Vyew, provider of browser-based web conferencing services announced today the release of VyewMyPC, a quick desktop sharing, whiteboarding and web conferencing solution for any browser running on Windows, Macintosh or Linux operating systems.

Vyew CEO, Henry Hon:

With a slowing economy, high travel costs and increasing environmental concerns there is a market need for an intuitive, free and feature-rich solution for web conferencing, whiteboarding and desktop sharing that works on any platform with any browser and requires no software installation. VyewMyPC meets that need and also serves as a gateway to the advanced features of Vyew such as its clear-view workspaces for persistent, always-on collaboration and content review.

Vyew is a fast and simple solution for conducting online meetings, storyboarding, sharing ideas and presenting anything on your desktop. VyewMyPC supports voice over IP for free worldwide audio conferencing. VyewMyPC is a free service from Vyew and the first in a series of quick-start solutions that the company is currently developing for desktop sharing, content review, screen capturing, and session recording. VyewMyPC provides the same desktop-sharing and conferencing functionality found in expensive solutions for free with no software to install.

VyewMyPC is available for free at www.vyewmypc.com

Today, MTP announced the addition of VOIP and web conferencing services to its suite of current offerings in the conferencing market. MTP’s hosted VOIP service and web conferencing solution will add greater depth and interactivity to MTP’s existing teleconferencing application.

Etelos President & CEO, Jeffrey Garon:

MTP has seen the value that the Etelos Marketplace provides not only for application providers, but for application users. Etelos is out to create a Marketplace that is capable of addressing any issue or problem a business may face and address it with the best possible solution.”

MTP Hosted VoIP Service, powered by Global Phone, is a business-grade hosted PBX system using Voice Over IP that provides businesses with reliable alternative to costly PBX, IP PBX or Centrex lines. MTP’s web confererencing services are powered by Dimdim, an open source Web conferencing service that supports desktop sharking, file sharing, chat and video conferencing without requiring an additional download for meeting participants.

MTP CEO Thomas Capone:

MTP has been selling IT and telecom solutions since 1983 so we have first-hand experience with every type of sales channel imaginable. Etelos provides MTP with an efficient way to deliver best-of-breed solutions to clients anywhere in the world, with excellent customer service and support. Half the battle in selling any type of IT product or service is getting customers to experience the savings, and the promised ROI of the offer. Etelos makes that problem disappear from the sales cycle.”

For more information about MTP’s products or the Etelos Marketplace, visit www.etelos.com.

InstantPresenter, an industry leader in web conference, video conference and webinar services now offers expanded webconferencing and webinar registration services. These new registration services allow the online presenter to find out exactly what their audience is interested in before the presentation, and allows them to customize their presentation to their interests.

Registration features include fully customizable forms for invitations, RSVP information or any other information the presenter would like to collect about your audience prior to the event. Data can be exported and downloaded directly into Excel in .CSV format. InstantPresenter registration services start at only $29 per month.

Along with new registration services, InstantPresenter introduces its new Content Library. The InstantPresenter Content Library allows the online presenter to store up to 100MB of presentation material on InstantPresenter’s high speed web conferencing servers. Presenters can instantly switch between content that is already available and ready to be presented. The content library allows the presenter to store PowerPoint files, Flash presentation data, images, movies and audio files. Content is now always available and ready to present.

For more information about InstantPresenter and its services, contact:

Contact:
TJ Davis
Director of Sales
InstantPresenter.com
Phone: 714-890-3008

http://www.instantpresenter.com

Avistar Communications, a provider of video conferencing and communications services, announced that it has been granted two new U.S. patents: 7,398,296, issued on 08/08/08 and 7,412,482, issued on 08/12/08. These patents further expand Avistar’s intellectual property coverage in the areas of login-based Voice over IP services, video conferencing and text-based instant messaging.

Avistar, currently holds 82 patents covering presence-based interactions, wireless communications, desktop video, recorded and live media at the desktop, instant messaging, multimedia documents, data sharing and service-rich video network architectures. The two  new patents cover systems and methods for login-based routing of real-time communications, such as text instant messaging, VoIP and two-way video conferencing.

Avistar CEO, Simon Moss:

Basically, these two patents are designed to accommodate the way people communicate today, while addressing further convergence in the future. Without them, you would need a number of ways to reach colleagues, depending on the device and location they’re using — such as on a mobile phone, in the office or traveling with a laptop. These two patents enable users to click one button to contact another person and find that person no matter what device he or she is using or where he or she is. These two patents are significant to both the industry and Avistar for two key reasons. First, they describe the use of real-time text and audio, not just video. And they have a priority date of October 1993.

Avistar’s active licensing program makes its intellectual property available to potential partners and licensees. Inquiries for licensing these or any other Avistar patents may be directed to Paul D. Carmichael, Esq., (408) 252-7927.

Mikogo, a free online meeting and screen sharing application has seen an increase of over fifty percent in less than four months, indicating a shift towards free online meeting and collaboration tools. Having reached a user base of more than 40,000 users, the success of Mikogo’s free online meeting solution could indicate that free Web collaboration is rapidly on the rise. This of course raises questions for the future of alternative high priced video conferencing solutions.

Web conferences, online meetings and other online collaboration tools are valuable assets to many individuals and small businesses. However the cost of these applications and services often prevent usage by many who would truly benefit from the technology. With Mikogo’s free online meeting solution, with all included features at no cost and with no time limitations, the web collaboration community has taken notice. Mikogo has users spread across more than 100 countries and serves up to 2,000 free online meetings a day.

Mikogo Co-founder, Mark Zondler:

We are happy to provide Mikogo free of charge and allow everyone to benefit from an easy-to-use screen sharing tool. Our users are able to employ Mikogo for teaching, IT support, picture sharing, university projects, club meetings, and more. Everyday people across the world are finding more and more reasons to use Mikogo free online meetings.

It seems clear that Mikogo has made it’s mark and found it’s place in the free online collaboration community. With a rapidly growing userbase of over 40,000 users under the belt, Mikogo expects that the current fee-based web conferencing services are going to have to pick up their game to stay competitive.

A recent survey of 1400 Chief Information Officers by the staffing firm, Robert Hall Technology indicates that while CIOs appreciate and frequently use video conferencing, online training and collaboration software, they aren’t familiar with or very interested in web 2.0 apps such as blogs and wikis.

CIOs on Video Conferencing, Online Training, and Collaboration Tools

Of the 1400 CIOs who responded to the survey, 47% reported that they currently use online training, with another 13% planning to use it in the next five years. Among the same respondents, 34% said they use video conferencing software today with another 18% planning on using it in the next five years. Telepresence and collaborative workspaces are used by 24% of CIOs with another 19% planning on using those tools in the next five years.

CIOs on Web 2.0 Applications

While CIOs are using many of the larger, more prevalent online communication and online collaboration tools, the same can not be said for web 2.0 applications. Of the 1400 CIOs who responded to the survey, 67% have no intention of using tagging software in their websites, 72% aren’t planning to ever use blogs; 74% of the respondents do not even understand what a “wiki” is, and 84% of the same set of respondents have no plans on using or integrating “virtual worlds” into their systems.

It’s not surprising that CIOs don’t plan to use virtual worlds, and may not have time or interest in personal or company blogs, but it is surprising that they have a lack of interest in wikis. By design, wikis are perfect for IT departments to report lessons learned, track projects and report and correct errors in the system. It may be that the CIOs who reported that they don’t use wikis, just aren’t aware that their IT department does.

In the face of rising fuel costs, many companies are turning to online collaboration and video conferencing services to reduce travel costs and at the same time help protect the environment. This current push for video conference services have left many companies scrambling to find the appropriate IT solution for their company, and the Marriott Hotels are looking to provide the solution, or at least be a stop-gap solution for companies that need an immediate solution.

Marriott International Hotels are installing Hewlett Packard’s Halo telepresence centers in key hotels around the world. The Halo telepresence system is a complete video conference solution that has a physical semi-circle conference table, with large LCD television screens that make up the other half of the table. The result is what appears to be a round conference table, half with people physically present, and the other half at any other location that has a similar Halo setup. The technology allows very realistic conferencing, without the hassle and costs of conventional travel.

Marriott Spokesman, John Wolfe:

It’s an opportunity to open up a new line of business that we currently don’t have.

A study conducted by Orbitz Business and Business Traveller magazine found that 79% of corporate travel managers are feeling some pressure to cut travel expenditures and 42% are exploring alternatives to business travel, including web conferencing and video conferencing services.

Teleprescense systems like Hewlett Packard’s Halo can cost tens of thousands of dollars. The availability of these systems at key Marriott hotels will provide easy access to companies that only need to occassionaly use the technology, and for companies that plan to purchase the technology but would like to use it first. No date has been set on when Marriott and HP plan on rolling out the service.

Large companies are taking note of successful alternative work styles and the shifting desire of many employees to work from home or at satellite offices closer to home. Many of these companies are attempting to tackle the problem with large-scale, expensive telepresence and video conferencing services that cost as much money as they save. Here are 7 keys to keep a remote workforce program successful:

1. You can keep a strong client / vendor relationship without ever meeting face-to-face. The concept of representatives flying around the world to meet clients is a thing of the past. While face-to-face still has its place and value, interacting by video conferencing, phone and email is no longer “impersonal” and can be quite intimate and engaging. Many workers these days are just as comfortable with colleagues they’ve never met as they are with their in-office counterparts.

2. Physical presence doesn’t necessarily mean quality presence. Old and large corporations live by the notion that if you aren’t sitting at your desk, you aren’t working. But being in the office does not guarantee that you are truly engaged in your work and by the same token, being away from the office doesn’t mean you’re not working. There are dozens of online project management tools - often including time tracking - that can help managers keep a handle on their remote workers.

3. Large telepresence systems may be overkill for smaller companies. Telepresence systems may be an ideal solution for large companies that have multiple satellite offices that have frequent online meetings, but there are many inexpensive, even free, teleconferencing and videoconferencing services like instantpresenter.com that can still make distributed teams incredibly productive for a fraction of the price.

4. Electronic “paper” trails increase accountability. Unlike face-to-face meetings or phone calls that are not taped, many remote online meeting tools have built-in recording features that can be archived and reviewed. Using project management tools in the work process can also track and archive all of your correspondence. Switching from standard meetings to online discussion boards helps make your “institutional memory” more readily available to all workers in the company, creating a knowledge management database and cutting down on needless searches for information.

5. Archived training videos and demos, along with archived webinars and webcasts are all right at your fingertips. They are also at your client’s or potential client’s fingertips any time of the day or night or in any time zone. Your sales tools are always at the ready.

6. Online web-work can help save the planet. All corporations are feeling the pressure to go green, and having employees work from home and not drive, and having clients meet via video conferencing and not fly are easy success stories that you can use to impress stakeholders. Save fossil fuels by implementing telecommuting and remote work processes. Corporate workers care about saving the planet, too.

7. Take advantage of web conferencing, audio conferencing and video conferencing services. Just because workers are out of the office (whether traveling, working in remote offices, or working from home) doesn’t mean that you have to be out of touch. There are many quality video conferencing and webcasting services available at very low costs such as InstantPresenter and WebEx.

Polycom, a web conferencing and video conferencing service provider, this week reported its second quarter results, which beat revenue estimates but missed earnings estimates by only a single cent. Revenue grew 16% to $271.6 million. Net income grew 77% to $17.8 million. Polycom is just one of many video conferencing service providers to see sales increase as the price of travel makes web conferencing and video conferencing an attractive alternative.

In a recent study, Gartner expects web conferencing and video conferencing solutions to generate $600 million in annual equipment revenue and $1.5 billion in revenue including services by 2010. In addition, in an IT budget priority survey for enterprises, online collaboration moved up two slots to number eight.

Web conference and video conference services are growing rapidly, most notably outside of the United States. North America revenues were up 7% for the year, Europe grew by 36%, Asia by 20%, and Latin America by 36%.

Polycom expects its telepresence and high definition video conference business to continue to benefit from the increasing costs of travel, particularly during this economic slowdown. It is also increasing its marketing and research spending to increase the financial benefits from the trend. For the third quarter, Polycom expects revenue to increase 3%.

InstantConference, the dedicated on-demand reservation-less online conference service, answers the need for company-wide, user-managed online conferencing at an affordable price with the release of a new enterprise service. Featuring low-cost monthly plans starting at $25/month and toll free rates as low as 3.5 cents per minute, this fully-featured online meeting service can be set up and managed in a few minutes with an online administrator account.

InstantConference CEO, Alex Cory:

InstantConference Enterprise was developed with feedback from executives in small businesses and divisions of larger companies who were looking for a simple and centrally managed service at highly competitive prices. We have launched a service that offers a comprehensive suite of user-managed conferencing tools within a company organized platform.

InstantConference Enterprise targets the market for centrally-managed online conferencing services with a high-value mix of free and premium features. Company administrators can easily sign up and manage accounts by division and employee, using centrally-managed online billing and review, plus creation, and deletion of employee accounts. Employees are automatically provided with their own user-managed accounts, which include free online conferencing, free recording and storage, large scale online conferences, free desktop sharing, and very low cost toll free online conferencing. Both InstantConference and InstantConference enterprise services also come with moderator controls, dedicated conferencing numbers, and an easy-to-use online account management system.

InstantConference Enterprise Overview

Monthly Plans:

* $25/month – purchase unlimited Toll Free 800 minutes at 5.5¢/minute
* $50/month- purchase unlimited Toll Free 800 minutes at 4.5¢/minute
* $100/month- purchase unlimited Toll Free 800 minutes at 3.5¢/minute

Enterprise Features include:

* Administrator account management tools for easy sign-up and management of all employees
* Convenient monthly billing plans centralized on one administrator account
* Access to both free(a) and toll free 800 dial-in numbers
* Toll Free rates starting as low as 3.5¢/minute
* Unlimited recording, downloading and 30 days storage
* Online Moderator controls for extra security and control
* Conference activity and transaction summaries
* Up to 250 callers on every online conference
* Unlimited desktop sharing
* Dedicated online conference bridges
* 24 hour reservation-less access