FVC blends Web and videoconferencing

SANTA CLARA - First Virtual Communications last week released Click to Meet Express 2.0, a software-based conferencing product that combines the features of traditional videoconferencing with Web conferencing in an effort to help users more easily share multimedia applications.

Click to Meet Express operates on standard PC hardware running most versions of Windows and works with FVC's Conference Server product, a software-based multipoint control unit that connects multiple users in a single call and stores shared documents and files used in the call. No specialized equipment is required, as a standard PC microphone and Webcam camera can be used to provide audio and video. Optionally, Conference Server can integrate with a third-party phone bridge to connect users on the telephone.

To make setting up meetings and inviting participants easier, FVC has integrated Click to Meet Express with Microsoft's Messenger instant-messaging client, which provides a directory of users and the ability to detect whether a user is online. Meetings can include audio and video, slides, shared files or a combination of media. Video or Internet-based audio is not required to use the product, as it can be used in a slide-show-only mode, similar to online tools WebEx and PlaceWare offer.

"It's got a flexible screen setup," says Andrew Davis, an analyst at Wainhouse Research. "You can have data-intensive or video-intensive meetings and can switch between the two on the fly. . . . No one has really done that before."

The user interface in Version 2.0 has been rewritten with a combination of Dynamic HTML and XML, making it more customizable, says Gary Dietz, senior product manager at FVC. Slides, video and a text-chat window can be arranged in a number of ways by users or as a set layout dictated by a moderator for all attendees.

Also new in Version 2.0 is the ability to call out to telephone users and any H.323- or Session Initiation Protocol-compliant endpoint registered with the Conference Server. This allows traditional group video systems from Polycom, Tandberg and others to be connected to the same conference. T.120 support also is included for sharing applications such as Microsoft Word or Excel.

Where services such as WebEx target one-to-many meetings, Dietz says FVC is targeting the small and midsize groups that need to have "a highly interactive conference."

One caveat with running a software-only video system is that the quality of video and number of participants being displayed on screen at the same time are dictated by the PC's processing capabilities. Davis warns that while video running controlled IP environments such as a LAN or WAN might be of good quality, those connecting over the Internet could have mixed results.

FVC competes with the WebEx and PlaceWare in the Web conferencing realm. In the videoconferencing arena, it competes with hardware-based desktop cameras from Polycom (the ViaVideo) and VCON (the ViGO).

Click to Meet Express 2.0 costs $7,400 for a four-concurrent user license, including the Conference Server. The Conference Server runs on Windows 2000 and 2003, Solaris and Red Hat Linux.

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