Video conferencing is still a major part of a lot of operations out there, and with good reason. A utility that allows users to have face-to-face conversations regardless of locations, and for vastly less expense than business travel on a per-contact basis, is hard to pass up. BCS Global Network Limited, meanwhile, recently announced a new partnership with Vidtel in a bid to bring in Virtual Connect, a new kind of video conferencing service with roots in Web-based real time communications (WebRTC).
Virtual Connect offers a terrific proposition for businesses that want to bring in video conferencing, but are concerned—not surprisingly so, either—about issues of interoperability among vendors (will this thing here work with that thing over there?) as well as the issues of communicating across the various systems that make up the video conferencing space. Other issues like the sheer expense involved in some cases—installing different video systems to ensure interoperability and the like—also come into play, but that's what Virtual Connect looks to get around as much as possible.
Virtual Connect offers a wide variety of conferencing solutions under one umbrella to reduce the redundancies commonly associated with video conferencing. Connections on hand include Skype and Google Talk, as well as SIP and H.323, all in one easy-to-use and wholly cloud-based space. This combination of connectivity vectors reduces the amount of overhead involved in the system, while keeping overall levels of quality and usability high, perfect for the small to medium-sized business (SMB) that's looking to get in on video conferencing without having to invest a lot of capital into such a setup.
This combination of different connection methods all in one package is a perfect illustration of how BCS Global and Vidtel can work together. While BCS Global has a lot of experience in terms of cloud hosting, as well as customer hosting, to deliver some terrific distribution capabilities, Vidtel has extensive experience as a conferencing and communications provider, with quite a bit of background itself in WebRTC. Those interested in Virtual Connect, meanwhile, will be able to get hands on the system starting August 14.
Things like easy interoperability and low expense are the hallmarks of the WebRTC concept; being able to connect with individuals or even small groups—larger groups in general, at last report, were still in the making—from even something as simple as a matching pair of Web browsers makes things both simple and inexpensive. This is driving a lot of businesses to think twice about the concept of video conferencing, and being able to scale it down from massive room-filling systems to inexpensive contact points and simple hybrid systems, similar to those recently put out by AVer in the form of the EVC100. Though the EVC100 as yet doesn't support WebRTC, reports suggest that future versions will.
With a variety of new impact reaching the field, it's not surprising that the WebRTC market is making huge gains, and things like Virtual Connect from BCS Global and Vidtel are looking to offer a faster, easier, and simpler way to get connected on a face-to-face basis than ever.
Edited by
Alisen Downey
