Internet Conferencing – video web meetings

Joseph Ducat asked:




Web conferencing is a technology that offers many features and functions useful to many large companies and small business owners alike. If you are concerned about the price, no need to worry, there are Web conferencing solutions available for any budget. You can hire a web conferencing service provider, or install web conferencing software on the company server. Of course, you need to know what features you can expect to be implemented in a web conferencing application, so you can choose the commercial product or service that is best for your budget. Knowing the capabilities of a web conferencing application will allow you to get more out of it.

One very useful function of Web conferencing is screen sharing. This allows one person to make the view of a single computer screen available to everyone else who is participating in the conference. So if you like, you can run a PowerPoint slideshow or presentation on your computer and it will be seen by everybody else. In other words, it is just like giving a presentation to a room of people, except that you are doing it online and your attendees are somewhere else sitting in front of their own computers.

Another common function found in Web conferencing is a virtual whiteboard. This works much like a regular whiteboard as used at meetings in the real world. People can take turns inputting words or even drawings on the whiteboard.

Then there is application sharing. This is one of the most popular functions of Web conferencing platforms. In fact, nearly 90% of all over Web conferencing users have made use of application sharing. It allows people to let someone else access program functions on their computer during the Web conference.

Co-browsing offers the ability to surf the Internet as a group, and is very useful for going through a company or client website.

Web conferencing applications also offer instant messaging or voice Internet call capabilities. These allow you to hold numerous types of events online instead of having to host them in real world facilities. Such events would include interviews, press conferences, training seminars, panel discussions, Q&A sessions, client consultations, and sales presentations, among others. Instant messaging software lets the participants type in their discussions. Voice over Internet Protocol or VoIP software allows people to make voice calls to each other using broadband Internet instead of traditional phone networks. You can set up a voice conference using VoIP, which is much cheaper than an equivalent long-distance conference call. That would help you trim some of your business expenses.

Valerie

Chris Bradley asked:




Teleconferencing has become a common phrase in the world of communications today. Plenty of people are looking to get in on the action and with the help of the Internet; and audio video conferencing is now made possible.

Virtual conferences are connecting people all over the globe. With this technology, it is possible for a company to hold a staff meetings, seminars, trainings, etc. even when their employees are located in different parts of the State or even the globe.

All that is needed is the right software and equipment in order to conduct a conference, and there are plenty of equipments or channels used to conduct such a service. One of the most common would be using a standard telephone.

however, with the advent of the Internet, VoIP technology has become a more preferred method. VoIP is an Internet-based phone system that allows audio video conferencing.

Essentially, it combines not only digital audio signals and transmits them, but it also makes it possible to include video along with it. Clients or members of a company not only hear who they are speaking with, but also see them with the help of a webcam.

Of course, there’s no denying that teleconferencing isn’t fool proof just yet. There are still a few kinks in the system. Equipment malfunctions can occur in certain instances or the calls can be dropped due to power failures. It is important to know about them.

There are plenty of audio video conferencing providers available today. It is important to choose the right provider and get the service that matches your needs and budget.

Alfred

James Hunter asked:




With videoconferencing people can interact as if they were talking face to face with both images and sound relayed in real time. This article is designed to guide you through the various options to arrive at the system type best suited to your purpose.

There are various types of videoconferencing; which is suitable for your application will depend upon the IT structure available and what it is that you actually want to achieve.
Video conferencing has in the past been relatively expensive, but prices are coming down and it is possible for anyone with a fast enough internet connection to operate a video conference.

Systems are available for hire, lease or sale.

Systems may be installed at all or any of the following: – on the desktop PC a dedicated videoconference suite mobile – for use when and where the need arises.

Each has various advantages and limitations which may be critical to your purpose.

Paradoxically it is far more critical that audio connections are maintained than the video. You may loose a video signal or it may be intermittent but the conference will still proceed – if you lose audio, nothing can be achieved (unless both parties are versed in sign language!)

Video speed for equipment is often shown as frames per second abbreviated as FPS.

In the UK video from most sources runs under the PAL standard which 25 frames per second – e.g. domestic VHS players. In the USA the system is NTSC which runs at 30 frames per second. Videoconference equipment commonly is specified as 15 fps or 30 fps. In layman’s terms – 15 fps will be jerky, it shows every other frame, 30 fps is full motion video.

The higher the frame rate the greater the data load, so the faster the connection required.

A minimum requirement for full motion video and audio between two points is 768 Kbps.

This made up of:- an encoding rate of 384 Kbps (typically used) is selected. This is broken down into two parts – 64Kbps is for the audio 320 Kbps is for the video.
The resulting 384 Kbps stream is compressed and sent (from you – the source) to the remote point (the destination). Similarly a 384 Kbps stream is received from the remote point to you. Thus twice 384 Kbps in bandwidth is required.

If there is a lot of motion in the video, very little compression is achieved. If there is little or no motion in the video, the savings can approach 50%. It would, however, be foolish to design a system which relied on the participants being forced to remain static.

There are two types of video conferencing, each has sub-types. Point to point – a live video / audio communication between any two locations. Multipoint – links between a three or more locations

Point to Point (P2P)

Point to point – a live video and audio communication link between any two locations.

P2P – Application

Where the need is to communicate between two points only at any one time: – Two offices of the same company Yourself and a business partner company, e.g. Yourselves and a major supplier Senior management/ teams from two divisions – e.g. research and manufacture.

P2P – Use

Virtual meetings on a one to one basis Project workgroup co-ordination of effort, live adjustment of data, drawings, documents or prototypes Virtual board meeting between two groups of people in specific locations – say 5 in one and 4 in another

P2P – Limitations

Bandwidth required increases in proportion to the amount of data being exchanged. Audit trail of actions taken by whom with a timeline sequence often required. Extra equipment is necessary to show physical objects, using a visulaiser for say engineering parts

Point-to-Point Videoconferencing

Consider two videoconference terminals (vct) that are connected to the Internet.

The vct and its associated peripherals allow the user to make a call to another client, send the local audio/video stream to the remote client, and hear/view the received audio/video stream on a local speaker/monitor that is connected to the vct.
Assume one user (the local user) uses a vct to call a user at a remote vct by entering the IP address of the remote vct. The clients setup a call between the stations following the specifications of the H.323 protocol. Once the call is setup, the clients exchange audio/video streams over the Internet. The point-to-point videoconference continues until one of the users “hangs up” the call.

IP numbers are difficult to remember; some users have dynamically assigned (DHCP) IP numbers that can change every time they boot their system and problems in using IP addressing when different vendor systems are used.

The Gatekeeper

To alleviate the problem of IP dialing, the H.323 standard defines the use of a gatekeeper.

The gatekeeper is a system that connects to the Internet just like the client terminals. The IP address of the gatekeeper is configured into the client terminals and when the clients “power up”, they communicate with the gatekeeper and transfer certain information to the gatekeeper that describes the vct.

When the clients register with the gatekeeper, they pass their IP numbers, H.323 alias, and H.323 extension to the gatekeeper where it is stored. This allows a local user to dial a remote user by entering the remote users H.323 extension in effect their video telephone number.

The local vct communicates the H.323 extension to the gatekeeper. The gatekeeper then checks to see if the remote client is registered with the gatekeeper, then sets up the call between the two clients.

Once the call has been setup, the audio/video streams flow directly between the clients over the Internet.

Multipoint

Live video and audio links between a three or more locations.
To handle this situation, the H.323 standard introduces the concept of a Multipoint Control Unit (MCU). The MCU can be thought of as a “video bridge”. The MCU connects to the Internet and registers with the gatekeeper.

A MCU, depending on its design capacity, can handle a certain number of simultaneous videoconferences each with each videoconference being logically separate from the others and with each having a specified number of users.

When users want to join a particular videoconferencing session, they dial the service number/password combination. The gatekeeper checks to see if that service has been registered by a MCU. The gatekeeper completes the call by connecting the client to the specified videoconference on the MCU.

Once the call has been connected, the client’s audio/video stream is then sent over the Internet from the client to the MCU. Similarly, other clients connect to the session and send their audio/video streams to the MCU. The MCU selects one of the audio/video streams on the videoconference and returns that audio/video stream to all of the clients (that is all except the client whose stream was selected).

There are several methods for selecting an audio/video stream. Audio switching and chairman control are two alternatives. Typically, the method that is chosen is audio switching where the MCU selects the stream that currently has active audio (someone is talking or is talking the loudest).

As the user(s) at one site stop talking and the user(s) at another site start to talk, they capture the MCU. The process is repeated with the video from the newly selected site now being sent to all the other sites.

Streaming

To participate in a H.323 videoconference, users must have appropriate videoconferencing client terminals and have Internet connectivity with sufficient bandwidth to support the videoconference.

Some users may not have these capabilities but would still like to be able to participate even if that meant that they could only see and hear conference participants but not be able to interact with them. (Watch and Listen)

Users can receive the stream using a browser on a computer. They enter the URL of the server, and the server starts the encoded audio/video stream over the Internet to the computer.
Plug-Ins for the browser exist that are capable of decoding both RealVideo and Windows media streams. The user can thus see and hear the participants in the streamed videoconference in near real-time.

Alternatively, a user can connect to the server at a latter date and view the archived version of the videoconference.

Randy

Carlos Montenegro asked:




With the rising price of oil in the world market, companies have to cut down on certain expenses in order to show a profit. You can cut down the number of times that an employee travels on business trips and instead have a video conferencing facility setup that accomplishes the same objective.

But how do you setup video conferencing? The easiest way of saying it is simply by buying the equipment, having it installed and letting someone in the office take care of it. But it is not that simple. There are things you have to aware of first so you are able to purchase the right system.

Let’s first talk about the devices that are used to make this work. There are three types namely desktop, small group and learn group. Naturally, the prices of each one varies but the common denominator is the fact that they can be used over ISDN or IP.

When you have chosen which of the three you want, the next hurdle is to work on the bandwidth. A T-1 for instance fives you only one line of communication. What if you need to speak with different offices simultaneously? For that you will need a T-3 or higher.

If you are having problems with your IP network since it is not able to handle the additional traffic, the best thing for you to do is to get circuit switched networks or to deploy additional IP bandwidth capacity.

Earlier, we mentioned ISDN and IP networks. What is the difference? ISDN stands for integrated services digital network. IP on the other hand stands for Internet protocol.

Video conferencing through ISDN happens as you are able to integrate both analog or voice data together with digital data over the same network. This means you are able to encompass frame relay service for high speed data in large bursts.

This can also be done using your IP network which is very similar to how you are able to browse the web. In the US, more people use IP’s compared to ISDN but in Europe, this is the exact opposite because it happens to be much cheaper than IP’s.

When you are budgeting how much will be needed for video teleconferencing setup, you have to break down the fixed acquisition costs from the recurring costs. The fixed cost depends largely on how many units you will be ordering. There is also the license that you have to get that is $250 to $40,000 each and if you are a very large company, you might just exceed $100,000 per package since you also have to consider the hardware and software components needed.

Is it worth all that just to have video conferencing? A lot of people say yes because their employees are more productive, decisions are made quickly and the company saves money.

In fact, private companies are not the only one using it as the government, the education and the healthcare sector have also taken advantage of this to conduct hearings, teach children and help patients.

If you want to know more about video teleconferencing setup and how much it will cost, go look for vendors and ask them for an estimate. After comparing the quotes from various companies, surely you can find the right one that fits within your budget.

Justin

Tomaz Mencinger asked:




With the help of communications technology, an online meeting can take place at a moments notice, for next to no expense. Meetings held online are similar to a standard, face-to-face meeting, especially when you use one of the many specially designed conference software options.

In an online environment, people can interact with a group regardless of the participants physical location; or one person can give a presentation or demonstration while the other participants become the audience. There are both visual and audio capabilities that make meetings held online a quality business experience.

Online meetings work by using conference software that offers services to participants to mimic a face-to-face meeting. You can typically use a conference program that allows for the host of the meeting to present information with various tools- similar to what you’d find in a business conference room.

A whiteboard for illustrating points and drawing objects, a voice component that allows individuals to speak to one another either via a computer microphone or through a telephone conference service, and sometimes a text chat feature. In some online meetings, the software that is used can support video.

There are numerous advantages of conducting online meetings over the setting up of more traditional meetings in your office, or renting a large conference room in a hotel. First, the expense of face-to-face meetings can be costly, particularly when people are traveling great distances to meet together regularly, or when the meetings are expected to run for hours and food is brought in to feed all participants.

If you must rent a large hall or conference room, the expenses can be astronomical. The costs of conducting meetings online are minimal, and include the cost of membership to one of the conferencing online services, and maybe a long distance phone call depending on the service you use for audio capabilities.

Another advantage to having online meetings as opposed to face-to-face meetings is the ability to conduct the meeting from whatever location you may be in.

If you are working from home, for example, using the internet and conference software allows you to instantly connect with co-workers or your employees. If you must travel, you can still “sit-in” and participate in the meetings of your co-workers or employees so you aren’t missing important information while you’re conducting other business, even if you’re on the other side of the globe!

Time management is improved with the use of online meetings as opposed to traditional meetings, as well. It takes time to gather everyone into the same room, settle people down and get a meeting undergo. When you use conferencing software, everyone logs in at the same, specified time, and the meeting begins.

There is less time required to plan for an internet meeting, and no tables or chairs have to be set up for the certain number of participants.

Online meetings are also extremely useful for providing demonstrations and hands-on training to customers. If you are a company that develops software or web based programs, you can use the meetings to show your customers how to operate the programs.

Training employees can effectively occur while conferencing online. You could actually conduct online courses to train employees on new policies or procedures, whether your employees are located in the same building or in various locations around the world.

With multiple options for online meetings and internet conferencing available, how do you know which one is right for you? Before you sign up for one of the many companies that provide meeting services, you should access your needs for meeting software and figure out how you are most likely to use it.

Will you be having monthly team building meetings or a weekly conference with your sales team? Do you need to show videos or will a whiteboard be sufficient for illustration purposes? Will you want the ability to show other programs on your computer through the meeting software? A nice feature of most online providers of conferencing software is that you can try their programs before you commit to a monthly fee or to purchase the software.

This allows you to try out each of the features for free, in order to determine whether or not the program will meet your needs. Once you’ve determined your likely uses for online meetings you can determine which provider offers the solution to best meet your needs.

Ben

Magdi Mikhail asked:




Video conferencing has been one of the most sought after technologies that are being used today not only in home setting but also in medium to large scale businesses. If you are one of those who are planning to take advantage of this relatively new means of communication, two of the major factors that you should consider are the financial costs and benefits of video conferencing.

More and more people are now into video conferencing because they are finally seeing its benefits and advantages. However, no matter hoe advantageous video conferencing is, there will still be major things to be considered to ensure that you will benefit more than you have spent for the technology.

Financial cost of video conferencing

Video conferencing refers to a means of communication that enables two or more people to a conversation in a real time. It involves the use of a high capacity personal computer, a web camera, a microphone, and high speed broadband connection to the Internet. Aside from these video conferencing equipment that have been mentioned, essential tools for making a video conference work are the equipment to be used, the video conferencing systems, and the video conferencing services offered by various people that are in the field of Information and Technology.

When it comes to financial cost of video conferencing, you will need to prepare or set budget for it. Before making any decision, make sure that you yourself understand everything about it. Don’t be overwhelmed too much by its convenience because you might be paying more than what you need and expect.

The major factor for financial cost in video conferencing is how much would the equipment would cost. Since you will be getting transmission-both audio and video-in real-time, you need high capacity personal computer that would amount to $500 to $1000 depending on the brand its specifications. Since video conferencing involves face to face meetings, you will be needing a web camera to capture the image/s and send it back to the other party.

A typical web cam can cost from $100 and above depending on its size and capability. For voice communication, you will need microphones that can either be tabletop or wireless that would range from $150 to $300 depending on its capabilities and brand name. Other major expenses would include a video, a wall mount, and speakers which don’t require too much sophistication and budget.

Aside from video conferencing equipment, another major cost for video conferencing is the need for high speed lines or ISDN to ensure that there will be efficient, fast, and hassle free communication. You can look for video conferencing providers online that can suit your video conferencing needs and offer packages and discounts for you to choose from. The price of video conferencing services could amount from $200 to $1000 depending on its timely rates.

Benefits of Video Conferencing

Although video conferencing would cost you a lot of money from the installation process to the equipment, services, and system requirements, these cannot amount to the benefits you can get for your business.

The major benefits of video conferencing include ensuring that there will be increased productivity because people don’t have to spend so much time traveling for meetings and conferences. A lot of savings in terms of eliminating travel costs and allowances in lengthy trips during meetings.

It helps save a lot of time because people can transact businesses without having to spend so much time getting to the place of the meeting and ensured safety of the people involved because they will no longer have to risk their lives during travels just to close a deal or meet a client.

These are just some of the benefits of video conferencing. If you are a business owner, it is always best to conduct a study or a research first about the financial cost or benefits of video conferencing to ensure that you are making a good business move and decision.

Laurie

Joseph Ducat asked:




As the world experiences more globalization, businesses must adapt in order to stay competitive. That means adopting technologies that can help a business to minimize costs and maximize profits. Many technologies that take advantage of the interconnectedness of the online world can help business do a number of things less expensively than before. One such technology is web conferencing, which enables two or more people to sit down together in conference–even if they are sitting in front of their computers in different parts of the world.

Web conferencing can be used to hold meetings, seminars, training sessions, interviews, sales presentations, client calls, and various other events in real time over the Internet. Since the web event takes place in a virtual space immediately means savings in the use or rental of event facilities. Furthermore, participants do not have to fly to a central destination in order to attend the event. This can mean thousands of dollars saved in travel expenses.

The functionality of web conferencing platforms is highly versatile and constructive. They can give the group access to a shared screen, which allows them to display the visual information on a single computer screen with everyone else in the conference. So a presenter can run a PowerPoint presentation on one computer and know that, through screen sharing, it will be viewed by all of the attendees on their own computer monitors.

Web conferencing also enables real-time communication between participants, using either instant messaging or Internet voice calls. People can easily take and answer questions, engage in group discussion, or include a running commentary with real-time communication solutions.

Other web conferencing functions include the ability to share a virtual white board, share and run applications in real time, share computer files, and browse the Internet as a group.

On most platforms, you can also integrate video conferencing into the web conference. Normally, voice and text chatting is adequate for most communication. But sometimes businessmen want to speak to each other face-to-face, even if this involves cameras and video screens. It can be a way of adding a personal feel to warm up the proceedings, and give people a sense of trust and solidarity. Video conferencing is good for making client and sales calls online, and can also help in business negotiation.

You definitely need to at least consider implementing a web conferencing solution in your office. It can help you save in some costs and improve the way your company does business.

Beatrice

Tim Gorman asked:




Videoconferencing is rapidly gaining in popularity, and it’s hardly surprising. Basically, videoconferencing allows people to communicate in real time, no matter where they are located. It can be as few as two people, or it can be thousands. The participants can hold a meeting or conference, compare charts and generally do everything they could do if they were all in the same room together. This is all done via audio and video transmission through the wonders of the internet.

The list of advantages gained from using videoconferencing is long, but here are a few of the main advantages. The most obvious advantage is the enormous savings involved when people don’t need to travel. An average business trip usually involves at least one night spent in another place, and costs incurred include flights, transport, meals, accommodation, entertainment, and the list goes on. If you need ten people at a meeting, and add together all the costs involved, the total is staggering.

Remember, too, that not only is travel costly, it takes time. So those ten executives have to take two days out of their busy schedule, for example, to attend a half-day meeting at head office. With videoconferencing, they can allocate the half-day, and spend the other day and a half doing productive work in their office. Using videoconferencing provides big savings in both money and time.

If the video conference involves one person or team making a presentation, they’re in their home environment. So they can’t accidentally leave the most important graph on their desk back at the office – they have everything readily available. It also means that questions can be answered fully, instead of the presenter needing to return to his office before he could access the required information.

Videoconferencing also makes it easier for business to access outside experts. In a medical environment, for example, researchers from around the world can get together regularly and compare notes, making it easier to pool their findings and accelerate the process of finding answers. This type of collaboration would never happen if the experts were constantly required to travel to stay updated, because they’d never have time to do their research. Cooperation on this level isn’t just beneficial for the medical profession; it can be used in almost any profession you can think of.

A slightly less direct benefit, but a benefit just the same, is that employees will need to learn the basics of presentation skills and research, in order to participate productively in videoconferencing. This encourages the employee to stay up to date with information relating to their field, so that they’re confident they can answer questions during a videoconference if required.

Videoconferencing is also a great deal more personal than a phone conference. A high percentage of our communication is through non-verbal cues, so seeing the person making a presentation can gives us so much more information. It also means that visual aids can be used, which speeds up the process of explaining certain types of information. There’s no need to wait while a set of graphs is posted, faxed or even emailed and printed – you can see them instantly. And if extra information is required, it can be pulled out of the file and displayed, with no need for any delay. If you’re using videoconferencing to deal with a potential client, it becomes much easier to develop a personal relationship, which is an important element in any business relationship.

Video conferencing also means that all the required people can be present at the meeting. Previously, expense considerations may have meant that only one employee could attend a certain meeting, and upon their return they would then brief everybody else about what went on. This inevitably left gaps in the feedback, as no one person would take in every single thing that occurred, or would even know that one particular piece of information was of special importance to another staff member. Videoconferencing means that everybody hears and sees everything, and can extract the information that is most relevant to them. They also get a personal feel for the other people involved in the conference.

There’s no doubt that business will be quick to utilize videoconferencing, once the numerous benefits become clearer. The potential for business is enormous, and as technology improves and prices drop, videoconferencing will become as standard in businesses as the fax machine or personal computer.

Clinton

Liza Lewis asked:




Several factors made overseas trade a big hit. One of the favorable factors that helped or supported overseas trade is web conferencing service. Today almost all business proprietors installed the online conferencing tool to expedite their business transactions. But it is for people who are yet not familiar with the term “web conferencing”.

There are several advantages of using online conferencing services. Just use it for a month and see the difference in the way your business functions. Several businesses are outsourced just because web conferencing services are available twenty four hours. You can anytime and from anywhere access the facility of talking to people you want, regardless of their location. That is the reason why outsourcing jobs are not at all a problem.

When you travel, there are many things that you need to pay for, other than the airfare. Traveling to a different place will involve many expenses like hotel rents, restaurant meals etc. This is not only about expenses but traveling will also consume a lot of time, which is really very expensive for business growth.

Geographical restrictions can hinder many people from attending meetings. Not only meetings but sometimes ill health can also be a reason that can bar you from attending a meeting far away. A web conferencing system can be an effective solution that will allow you to attend your meeting from home with the help of a computer that has an Internet connection.

If you still think that your ill health or busy schedule will not permit you to attend the web conference, then record the meeting, so that you can watch it later and refer to it.

Web conferencing softwares used for interaction over the Internet, offers a pool of features and other services that are highly important while attending a meeting. You can chat, create diagrams, edit text documents and share and collaborate applications while you are attending a conference. You can access everything that you generally get when you attend a face to face meeting.

Conferencing over the Internet develops the economical condition of a state, country, continent etc. You can outsource your work to not only in a different area but also in a different continent because through online conferencing service you can contact anybody anywhere. Hence, get good work done at an economical price from anyone, anywhere.

Apart from the above mentioned advantages of web conferencing services, there are many people, either ill or physically challenged, who cannot afford to bear the hassles of traveling to a work place located away from home. Hence web conferencing services are a bliss to people who have problem in moving out but can easily work from home efficiently. There are mothers and retired people who prefer working from home and communicates through the web conferencing service to keep in touch with the required people.

If you start using the online conferencing services, then you will understand that there are more important features of a web conferencing tool available to make your conferences and webinars more successful and effective.

Megan

John Eddie asked:




Web conferencing is an online-based system of interaction that utilizes modern audio-video facilities and digital compression technology to facilitate real-time and remote, face to face conferencing. This communications facility comes as an enhanced version of the video conferencing facility introduced in the 60s that was sparingly used until the late 80s due to inherent glitches in the process of converting analog data to digital format. Compression technology available at that time was deemed inefficient to result in poor picture and audio quality during the conference.

Incidentally, the infrastructure running video conferencing systems ranging from proprietary equipment such as the T1, ATM and IDSN lines were very expensive. Moreover, pertinent software and network requirements only increased cost parameters relevant to the system.

The late 90’s saw the emergence of a viable web conferencing system with the availability of Internet Protocol (IP) platforms and more reliable video compression technology. The use of “Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP)” or Internet Telephony to route conversations to the internet even extended the cost-effective attributes of web conferencing. Apart from VOIP being cheaper, it is location-independent and could therefore be accessed from any global location where internet access is available. Furthermore, VOIP can be integrated with other internet services such as data or file transfer and audio-video conferencing.

Today, web conferencing has become a popular venue for the conduct of remote meetings, conferences and presentations between individuals based in different global locations. This technology also provides a host of benefits to businesses in terms of time and cost savings given a viable alternative to personal, face to face meetings.

Now, more than ever, online-based technologies such as web-conferencing are reshaping the fundamentals of global communications and commerce.

Theodore