February 2004
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Instant
Conferencing: Ready. Steady. Go!
Next-Generation Conferencing: Catching A Wave
BY ANDREW W. DAVIS
IP telephony is still the buzz these days, although much of the buzz has
shifted from the potential benefits of toll bypass to the new economy where
enterprise efficiency and enhanced functionality are the big payoffs. 2004
is likely to be a turning point for the IP telephony business, as the
economics of IP become increasingly cost-competitive against those of the
entrenched TDM competition in a multitude of areas. However, consumer and
enterprise readers would be well-advised to view IP telephony as but the
first wave of innovation to ride the IP tsunami. In fact, communications
professionals should be prepared to watch several technology fronts as they
form a perfect storm driving voice, video, and data communications in ways
we have only begun to understand.
TRADITIONAL CONFERENCING
IP telephony is in fact just the first manifestation of an evolution in the
communications market. The starting point is today�s traditional, silo-like
communications configuration with which most people are well familiar --
voice, video, and data devices carry separate media riding on separate
networks -- PSTN for voice, ISDN for video, and IP or other packet
technologies for data. This structure of enterprise conferencing has
followed that of its communications foundation. In fact, voice, video, and
data conferencing are often purchased by separate departments from separate
vendors and service providers, further highlighting the disconnect between
them.
NETWORK CONVERGENCE
As we look towards 2004, we are entering the second phase of the evolution:
Network convergence. The mantra here is �one network for voice, video, and
data;� one network to design, deploy, manage, and maintain. Here is where IP
telephony in its present incarnation shines. Customers are looking to reduce
costs, increase control and security, and find tools to help workers
communicate better while in the office or on the road. For many, especially
greenfield installations, IP telephony fits the bill. IP telephony is also
making inroads into customer call and support centers where it is viewed as
an important technology to drive sales revenues and lower costs through
distributed centers.
Network convergence is also an important foundation of next-generation
conferencing. Like the traditional communications world, the established
world of conferencing has also been silo-like with videoconferencing
typically an island in the enterprise sea of communications tools. Limited
by ISDN�s cost, complexity, unreliability, and difficulty of deploying to
all conference rooms and desktops, videoconferencing has remained a niche in
the enterprise landscape. But all that is changing as videoconferencing
moves to IP networks. Videoconferencing systems today running on IP provide
lower costs (no ISDN interface and no ISDN bills), higher network
reliability, and higher audio and video quality because IP offers higher
bandwidth at lower costs than is possible with ISDN. In addition, IP runs
everywhere, to virtually every enterprise conference room and desktop,
taking video to much broader deployment possibilities.
While IP videoconferencing is perhaps the most visible aspect of
next-generation conferencing, the fastest growing segment of the market
today is Web conferencing -- a revised form of data conferencing that
enables users with a Web browser to see remote presentations, share
applications, and attend interactive meetings. Web conferencing is
exclusively an IP-based phenomenon, and its rapid adoption is already
causing many IP telephony vendors to pause in order to figure out how to
incorporate this functionality into their product lines.
Conferencing in the current converged networks phase is being driven by two
important non-conferencing technologies. The first is networks. Running
voice and video over packet networks requires a network that is designed to
provide the unique performance parameters that these real-time
communications media require. IP telephony vendors and many end users are
already familiar with the bandwidth, latency, and other quality of service
(QoS) issues that arise when real-time data has to co-exist on a converged
network with bursty data traffic. At the present time, bandwidth is becoming
plentiful and ever lower in cost, and QoS protocols are being introduced by
all the major equipment vendors. The future will require QoS from the LAN to
the WAN and from WAN to WAN as traffic crosses between different network
provider clouds. Without this, converged voice and video traffic will be
constrained to virtual private networks and will not enable inter-company
communications unless gateways to the PSTN are used, a less than optimum
solution.
The second (and very different) technology impacting the future of
conferencing is the transition taking place in user interfaces. Many readers
today are familiar with Instant Messaging (IM), popularized by AOL, Yahoo,
and Microsoft. IM is a text chat communications tool that is based on the
important concept of Presence. With Presence (an IP-based, server-based
application) users can see which of their �buddies� is on-line or logged in,
and who is data-enabled, voice-enabled, and/or video-enabled. A simple click
then launches a voice, video, or Web conference. No longer do users have to
master different software tools; a Presence engine becomes the interface to
a wide variety of easy-to-use IP conferencing applications. The converged
network enables the different media to co-exist; it also enables a user to
start an IM session, then escalate to voice and video as the need arises.
All of these trends are coming together today as vendors and service
providers deploy rich media conferencing portals that give users a single
Web site to schedule, launch, and control calls, conferences, meetings, and
presentations. Many of the solutions are using SIP and SIMPLE standards to
hook into third-party Presence engines that provide the security and other
enhancements that enterprise workers demand. Intelligent Presence engines
see who is on a cell phone, or PC, or videoconferencing system and make the
appropriate call at the right time, enabling multimodal meetings across a
wide variety of devices.
APPLICATIONS CONVERGENCE
The third phase of the evolution will see the convergence of voice, video,
and Web conferencing with higher level applications. This is really the
long-term destination of the IP telephony movement and also where the IP
infrastructure investment really begins to pay off. When managers can launch
audio, video, and Web calls seamlessly from within their ERP, CRM, sales
support, CAD/CAM, data analysis, and office automation programs, then the
true efficiency benefits of IP telephony will be realized -- better decision
making, shorter development times, improved customer support, and
easier-to-use applications.
The third phase of the IP conferencing evolution will require the active
involvement of conferencing and higher level application developers; it will
also stretch the service provider community. For conferencing to fulfill its
potential end users will need a whole range of services spanning the divide
between high-touch and unassisted calls as well as service provider
companies that can support both the ASP and managed services models of
service delivery.
With the intersection of IP, rich media and the latest advances in
conferencing technology, it�s all about to pay off. �Next-generation
conferencing� will enable anyone to not only attend a meeting or event from
any device -- cell phone, wireless PDA, computer, videoconferencing system,
IP phone, or PSTN handset -- affordably and without a requiring a dedicated
IT guru as a traveling companion, it will make all the current applications
much richer and easier to use. c
Andrew W. Davis is Managing Partner at
Wainhouse Research. He is also the
principal editor of the Wainhouse Research Bulletin. Wainhouse Research is
an independent market research firm that focuses on critical issues in rich
media communications, videoconferencing, teleconferencing, and streaming
media.
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Instant Conferencing: Ready. Steady. Go!
BY GREG MILLER
The growing dependency on computers, wireless devices, Instant Messaging
(IM), e-mail, and the Internet, etc., is creating a sea change in how people
communicate and interact. And more innovation is on the way as converged
voice, video, and data technologies are gaining momentum and bringing a
greater sense of immediacy and real time control to the way we communicate.
One of the biggest new advances today is the widespread use and acceptance
of IM. Initially adopted by consumers for quick text chats, IM quickly found
its way into the enterprise, because it�s easy to use and spontaneous.
Today, this personal communication tool is being used by about 65 million
workers with 350 million expected to join in by the end of 2005, according
to IDC. Industry analysts are saying the widespread adoption of
consumer-based IM within the enterprise is the first time an �at home�
technology is pushing companies to adopt and incorporate standards for IM
into their IT plans. The Yankee Group is even reporting that 35 percent of
telecommunications companies with more than 100 employees are now using IM
for customer service. In financial services and retail, the numbers are 31
percent and 27 percent, respectively.
The value of IM is in its underlying technology: presence awareness, which
lets users see whether others are online and if they are available.
Businesses are finding IM to be effective, valuable, and an easy way to
connect -- in much the same way they found audio conferencing to be a great
alternative to travel. Ultimately, presence technology will find its way
into other applications as well, but today, IM is the first of a revolution
of products and applications that use presence technology.
How is IM related to audio conferencing?
Recent studies have shown that 60 percent of IM sessions with more
than five messages result in a telephone call. Often that call drives the
need to get a group of people on the phone for a conference call. While IM
is making dramatic new inroads within corporate America, audio conferencing,
with its ubiquitous status (87 percent of business professionals use it), is
poised to be among the newest applications that converge with IM to create a
new means of collaboration: Instant Conferencing.
It wasn�t too long ago when we all thought that reservationless conferencing
was the latest advance in conferencing. What could be easier than having an
800 number and personalized PIN that gave you access to a virtual 24x7
conference room? Though reservationless conferencing is easy to use and
always available, it is still a scheduled conference. Workers who use it
regularly still invite people to participate in a call -- it�s easy -- but
not spontaneous like Instant Conferencing.
What is Instant Conferencing?
Instant Conferencing is a new application that lets you initiate a
two- or multi-party conference call from an IM session so you can take
advantage of the spontaneous, interactive and on-the-fly nature of IM.
Instant Conferencing facilitates this through the click-to-connect
technology so that talking to a group is only a mouse click away and a
readily available feature from an IM buddy list. Utilizing the underlying
presence awareness of IM, Instant Conferencing allows the user to �see�
whether someone is online by simply looking at their IM interface because an
icon indicates active or inactive status. Once it is possible to determine
whether someone is available, getting a group of people on an Instant
Conference from an IM session is a natural progression that enables workers
to be more productive and efficient. By clicking on a name icon from an IM
buddy list, any number of people can be added to the telephone to create an
instant audio conference call. Instant Conferencing also allows a user to
�select� the phone that will be called, so that a cell-phone would be called
if the person is out of the office.
Why is Instant Conferencing the �Next Big Advance� in Conferencing?
Most people work in groups of more than two people, and they like to
talk. Phone calls and even IM provide a closer approximation to the give and
take in a face-to-face meeting � but only for two people. With more people
working in virtual groups or working from home, Instant Conferencing has the
feel of camaraderie and collaboration. Instant Conferencing adds additional
participations to the conversation, which enhances productivity just by
having more �workers� present. An Instant Conference allows interaction with
multiple people over multiple services simultaneously rather than one at a
time. It also improves bottom line productivity because it allows
corporations to leverage their human capital at a much faster rate. Both
factors make Instant Conferencing irresistible as an environment in which to
provide users access to new advanced services.
The benefits of Instant Conferencing are compelling:
� Facilitates spontaneous worker interaction;
� Increases responsiveness to critical events;
� Combines messaging, calling, and conferences in a seamless integrated
interface;
� Easy to use, ad hoc with a feeling that a work group is close at hand.
Additionally, for busy users, Instant Conferencing provide instant
communications and combines messaging, calling, conferencing, and Web
presentations in a seamless integrated interface that will become the new
state-of-the-art.
Instant Conferencing is the next step that is bringing the ubiquity of
conferencing into the realm of real-time communication. Coupled with the
easy-to-use IM functions that are taking hold in the enterprise, Instant
Conferencing is being heralded as the fastest and easiest way to get a group
of people on the phone.
Summary
Where audio conferencing was once thought of as a mature industry, the
development of Instant Conferencing is igniting growth of an entirely new
segment of the real-time communications industry. Because of these advances,
conferencing service providers should be well positioned to benefit from the
new converged applications like Instant Conferencing that are being based on
presence technology.
Greg Miller is Vice President, Product Marketing,
BT Conferencing, Inc. BT
Conferencing is a leading business in the area of conferencing solutions.
Part of BT, one of the world�s leading providers of telecommunications
services, BT Conferencing is also a global business, working with partners
across the world to provide local conferencing services.
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