New video messenger for the enterprise

NetGen’s Clique Video Messenger product, unveiled at this week’s Demo conference in sunny Arizona, is an interesting compliment to traditional text messaging. The first version of Clique works with the Jabber corporate instant messaging product. Jabber provides the “presence” sensing capabilities, while Clique can be used to exchange video messages with other users. NetGen has developed algorithms that allows for higher-quality picture resolutions of up to 640×480 pixels at 30 frames per second. The system works using a store-and-forward approach, by recording and storing the message locally, then sending it point to point between the two Jabber clients. Currently, the Windows Media Format is used to compress and deliver the video, but other formats and codecs could be used in the future. The NetGen client on either end helps boost up the quality of the video to the 640×480 resolution.

Videos exchanged during a Jabber chat session can be saved for later use or deleted when the conversation is complete. NetGen sees the technology as useful for those needing to visually demonstrate a point or way of doing something, something impossible to do with plain text. The system is still in early beta, but should cost around $100 per seat for the client and $20,000 for a Jabber server when its made generally available later this year.