Conferencing Solutions Converge

HEADNOTE

COMMUNICATIONS

Integrated collaborative technologies provide multiple ways to communicate simultaneously.

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IN

THE IDEAL WORLD, EFfective corporate collaboration would include the ability for business partners and co-workers to see and hear each other and to share documents and information in real time. The reality, though, is that distance, travel expenses and time constraints make such face-to-face interactions less likely.

But that's changing as more collaborative technologies are being integrated into one solution. In the next five to seven years, more companies will have the option of using conferencing solutions that enable them to easily switch back and forth from Web, video and audio conferencing as well as instant messaging and e-mail, says S.V. Puntshothaman, program leader for conferencing and collaboration at PaIo Alto, Calif.-based consulting firm Frost & Sullivan. "In the fiveto seven-year timeframe we are looking at an integrated conferencing application-not just an application, maybe even an integrated conferencing platform similar to the Microsoft LCS (Live Communication Server)-which blends in conferencing applications, instant messaging [and] productivity applications into one single platform," Pumshothaman says.