VidiTel still kickin'

By Jason Meserve, NetworkWorld.com, 11/17/04

Back late 2001, I worked with Christine Perey on a comparative review of desktop videoconferencing systems (software-based systems that used Webcams and headsets). The winner of a our Blue Ribbon Award at the time was Reality Fusion's SeeSaw. But since then, I hadn't heard from the company. I figured they were a casualty of the dot-bomb era. I was wrong. The company and service is now called VidiTel and is being sold mostly to service providers who are in turn offering it to their customers. I got a demo of the latest version of the software yesterday and came away impressed.

VidiTel claims up to 200 people can attend on meeting, with six people visible on screen at one time. The six slots can be automatically or manually populated or can follow who is speaking. The video quality, over the Internet and on my DSL connection at home was good and the audio great. Among some of the many enhancements made over time include SSL encryption and the ability to traverse most firewall/NAT systems. (It made it through my NAT at home without issue.)

There's also a desktop share option for giving presentations or showing off a local application. It's view only, so remote users cannot take control of the application in a collaborative manner. One downside is that all meeting participants have to using the VidiTel client, there's no support for H.323 standards-based systems like those from Polycom and Tandberg.

Individual users can get the service for $29.95 a month, and that includes unlimited usage and the ability to invite in two "guest" accounts to the meeting.

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