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A U D I O ,W E B A N D v i d e o - c o n f e r e n c i n g I Pricesoverall have fallen 16Yoayear. preferred communication tool for

will all allow you to meet anyone,
anywhere at anytime - but which is the block and growing in usage. Most
the best? Let's look at market trends
and take advantage of the wisdom of
others.
Audio-conferencing is still the
favoured tool for meetings and its use
c o n t i n u e st o r i s e . B i l l a b l e m i n u t e s i n
the South Pacific region have almost
doubled in the pasttwo years.Pricesin
Australia have not dropped greatly,
but if the USA is an indicator (as it
usually is) then we're in for massive
price drops in the next two years,
The following trends have emerged
in the USA, according to TeleSpan
P u b l i s h i n gC o m p a n y ;
I T h e p r i c eh a s f a l l e na s l o w a s h a l f a
cent per minute in some instances.
I Freeconference.com did l4million
minutes of "free" calls in August -
growing aI 30Yoa month.
I The averagepricefor fully automated
serviceshas fallen 10o/o to 30% each
y e a r s i n c e2 0 0 1 .
Web-conferencingis the new kid on e d u c a t i o nt,r a i n i n ga n d j o b i n t e r v i e w s .
Any application that is enhanced by
services report 40Yoto 100% increases s e e i n gt h e o t h e r p e r s o n l i v e w i l l c o n -
in usage,however this is from a small tinue to find video-conferencing the
user base, Those who need to share most effective tool,
images and are migrating to web- S o m e u s e r s s u b s t i t u t e da u d i o a n d
c o n f e r e n c i n g i n c l u d e r e s e a r c h e r s , web for video for 26% of calls in the
f i n a n c i a l h o u s e s a n d a d v e r t i s i n g first half of 2003.
agencies.The training sector is slowly Video-conferencingis in a state of
catching on to the capabilities of flux with the migration to lP rather
web-conferencingand we'll see it t h a n I S D N ,w h i c h h a s b e e n t h e p l a t -
introducedto enhance e-learningpro- form of choice for over 10 years. This
g r a m s i n a b i g w a y i n t h e c o m i n gy e a r . migration has caused operational
Video-conferencinghas had some problems unseen since the
bad pressthis year being referredto as widespreadadoptionof the technology
" o n e o f t h e m o s t p r o m i s i n g ,a n d t h e r e - in Australia in the early'90s. However,
fore most disappointing,technologies w h e n u s e r s m i g r a t e t h e i r v i d e o -
of the future" (SMH 25103103lr c o n f e r e n c i n gt o l B t h e i r u s a g ei s g o i n g
However, those organisations that u p . T h i s p r o b a b l yh a s m u c h t o d o w i t h
know how to use it effectively have p r i c e ,a s a n l P n e t w o r kc a n d e l i v e rh i g h
substitutedmany of their national and quality images at a fraction of the cost
i n t e r n a t i o n a lm e e t i n g s w i t h t h e o n l y o f u s i n g c o m m e r c i a lI S D N p r o v i d e r s .
technology that is almost as good as Currently,about 10% of international
b e i n gt h e r e . voice is over lB according to Tele-
Video-conferencing remains the g e o g r a p h yw h i l e T e l e S p a nn o t e s t h a t

YIIR B00t(2003
UIBTUAI.
TBAUEI.

less than 10Yoof video traffic is lP. f rom the realm of enthusiastic The die hasbeencast!We'llall be using
Clearly, we have a long way to go teenagersto become a legitimate and audio-, web- and video-conferencing
before we have widespread usage of u s e f u lb u s i n e s st o o l . from our desktop in the not too distant
l P w i t h t h e f o l l o w i n gf i g u r e sp r o v i d i n g At a recentTeleConnections Industry f u t u r e .T h e t o o l o f c h o i c ew i l l d e p e n d
some context: F o r u m p r e s e n t a t i o nf r o m H u t c h i s o n on our objective, but with all three
I V i r t u a l l ya l l v i d e o e n d p o i n t sa r e d u a l about their'3' network,there was much t o o l s a v a i l a b l ef r o m o n e d e v i c e , t h e
I S D Na n d l P . discussionabout the ability to connect usage patterns will be interesting to
I O n e o f t h e f a s t e s ts e l l i n g P o l y c o m someoneon a mobile video phone with note. More interesting will be the
s p e a k e r p h o n eiss t h e V o l Pm o d e l , their colleagueson a 'regular' video- d i m e n s i o n so f t h a t t o o l . I p r e d i c th a n d -
I lP video transmission is growing conferencesystem. lt is currently possi- held,wireless,with an entirelydifferent
2 5 % s e q u e n t i a l l y( s m a l l n u m b e r s ) ble to connectone mobile personto one interfacethan that we have known to
w h i l e I S D Ni s f l a t o r d o w n 1 1 % . video conference system (point-to- date.
135% of group systems sold in the point) with work being done to enable But remember, most participants
USA are lP. the connectionof numeroussitesin one i n c o n f e r e n c ec a l l s a r e r e a d i n g t h e i r
(Source: Wainhouse Resea
rch) c a l l ( m u l t i - p o i n t ) .O n c e t h i s c a n b e
emails or writing memos and don't
achieved simply and cost-effectively, w a n t t o b e o n c a m e r a d u r i n g m e e t -
Future
Trends the video-phonewill indeed become a i n g s . P e r h a p sw e n e e d t o s p e n d m o r e
The recent launch of 3G in Australia usefulbusinesstool. t i m e w o r k i n g o n o u r t e c h n i q u er a t h e r
has seen the introduction of the latest Microsoft has recently acquired one than the technology!
i n v i d e o - c o n f e r e n c i n gv,i d e o p h o n e s . of the well establishedweb-conferencing
We don't yet know the impact this will providers, Placeware,and is attempt-
h a v e o n b u s i n e s s p r a c t i c e s .I n t h e ing to put conferencing into its
USA, 4million mobile phones were Enterpriseportfolio.A recentinvitation
sold with cameras in 2002 and it is from the software giant stated: "With
f o r e c a s tt h a t 6 5 m i l l i o nw i l l b e s o l d i n
Microsoft's Live Communications
2 0 0 3 . l n J a p a n , 1 7 . 6 m i l l i o nD o C o M o Serverand Windows Messenger,every
p h o n e s a n d 1 0 . 9 m i l l i o n V o d a f o n e Windows XP desktop now has built in
Japan phones have cameras. With voice, web, and video-conferencing-
s u c h w i d e s p r e a do w n e r s h i p ,i t w o n t readyto be used for real-timepersonal
be long beforethe video phone moves c o m m u n i c a t i o n s" .

Justifyingvideo-conferencing can be challengingfon a vari- One of the majon roles of video-conferencing is that of a
ety of neasons: substitute for business tnavel.
Companisonsare made to business travel which offers The act of converting a business travel meeting to a
face-to-face contact, fonmal and infonmal oppontunities, video-confenenceaffords all participants both hard and
and in many cases, glamour and ego satisfactionfrom soft benefits.These benefitsinclude:
the travel experience itself. I Cost savings [avoided flights, hotel, can service, daily
I Audio-confenencingis typicallya lowen-costaltennative. mealsJ.
I Limited usage of video-conferencing equipment makes I Time savings [avoidedflight time, waiting time, prepa-
expenencemore rare. nationand down timel.
I Lack of availableusage informationhinders analysis. I lmproved qualityof family life and sometimes personal
I Lackof accuratemeetingcost informatjonhindensanalysis. health.
I Many benefits from travel avoidance ane soft benefits. I Gaining ad-hoc access to contacts since a video call
I Lack of specific ownership of the video-conferencing can be made with almost no advancenotice.
justification task within the enterpnise makes the pnob- I Keeping staff in position where they are likely to be
lem and the newandsobtuse. more effective.
I Budget appnoversare not necessarilyvideo users. I Gainingthe image of cost effectivenessand efficiency.
I The purchase nequinessignificant[but declining]investment. ,,rhe Business
source: caseForvideocorieE!!{),?";

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