Microsoft preps PlaceWare conferencing strategy, The Register, IT Analysis (August 18, 2003) discusses Microsoft's conferencing product line (Windows Instant Messenger, NetMeeting and the upcoming Real Time Communications Server) and how the newly acquired Placeware fits in.

As a public access service, Microsoft Office for Live Meetings (a.k.a. Placeware Conference Center) offers two distinct advantages over an in-house installation of Microsoft Office Live Communications Server:

"Firstly, it is often useful to have a neutral place when you need to collaborate with external parties and you don't want them inside your firewall. But an external host has to overcome the security concerns of all the parties. PlaceWare does this by supporting its Web conferencing service on a highly secure host called iVault II."

"Secondly, when you're dealing with external parties there are tremendous technical problems in penetrating their many different firewalls. The expertise of a hosting service is invaluable in negotiating all these firewalls so that meetings can take place across many organisations with the minimum of fuss."

Microsoft plans to tie Placeware tightly to Office 2003 - using integration as a way to convince users to upgrade.

Placeware is a webconferencing tool that doesn't do video, although...

"Microsoft does support video in Net Meeting, albeit only on a one-to-one basis. Radvision recently announced that its viaIP 400 communications platform can provide desktop multi-point in support of video, voice, and data collaboration over Microsoft's Windows Messenger and Microsoft Office Live Communications Server. "

related links:

• Radvision viaIP 400:
  http://www.radvision.com/NBU/Products/viaIP+Custom+Solutions/viaIP400.htm
  
• Collaborative Tools Guide's information on PlaceWare:
  http://www.software.org/collab/tools/guide/showProduct.asp?product=18
  

2:01:59 PM    
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Based on an Aug. 14, 2003 press release by TrueCareers, Inc, a Reston, VA online job search service and a division of Sallie Mae, 84% of employees value telecommuting options in their job searches.

"Eighty-four percent of survey respondents say the ability to work from home a few days a week or full time is important when looking for a new job. The survey also found that 80 percent believe that telecommuting would make them more productive in their current jobs.

Of the more than 200 respondents, 47 percent say they currently telecommute. An additional 33 percent have considered working from home. Of the employees that do telecommute, 41 percent work from home at least 20 hours a week. "

A related article, Survey: Telecommuting option vital in job searches, was run in both the Houston Business Journal and the Austin Business Journal (8/14/03), which also reported:

"Because of declining air quality in the area, the city of Austin has encouraged its employees to reduce vehicle travel by 15 percent through telecommuting and other means. A 2000 survey by market research firm Central Texas Directions found nearly one-fifth of Central Texans with Internet access were telecommuters."

12:51:54 PM    
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