Web conferencing deepens collaboration Raindance Meeting Edition bonds audio, video, Web (Cathleen Moore, InfoWorld 3/1/2004) provides an overview of Raindance Communications, Inc.'s  newly released Raindance Meeting Edition. The website offers an animated tour, live demo and free trial for the new release, currently available for Windows 98, 2000, and XP, with a Mac version in development.

Analyst David Marshak, senior vice president and principal consultant at the Patricia Seybold Group, is quoted in the InfoWorld article. Marshak says Raindance is distinguishing itself from other vendors in the space by wrapping its integrated audio, video, and data conferencing capabilities around a team collaboration space.

My quick impressions after viewing the overview demo... Thumbs up: integration with Outlook and thus the ease in setting up adhoc meetings, even with those who join via telephone only. Thumbs down: Meeting notices are sent via email, rather than integrated with your Outlook calendar. Thumbs down: the demo shows meeting participants using a separate phone conference for the audio portion of the meeting. Thumbs up: application sharing... Excel spreadsheets can be updated by the group during a meeting. Thumbs down: application sharing... Powerpoint slides need to be converted to another format for sharing and mark up with the group.

Overall, this is yet another sign that the IP video market is coming of age.

9:59:21 AM    
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