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[ Go Right To: Inaugural
Communications ASP TMC Labs Address ]
Here's a science fiction scenario: A meteor, passing unusually close to the
Earth, gives off a strange form of radiation that paralyzes our ability to
communicate via fax or conference calling. Would all of our cherished and
necessary human systems cease to exist? Would civilization crumble? Hardly.
And yet, many organizations and individuals would be seriously put out.
That's because, however "transitional" or "conditional,"
there are still times when these forms of communication prove their
necessity. Until e-mail makes a transition to true ubiquity, and until we
develop a real alternative to handwritten signatures for
authentication-over-distance, faxing will have to suffice. As for conference
calling, though you may not use it every day, there are occasional
conditions under which it proves extremely useful. All of this presents a
problem: Namely, why should I invest in the purchase and maintenance of
hardware, software, and systems that I may only use once in a while? The
answer is, you shouldn't. Let someone else take care of all that while you
leverage the benefits at a much more affordable price. Meaning, subscribe to
a communications ASP.
Among a growing number of CASP flavors, 3Cube, Inc. is of the Web-based,
"portal"-type variety. Through its PhoneCube service, users log on
to a Web site, allowing them to very affordably schedule immediate or future
phone conferences involving any participant at any location. Those
participants need not be subscribers, nor need they be online. If they are
online though, they can additionally participate in presentation features
(which we understand includes the recent addition of application sharing,
though that feature will not be covered in this review). FaxCube is a
separate service allowing you to, well, send and receive faxes very quickly,
either through the Web or via e-mail.
INSTALLATION
Like any Web-based ASP truly worthy of the term, 3Cube does not require you
to download anything -- plug-ins included -- in order to use either its
PhoneCube or FaxCube services. You enter your name, credit card info, and
other billing information into a standard Web-based form, submit it, and
setup is complete. In this regard, "installation" as it's often
covered in other TMC Labs reviews, is really a non-issue.
DOCUMENTATION
FaxCube
Pressing the "Help" button on the FaxCube interface opens a
separate Web page in the browser window originally used for login. There
you'll find a FaxCube "User Manual" which amounts to a Web page
containing thirteen topic links arranged into three major categories. Though
straightforward and relatively comprehensible, information found under each
topic is rather cursory -- tending to amount, at times, to not much more
than one-line descriptions of service features. 3Cube seems to assume their
application is self-explanatory enough not to require step-by-step
instructions. Maybe they're right, though as a major selling point of the
whole ASP experience, ease-of-use can only be enhanced through clear Help
documentation.
PhoneCube
As for PhoneCube, its only dedicated piece of Help documentation is a
cursory "Quick Start" page that appears solely upon login. There
is no way to manually trigger this small pop-up screen, so if you
accidentally click the "Show This to Me Later" or "Don't Show
This to Me Again" links appearing on it you will either have to wait
until your next login to read it, or never again, at all. Other than this
Quick Start screen, the only Help available is found in a series of FAQs
linked to by pressing the Help button. Rather than serving as dedicated
documentation, these are the same multi-purpose FAQs anyone who visits the
PhoneCube Web site can access.
If we were to include customer support as an aspect of documentation, it
would seriously improve 3Cube's rating in this category. We found their tech
support exceptionally reachable, knowledgeable, friendly, and helpful.
FEATURES
FaxCube
FaxCube's main feature is the ability to send and receive faxes through the
Web. For the former, a simple Web-based form allows you to enter a fax
number, recipient name, and company name. From there you can attach
documents in a variety of text formats ranging from .DOC to WordPerfect, and
graphic files ranging from .PDF to .PSD. At least thirty-something formats
are supported in all. An "EmailToFax" feature allows you to forego
using the Web interface altogether by composing fax content in an e-mail,
including any desired attachments, and sending it on to 3Cube.
Users also gain access to an address book allowing them to store
addresses in both single entries and in groups for broadcast faxing. Like
the EmailToFax feature, it's also possible to register a broadcast fax list
or a frequently used document attachment with 3Cube by sending them an
e-mail.
As for viewing faxes that have been sent to you, this can be done in a
couple of ways. You're assigned a toll-free fax number upon account setup.
Any faxes sent to that number are simultaneously posted to a user's private
account page and sent as a .PDF e-mail attachment. When people send faxes to
the toll-free fax number, you receive an e-mail with the fax attached as a .PDF
file. If you log in to your account via the FaxCube Web site, you'll also be
able to view the fax there.
PhoneCube
PhoneCube allows you to easily create conference calls including up to 32
active participants. Conference managers can use the interface to create
calls on the spot -- adding participants either manually or through a Quick
Dial list of existing contacts -- or can set them up for a future time
through a separate PhoneCube "Scheduler" application. Participants
need not be online to be included in the conference, though if they are,
they can take part in Web presentations held by the conference manager.
During these the manager can upload documents to the Web for shared viewing;
if participants have logged in to a presentation Web site, then they gain
access to whiteboard features allowing them to annotate the document through
a variety of tools. Additionally, participants can instant message each
other privately, and the conference manager is able to mute, disconnect, or
place on hold any participants of his/her choosing.
OPERATIONAL TESTING
FaxCube
FaxCube performed exceptionally well on tests of all its major features. It
sent prompt and readable faxes through both the Web-based form and through
the EmailToFax method. This held true for both single recipient and
broadcast fax transmissions. Although we didn't time it, it can't have been
more than a minute between sending a fax and having it arrive at its
location, along with a confirmation message e-mailed to the sending address.
The EmailToFax feature was particularly impressive. Contrary to what you
might expect, there was no noticeable difference in response time -- i.e.,
how long it takes 3Cube to process and send your fax -- between this method
and the Web-based one. Overall it may even be a little faster, since you
don't have to log in or wait for the various Web pages to be served.
FaxCube also excelled as a means for receiving faxes. A toll-free fax
number is given to you upon sign-up. Faxes sent to this number are sent to
your e-mail address as .PDF attachments; you can also log in to the FaxCube
site to view and print .GIF versions of them there. When viewed
at the Web site, faxes can also be zoomed, rotated, etc.
PhoneCube
Unlike FaxCube's more bare bones HTML interface, PhoneCube and Conference
Scheduler are Java-scripted applications. This not only gives them a much
"slicker" look and feel, but also adds a degree of browser
independence to their functionality (i.e., you don't have to wait for a new
Web page to load every time you click a button on the interface). We used
PhoneCube to create an ad hoc conference and Scheduler to plan
one for the immediate future. Within these main methods of creating a
conference, there are a few means that can be used to summon participants.
Scheduler, for example, offers "Call Me" or "Meet Me"
capabilities. Through the former, participants are called at the phone
number specified by the Conference Manager, alerted by a recorded voice that
a conference is about to begin, and then connected to the other
participants. The Meet Me option, on the other hand, sends an e-mail to
desired participants including a toll-free number and PIN they can use to
enter the conference.
Everything worked smoothly: Not only did each of these methods
effectively connect all of the conference participants, but provided a very
clear, high quality PSTN connection. Once a conference is initiated, a
Conference Manager has the ability to mute, disconnect, or place any
participant on hold. He or she can additionally bring participants online
for a Web presentation.
One of the main presentation features allows you to upload a document so
that it can be viewed by all participants, who can subsequently annotate and
mark it up using the included drawing tools. Unfortunately, the Word
document we uploaded appeared much too small to read on the presentation
screen, and we had used a pretty standard 12-point sized font in the
original version. PhoneCube's drawing tools were certainly fun to use,
though the question remains how useful they really are. To make effective
use of the "whiteboard" feature for example, one would probably
need to use something more responsive than a mouse in order to produce
anything more complex then simple shapes. As for instant messaging -- which
is available when participants are online -- it worked well, and would
provide an effective way for individual participants to "whisper"
to each other during a conference.
In general, PhoneCube performed well on tests of its major features,
providing good voice quality, compelling additional features, and effective
conference setup and management.
ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT
Other than those specific issues related to PhoneCube's presentation
features, documentation and navigation were the main areas within each
service that seemed likely candidates for improvement. The two areas are
related to each other: Most products have some navigation issues upon first
release, issues which strong documentation will help users to negotiate up
until the point they are resolved. We've already mentioned ways in which the
Help files might be improved; an example of a characteristic navigation
issue on the other hand is seen in FaxCube. The interface does not offer a
constant toolbar with access to all features -- i.e., the topic links change
depending on which screen you've selected -- so you tend to lose your
orientation. Additionally, both products would be much easier to use if they
opened as few browser windows as possible. This becomes confusing regardless
of how intuitive or well documented any GUI is.
CONCLUSION
As stated in the introduction to this review, one of the best reasons to
subscribe to a CASP service like PhoneCube or FaxCube is to leverage the
benefits of transitional/conditional forms of technology, without the
associated cost and hassle. 3Cube will do that for you, while also greatly
enhancing these media via particular benefits of e-mail and the Web.
Although we did encounter some small issues, as mentioned, we suspect these
are not much more than growing pains. We also suspect that 3Cube has the
potential to stake out its own niche among Web-based CASPs in this
particular category (i.e. that of "transitional/conditional"
services). If they were to gradually accrue more media offerings (mail
services, unified messaging, who knows what else), they might even transcend
this category to become a more wide-reaching, hosted communications portal.
One step in this direction might be secured by allowing joint subscribers to
access PhoneCube and FaxCube through a single Web page; this would improve
navigation and branding now while serving as a placeholder for a more
diverse future service. In any case, one would suspect they could find
plenty of business right where they are, at least until the arrival of our
metaphorical meteor.
[ Return
To The January/February 2001 Table Of Contents ]
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|
Inaugural Communications ASP TMC Labs
Address
Since this is the inaugural TMC Labs review
within a new publication, we'd like to take this opportunity to "renew
our vows," restating the intent of TMC Labs both for new readers and in
light of a new product category. TMC Labs is an independent editorial group
providing objective product and service reviews, written from a technical
perspective, for all of TMC's various publications. Within this description
are three characteristics that we believe are essential to providing the
best possible product information. The first is objectivity. Regardless of a
vendor's degree of presentation -- and their status as an advertiser or
non-advertiser -- we'll describe their product objectively as we find it,
from a technical perspective. This perspective is the second distinguishing
characteristic. Unless we've indicated otherwise, readers can be assured
that we've tested the major features of a product described in any TMC Labs
review, evaluating them from the perspective of engineering and usability.
This is as opposed to relying too heavily upon the "story" of a
product, while still taking that story into account. Hence the third and
final characteristic, which is independence. As Technology Editors, we hope
to assume an independent standpoint somewhere in between concept (or story)
and engineering -- holding compelling product ideas accountable to
real-world functionality, and vice versa.
With all that said, how will what we do
differ given the introduction of a new product category, namely
communications ASPs (CASPs)? Let's use a measure of caution right from the
start: In business, acronyms are used indiscriminately, so we'd rather not
prematurely limit ourselves by coining a restrictive CASP definition. It's
safe to say, however, that a CASP is any provider of communications products
or services who, through a remotely-hosted model, allows individuals and
organizations to leverage needed functionality without the cost and hassle
associated with installation on site. This is still rather vague, but
nevertheless provides us with something against which to measure the
subjects of our reviews. Namely, how "remote" is a given ASP? They
may host your application server, but do they still require you to purchase
it and pay a direct maintenance charge? If they're a Web-based
"portal" such as the 3Cube services we reviewed for this issue,
how much -- if any -- client installation do they require? Is all of their
documentation available online? Most importantly, is a given CASP thoroughly
capitalizing on the benefits of a remote model, providing a marked change in
the way their products are experienced, by virtue of the remote model?
These types of questions will remain as
sparse but reliable guideposts in what is still largely an uncharted
territory, one we hope you will enjoy exploring with us in coming issues of
this publication.
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