Web Based Conferencing Tools

[simon_c]

Here are some articles regarding web based conferencing tools. Please post your products, reviews, and such here regarding web conferencing and web conferencing in 3D.

Here's discussion on three separate companies looked to speed up collaboration, video messaging, instant outbound wireless conferencing, and instant, in-house-phone conferencing. Reality Fusion has its TeamView Instant Video conferencing system that has the look and feel of instant messaging with the addition of live video.

TeamView's group video conferencing allows as many as six concurrent video images, assuming all participants have a Web camera connected to their desktop, for sharing voice, video, and views of any application running on any of the participant's desktops. The system can host as many as 250 users collaborating simultaneously with any participant viewing six participants.
The TeamView protocol also allows users to view as many as eight images, six Web cam and two applications, on a 17-inch monitor without losing definition or reducing the image to postage stamp size.
Octave Communications may find customers with its voice conferencing technology that tracks down participants wherever they are and on whatever device they are connected to. Octave Improv will allow users to create group lists that include phone numbers and instant messaging names from any of the major IM services including AOL Instant Messenger, MSN Messenger, Yahoo Messenger, and ICQ. Users then use the keypad or voice command to invoke a call to all members of the group. If a call is not completed, the system escalates to the next phone number.
The Octave Improv system will also send e-mails, pages, or SMS messages or search the IM services to see if the member is online and if he or she is, it will send an instant message requesting the team member's participation in the call.

Sonexis' audioCollaborator has yet another take on conference calls and collaboration. Billed as a "plug-and-play" conference device, the audioCollaborator will allow companies to design their own audio conferencing system and to drop the use of expensive carrier-based outside services.
The system plugs into either PBX system or any IP/LAN telephony systems and gives users Web-based registration and administration. Any user with permission to access the system over the Web can set up and host conference calls, according to David Friend, the company's chief executive offiver. The system is in trials and is now available.