network. The company also works with production studios in Orange and LA counties to provide high quality productions.

InstantPresenter’s web-based conferencing platform requires no downloads and is compatible with both Windows and Mac operating systems. InstantPresenter features include: video conferencing, screen sharing, online PowerPoint slides, VOIP, registration forms, survey tools, Paypal integration and much more.

For more information, or to sign up for a free trial, visit: http://www.instantpresenter.com

Posted in InstantPresenter, Web Conferencing | No Comments »

Yugma Web Conferencing Plugin Module for Skype

With the Yugma SE (Skype Edition) Skype module, Skype users can instantly host free web conferences of up to 20 people using their Skype ID. Yugma is already the most popular web conferencing pluging available for the Skype system. The new release of the plugin provides more tools and a more simple interface to instantly begin web conferencing over the Skype network.

The webconferencing tool allows users to host or attend online meetings. It allows desktop sharing and a host of online collaboration tools between users, and is compatible with Windows, Mac and Linux systems.

Skype Relations Manager, Antoine Bertout:

Yugma is one of the most popular web conferencing and online collaboration tools available for use with Skype. We are delighted that Yugma has enhanced its popular Yugma SE application to support simpler sign-on for our users who can now simply use their existing Skype Name to collaborate online using Skype.”

The new plugin will be available to the millions of Skype users worldwide and is free to use for online meetings of up to 20 people.

Posted in Collaboration, Web Conferencing | No Comments »

Web Conferencing with Apptix

Apptix, a collaboration services company, today announced a new series of services targeted to small and medium businesses to enhance collaboration and communication. The new multimedia web conferencing services provided by Aptix include integration with their instant messaging services, and provide a host of functions to facilitate online presentations and meetings.

Apptix VP, Rick Rumbarger:

At a time when businesses of all sizes are asking IT departments to do more with less, Apptix’s new Web conferencing capability reduces expensive travel and communications costs while enhancing sales and collaboration efforts. With our growing portfolio of enterprise-class solutions, small business can turn to one trusted secure vendor - Apptix - to address expanding communications and IT needs. Apptix hosted services provides businesses the flexibility to scale IT resources while eliminating expensive deployment and maintenance costs.

The system uses the Microsoft OCS messaging platform, allowing seamless integration into the Microsoft Windows operating system, including Outlook. This allows emails and instant messages to be connected directly with the web conferencing system, making web conferencing a natural part of the environment.

Posted in Web Conferencing | No Comments »

TandBerg Launches New HD Video Conference Service

Tandberg, a video conferencing and telepresence services company announced yesterday the release of a new product, Profile. Profile is a video conferencing solution that includes the complete package: camera, video displays, microphones, speakers, remote controls and the company’s newly developed C60 codec to process the high definition feed.

The system is designed to be set up in a conference room, and while the setup is similar to popular and much more expensive telepresence solutions, Tandberg considers this high definition, high quality video conferencing. Unlike other telepresence solutions offered by Tandberg, the system has a limit to the number and size of the screens that are used. The new C60 codec is a slimmed down version of the C90 codec used in telepresence solutions. The package also doesn’t include matching furniture to closer simulate that the remote people you are working with are sitting in the same room.

The Profile system with a single screen costs $38,900, compared with the company’s lowest-end telepresence solution starting at $69,900. The Tandberg profile is being targeted at medium sized businesses that require high quality video conferencing, but don’t have the need or infrastructure to support full telepresence systems. The Profile will be competing against other similar products recently introduced by rival video conferencing firms LifeSize and Polycom.

Posted in Video Conference, Web Conferencing | No Comments »