With
so many technologies getting enhanced by living in the cloud, you might wonder
if video conferencing can be taken to the cloud as well. If so, it should be
done in a professional manner — are there offerings on the market that will do
this? What are some of the pros and cons of taking video conferencing to the
cloud? Can your conferences be recorded and possibly used against you?
The
beauty of cloud-based services is that they make video and audio accessible to
anyone, wherever they are, regardless if they are at a desktop or on a mobile
device. They make video easy for everyone, increasing the technology's
penetration within your organization. Cloud-based services shift Unified Communications and video solutions
from tools used solely in the boardroom into a means for a distributed
organization or SMB to easily link remote partners and employees.
 |
| Cloud Based Video Conferencing for dummies |
As
of this writing, there are several offerings on the market that offer cloud-based
video conferencing. Typically these services are on 24/7, thereby allowing
anyone to connect with anyone else who happens to be on at the same time.
The
first service is the Blue Jeans Network, which gives you both external and
internal cloud video conferencing. Supporting a WebRTC browser, it also extends
to any mobile device. The company says they have made the video analog to an
audio conference bridge, as it is able to connect 25 Lync, Skype and POTS users
via its global POPs. The service can be bought by virtual port, license per
user, or minutes per month.
Next
is Glowpoint Inc., which offers hybrid cloud enterprise environments, fully
hosted video, or managed on-premise deployments. Glowpoint's OpenVideo Cloud
boasts open and secure, endpoint agnostic and network neutral video
conferencing. It connects conference, mobile and desktop rooms from vendors
such as LifeSize, Avaya, Cisco and Polycom. Glowpoint's collaboration can be
tied in with OpenVideo Cloud, and the monitoring and management services are
offered at a range of price points.
Vidtel
MeetMe offers an enterprise-level service which acts as a video conferencing
brige that links rooms, browsers and mobile devices. It's available in plans
priced by minutes per participant, or unlimited quantities for 5, 8 or 12
people. The latter packages also include HD audio conferencing.
Other
cloud based video conferencing services can take care of different
organizations. OmniJoin and 8x8 offer these services to SMBs, and Vidyo has its
free offering in beta.
Pros and Cons
• Price is one of the
positive items at the top of the chart for cloud based video conferencing. This
is because they normally do not require on-site installation, and usually do
not rely on complex hardware solutions.
•
Scalability. Cloud-based
solutions typically allow you to purchase only what you need at that moment.
Many non-cloud video conferencing platforms will necessitate that you make a
large investment in their system, thereby increasing your risk.
•
Adaptability. Another pro
to the cloud-based system is that it will usually work well with a wider range
of systems, and normally does not need as much preparation time prior to
implementation and actual usability.
If
not handled correctly, there can be some cons to the cloud experience, such as:
•
User Experience.
Cloud-based tools might look different for divergent devices, or in disparate
circumstances. This may end up causing confusion among your users.
•
Quality. Despite the
fact that the larger investments of non-cloud systems may look pretty
non-attractive, the other side of that coin is that the larger investment
typically results in the highest quality of conferencing.
Can conferences be recorded?
Yes,
typically speaking, a conference can be recorded. However, not all services or
apps have the recording ability built-in. In these cases, you'll have to use a
third-party application to record either the audio and video, or just the audio
if that's enough for you.
Keep
in mind, though, that desktop recording of video is going to make big files
very quickly. Audio only will save a lot of space, and there are a number of
programs that can do this. Sound Recorder is built in to Windows, but the free
and open-source application Audacity goes much further in the way of features.
Other
programs such as Camtasia can capture all desktop activity, including a video
stream, but its $299 price point might be a block for some SMBs.
About The Author
Michelle
Patterson has been learning and writing about the new IP based communication
technologies. She loves sharing her information so that businesses and business
owners could take advantage of these technologies.
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