February 1999

Price: $69.95

Internet CommSuite tries to tame the complexity of Internet fax, video conferencing, video surveillance, Internet chat, and Internet telephony, and roll it into one simple to use software package. The software is sold in a standard-size box and clearly looks marketed as though it will be sold in computer stores such as CompUSA.

Targeted for the home user, this product tries to simplify the confusing array of various Internet technologies and reduce the technical learning curve, which can be quite large for Internet or computer novices.

INSTALLATION
Installation of Internet CommSuite was a snap. After inserting the CD and being presented with the autorun screen, one click on the Install button followed by agreeing to the license agreement and choosing a directory was all that was required to install the software.

At the end of the install, users are asked if they wish to install "a Web browser, Internet e-mail, or IRC Chat." While it's nice to include these programs on the CD, our concern is that the novice user might install one of these components, and not realize that they have it already.

Fortunately, Microsoft's Internet Explorer installation comes with version checking, so if the user attempts to install the Web browser (Internet Explorer), it will check to see if a newer version is already installed on the user's PC. Our main concern lies in the fact that the user may already have their favorite default programs installed and with the file associations the way they like them. For instance, suppose one user has Netscape as their default browser, Eudora mail for their e-mail, and mIRC for their IRC program. If a novice user installs these three optional components, the default associations could be changed. Warnings should be included in the installation to let users know that if they already have a browser, Internet e-mail program, or IRC program, they may not want to install these optional components.

In any event, after installing the software, the initial configuration was equally simple and straightforward, and the preferences screen for setting various configurations was well organized into separate tabs.

DOCUMENTATION
The documentation was fairly good. It included a "quick start" guide as well as a regular user's manual. Screenshots were plentiful and explanations of various buttons were included. The manuals read very well and were well organized, but since this product is targeted toward novice to average computer knowledge, it would be helpful if the documentation explained some of the concepts of how particular features work. The documentation often presented features in a factual way, without explaining concepts which may have been useful to the customer. For instance, the Internet phone feature should have explained that voice is translated into digital IP packets and transmitted across the Internet, where they are converted back to voice. While the user may not care how this feature works, in some cases the information is very valuable. For instance, if the documentation explained that since this product is H.323 compliant, users can make calls to other Internet phones which are H.323 compliant, users would be aware that they can call people who don't have Internet CommSuite.

The online help was fair. Although it showed some of the icons and the corresponding descriptions, it was very difficult to find certain icon descriptions. We feel this product's online help would be better suited if screenshots of the product, which allowed the user to click on an icon that the user needed further help with, had been used.

FEATURES
Essentially, Internet CommSuite can be broken down into the six main features we examined, which included:

1. Internet Phone/Video Phone
This allows users to talk to anyone over the Internet for the cost of their Internet connections. Users can have a video phone session with others online if they have a camera connected to the system, and they can also call people directly, or find them listed on the public Internet Directory.

2. Internet Fax
Users can fax as many Windows documents as they want to any fax machine in the world, at a reduced price as compared to traditional faxing. They can save time by automatically faxing from their PCs to individuals or broadcast groups, and receive confirmation that the fax was received.

3. Internet Chat
This adds voice and video to online chat. Users can create a private chat room for family and friends and use the "Buddy List" to be notified when they are online.

4. Internet Answering Machine
This is a bit of a misnomer, since at first glance, users might think that family and friends can still call their home telephone numbers, which will route the call over the Internet to an Internet answering machine if the user is not home.

In fact, what this feature actually does is record voice or video messages from someone making an Internet call to the user. The person's PC would need to be running and connected to the Internet with Internet CommSuite running for this to work. In addition, this feature also allows users to personalize the greeting, similar to a home answering machine.

5. Video Sentry
This can turn your PC into a complete security device. By adding a camera to the system, a 30 second e-mail clip is automatically sent to users when motion is detected in front of the camera. It's great for making sure no-one has disturbed your office while you're out, or to alert you that your child has returned home safely from school.

6. Multimedia E-mail
Enables users to record video e-mail, which can be displayed by anyone. It includes the ability to encode the video into an .EXE file, which has an embedded player.

OPERATIONAL TESTING
The main interface for Internet CommSuite is actually just the left window, but we also opened up the Sentry window, which is displayed on the right side. Some of the features were a bit superfluous, such as a button to launch Internet Explorer, or a button to launch an e-mail client. On the other hand, this product's main goal is to unify all Internet-related activities into one centralized application, so some may find the quick launch capabilities useful.

We first tested making an Internet telephony call using Internet CommSuite's Internet phone. We entered an IP address directly into the field next to the "Dial" button, and then clicked on "Dial." We could have entered an e-mail address as well, which would have dialed someone as long as they were logged into a directory service, which maps the e-mail address to the corresponding IP address. After connecting, we tinkered with the "Fine tuning" setting to adjust the video quality and the frame rate. We found a happy medium between fast frame rate and good video quality, and found the video to be quite good, which in part was due to one of our favorite cameras - Vista Imaging's Vicam parallel port camera. Both the remote video and local video are displayed in separate windows from the main CommSuite application, allowing users to move the video windows freely and independently, which is pretty handy. In addition, the audio quality was equally good, with minimal echo.

We also tried out the chat feature as well as several online games, including blackjack, and backgammon. In addition, we tested the File Transfer feature, which we found to be excellent. The Sentry feature was quite interesting, allowing the camera to be used to save a video file if motion is detected. This file can then be e-mailed to any e-mail address. In addition, if motion is detected, you can choose to set the program to automatically connect to another PC at another location, thus allowing you to remotely see what is happening.

One really nifty feature of this product is that you can send video e-mail. In addition, you can send the video e-mail with the video player embedded into an .EXE file so that the remote user does not need to download any special software. If the remote user already has the SMV (SmithMicro Video) player, you can save upload/download time by just sending the video by itself. We would, however, like to see support for .AVI, which most Windows PCs support, especially since some people refrain from opening .EXE files for fear of viruses.

Finally, we tested the Internet fax feature. We were very impressed with how flawlessly and easily we were able to send our first fax. Within just two minutes, the time it took to sign up for a trial membership with FaxSav, we were able to send out an Internet fax! After registering, we were able to attach a Word document and choose a cover sheet. After previewing the fax, we clicked on Send, which then converted the fax by printing it from Word, and then uploading the fax to FaxSav for transmission. It was pretty much dummy-proof, and so we commend SmithMicro for making this feature so transparent and easy to use. Included with Internet CommSuite are some comical and also useful coversheets, which small-office/home-office (SOHO) users will find handy.

ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT
Our main criticism of the product is that savvy Internet users will find the interface a bit cumbersome to use, since they may already be using an Internet Relay Chat (IRC) program, or another Internet phone product which just happens to be free - namely Microsoft NetMeeting. Fortunately, the product does support ULS and ILS servers (i.e. uls.smithmicro.com and ils3.microsoft.com), which are Internet standard directory servers to locate users online, so you are not limited to chatting just with people who have Internet CommSuite. For example, you can chat or hold an Internet telephony call with someone using Microsoft NetMeeting since Internet CommSuite is H.323 compliant.

Bubble-help, or what some people know as "tool tips" for displaying the function of icons, is somewhat lacking in this product. Many icons had tool tips, but some did not. One example where bubble-help would have come in handy was when we tried to make an Internet telephony call between two computers running this software. The remote end started ringing, and popped up a screen displaying a phone, but the remote user clicked on several buttons trying to guess how to connect the call. After several rings, and still failing to answer the call, the call would timeout, thus causing us to have to redial the remote end. After several attempts at trying to manually answer the call, we began to feel like our intelligence was being called into question. After all, answering a phone call is one of the most basic and easiest things to do! We then checked the online help for the key word "answer," but that only brought up help on the "answering machine" feature. Rather than beating our brains out trying to figure it out, we just set the software on the remote end to auto-answer after one ring. While this worked, this is a perfect example of the need for "bubble-help" to explain each icon's purpose, so we don't go click-happy, trying every icon until it works!

One place for minor improvement had to do with the "Dial" feature. A novice may enter an actual phone number rather than an IP address or e-mail address into this field, not realizing that you cannot dial over the PSTN to a "real" phone number. Out of curiosity, we entered a phone number, just to see what sort of error message we would get. We expected that it would at least tell us that it's not a valid IP address or a valid e-mail address. Instead, when we clicked on Dial with a valid phone number, a window popped up saying "Connecting…" At this point, the user may think that the product actually DOES make Internet-to-PSTN calls. After a few moments, the software returned a generic error message "Unable to find 203-888-5734 on the network. Please check the address and check again." A simple programming check to make sure the user enters a valid IP address (four numbers separated by three periods), or a syntactically valid e-mail address (with at least the @ symbol and a period followed by any three letters, i.e. [email protected]), could be used to provide more descriptive error messages. A simple conditional statement could also check if the number entered looks like a phone number, and if so, tell users that they cannot make calls to regular phone numbers.

On a related note, this product would benefit from the ability to actually make Internet-to-PSTN calls, using an Internet Telephony Service Provider (ITSP). Some Internet phone products have this capability, such as VocalTec's Internet Phone product.

CONCLUSION
Targeted for the home consumer, this software package does an admirable job of coordinating and integrating various Internet technologies into one software platform. Of all the features in the product, TMC Labs was most impressed with the "video sentry" feature which records a video for a specific period if it detects any motion. This can be a "poor man's" home security system, useful for detecting which of the neighborhood kids has been pulling pranks on you, or whether your cat or your dog is guilty of chewing on your Polk Audio speakers. We found Internet Fax to be the second most important feature of this product, which, through a partnership with FaxSav, brings Internet Fax (thus cheaper faxing) to the home consumer. Having Internet fax capabilities also negates the need for the consumer to have a fax/modem and fax software.

The Internet phone feature was a nice addition, especially since it's H.323 compliant, but we did notice slightly better video performance making a call from NetMeeting on one end to Internet CommSuite on the other end, versus using Internet CommSuite on both ends.

Overall, we'd have to say the product has some merit, particularly for the novice home user, as well as less technically savvy SOHO businesses. Also, we feel that the product's attempt to integrate all of these Internet technologies into one easy-to-use package is a good idea, but the GUI - particularly the lack of bubble-help in some instances and some buttons that were not intuitive - hurt this product's main goal: to make it easy for the home user. The difficulties in using the product truly held it back, which is why it does not merit an award. However, we would like to point out that this is a first release of Internet CommSuite. Certainly, we believe this product has potential. We hope that the concerns we brought up will be addressed in the next version to make it more user-friendly.