Pure VOIP Through PC Only Communication

For those of you who know me personally, you already know what a big fan I am of Virtual Worlds and Online Role Playing games.  One important aspect of these communities are that they require a high level of constant communication.  Most of them utilize chat messaging as their "core" communication type, however the move towards VOIP audio is starting to become more prevalent.

In today's business environment, communication consists primarily of users participating on the telephone.  There are many reasons for this:

• It's simple to use
• It's reliable
• It has outstanding sound quality
• There is a phone on every worker's desk
• It requires no extra effort or technical knowledge
• You can communicate to anyone at anytime (not just users with a particular type of software or hardware)

Our company has built a very strong audio network that caters to these traditional business users.  They can pick up their phone, have a conference call with 3 or 300 people and get right back to work.  No lost productivity, nothing new to learn, nothing new to install.

However, if you have ever entered a virtual world such as Second Life or played an MMORPG such as World of Warcraft (and if you haven't heard of this game I'd be very surprised, even if you're not a gamer) then you will realize that the vast majority of users in these environments DO NOT use the telephone to communicate.  They either use the built in chat messaging functions, the built in VOIP functions, or 3rd Party software programs such as Ventrilo or TeamSpeak.  Why do they utilize these tools?  Because they are not taking part in these programs as part of their business or company, in which the company pays all of their expenses.  They are taking part in these environments primarily for fun and as a means of enjoyment.  Using the telephone or conferencing services would require them to pay roughly $3 per hour per person that they needed to communicate with. 

The answer that they turn to:  VOIP Communications.  The two dominant 3rd party multi-party communications tools for these environments are Ventrilo and Teamspeak.  In essence "someone" pays a hosting company to utilize their server and a certain number of "slots".  So for our example we'll say a 20 slot server, which would cost roughly $9 per month at todays rates.  Then each individual can download "client" software to their computer.  Each individual would spend some time getting their microphones, speakers, and soundcards configured properly to utilize the VOIP client.  Note:  This can range from 5 minutes to 5 days depending on your system, configuration and level of technical expertise.

Now that the software has been setup, each individual can speak through their microphone and be heard at the other end.  In most cases it's Simplex audio, simply meaning that only one party can speak or be heard at the same time (unlike traditional phones which are full duplex and allow the speaking and receiving party to both speak at the same time).  It's VOIP.  There are issues.  Sound quality and reliability being chief among them.  However, there are NO COSTS to the participants.  They are willing to go through the initial setup pains, and are willing to accept a lower standard for sound quality and reliability because they are not conducting vital business or important communication (although that is debatable as some people certainly place more importance on gaming/social networking then others).

Can employees at work realistically do this?  Let's take a look at some of the potential issues with using Ventrio, Teamspeak, Skype, or other VOIP software from the office:

• Most office computers still don't have speakers.  Many don't even have soundcards.
• Most office employees don't have administrative rights to even install these types of software on their computers, and even if they do some won't run properly without admin rights
• Each of these tools requires that EVERY OTHER PARTICIPANT have that same tool.  This is harder then most people realize
• These tools are subject to the whims of the Public Internet.  Sound quality and reliability is highly volatile.  Imagine being in the middle of a sales seminar and your participants all of a sudden can't hear you.  This is very common with these VOIP tools

So, now that we've covered some basics, I want to let you know what we're doing at Great America Networks Conferencing to help Businesses and Individuals collaborate in real time across the globe:

• Traditional telephone conferencing - our bread and butter - 100% uptime 24/7/365 with high sound quality and reliability.  Everyone has a phone.  Everyone knows how to use a phone.
• Web Conferencing - Presenting, Screen Sharing, Document Sharing, Chat, Webcam Video, Built-in VOIP.  All this and more with our web conferencing tools that allow you to collaborate as though the participants were right beside you.  Even if they are on the other side of the globe.
• Audio Streaming - We send an audio stream of your telephone conference through the Internet.  Your participants can listen to them on any standard media player through their computer speakers.  Windows Media Player, iTunes, Winamp and others are all supported.
• VOIP Clients - We are currently working in our R&D group to offer an integrated VOIP platform that will allow you to accomplish the same end result as outlined above.  All integrated with our existing communications networks

In closing, I look forward to unveiling some of our new products and services over the next few months.

Reno Provine
www.ganconference.com

Comments

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[Philippine Outsourcing]

This is a pertinent post. A very interesting and well written article! Everybody from small business owners to major corporations and not to mention households worldwide are starting to see the benefits of VoIP. VoIP saves money and cost efficient. Whether you're using VoIP for your residence or your business, you'll find it to be a lot cheaper than your normal landline telephone cost, be it short or long distance calls. However, the cost varies from one voip provider to another. Some allow unlimited calls and some charges only a small fee.

- Jaime

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