Videoconferencing
Videoconferencing has long been a domain of dedicated hardware solutions and huge investments into infrastructure on the user side. This still remains true for todays boardrooms with their stunning full-HD picture and lifelike sound quality (have a look at the Sony PCS-XG80 for example).
Demand for Mid-range, software based solutions has seen a steady growth over the past couple of years among private as well as business users. As usage slowly shifts from instant messaging towards voice- and videocalls more interesting software clients emerge.
On this page we will take a closer look at the current software videoconferencing landscape. We won´t test every client in depth but offer you a solid starting point for your own market survey.
Skype has become a popular application for instant messaging, voice calls and videoconferencing. It´s main advantage over other clients has ever been the very elegant firewall handling. This again is the feature that prevents a wider spread of Skype in a bussiness context because of well documented security concerns.
Nevertheless – Skype remains best of breed for the private user. Features are constantly added and flatrate calling plans are especially interesting for expats or travellers calling home frequently.
More on www.skype.com
Emblaze-VCON offers another client worth looking at. It offers HD-quality video, H.239 data in a videoconference (e.g. a Powerpoint presentation can be shared this way) and central client administration for large scale deployment. There is even ISDN-connectivity and encryption available.
More information on www.vcon.com.
PVX has been among the first videoconference-software client for the professional user. Being interoperable with most standards based videoconference systems on the market, it is a cost effective way of integrating single participants into videoconference scenarios. Compared to todays hardware based videoconferencing systems Polycom PVX appears to be a little out of fashion and is not state of the art anymore.
But try it out yourself – there is a 30-day trial for download on www.polycom.com.
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Hardware-suggestions:
Logitech QuickCam Pro Webcam for Notebooks
