With the many advances in technology and the power of the Internet, businesses can save
lots of money and make more contacts with web conferencing. This conferencing allows
you to hold meetings online without having to leave your office. You don't have to bring
all the participants together in one place as each person attending the conference or
meeting can stay in his/her own office and connect via the Internet and phone. These
types of conferences are very cots-effective, which is why they have become the main
way large corporations now connect with their partners and subsidiaries.

When you conduct a conference on the web, you actually hold a live meeting by giving
presentations online. You can have discussions with the participants, make power point
presentations, by allowing all participants to see the same screen, talk on the telephone or
type in messages.

Even if you are just building a business, you can take advantage of conferencing with
potential partners in this way. For example, you can send a person a link to an online
presentation and have that person watch the presentation from their home or office
computer. Then you can follow up with a phone call or an email. Training seminars often
take place through online conferencing today, thus saving companies huge amounts of
money. There is still interaction between the moderator and the participants, the same as
there would be in a face-to-face meeting, but it may take the form of text messages.

Another advantage of holding conferences online is that you can record the sessions and
listen to them later if you want to review anything. One thing you have to remember with
online conferencing is that you do have to speak slowly and clearly so that your listeners
can fully understand what you are saying.



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P2P Video Conference

When a face-to-face meeting with someone far away becomes a necessity or a compelling presentation must be given to a remote person, video conferencing is always your best choice. This means that you will get the exact solution you need for a productive and successful.

Here we are going to design peer to peer conferencing package designed to be a complete solution for all LAN conferencing. Leading Video conferencing Products are very costly and some products are not a Standard based, they are following their own Standards. So the quality and compatibility of the various products may differ.

To design a standard based video conference, we are going to use Java Technology. For the communication related Programming, the JMF 2.11e API is very helpful. The Java Media Framework API (JMF) enables audio, video and other time-based media to be added to applications and applets built on Java technology. This optional package, which can capture, playback, stream, and Trans code multiple media formats, for multimedia developers by providing a powerful toolkit to develop scalable, cross-platform technology.

In the architecture, the JMF Server applet captures the audio/video and stored in buffer then transmits into the JMF client applet as a RTP stream.To implementing the project we use G.711, G.722 audio codec, H.263, H.264 video codec and RTP Protocol.

Real-time streaming of media allows users to play media as they receive it. Users don't have to wait for the whole media file to be downloaded before watching. To enable real-time streaming, dedicated streaming media servers and streaming protocols, such as real time Protocol (RTP), are required. RTP is an Internet standard for transporting real-time data.



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Keeping costs under control is a challenge that most companies face, but for small businesses operating on tight budgets it is essential if they are to survive. So, any new technology, such as free calls via the internet that can help reduce costs is welcome news to the large army of small businessmen and businesswomen throughout the UK.

For those who regularly deal with international clients and suppliers it can be quite damaging to cash flow to frequently travel abroad in order to attend meetings. Previously, however, the only realistic alternatives to face-to-face meetings were phone conferences which tended to be difficult to arrange, usually expensive, and often led to confusion and misunderstandings between the parties involved.

However, the combination of internet and broadband has made life a lot easier for small and medium-sized businesses, especially those that have clients or customers in foreign countries. Although larger companies can usually afford to regularly send staff abroad, for many small businesses such an expense cannot be justified. So, those that have customers abroad must find alternative methods of conducting their business, and using internet phone and video calls can be the perfect solution.

David Wilson, Managing Director of Pipped Online Ltd, a specialist marketing agency based in the South West of England, has suppliers and customers throughout the UK, Scotland, Germany, and Canada. Constant travels to their premises took him and his small number of staff out of the office for days at a time, leading to a loss of productivity and an increase in company expenditure. But recently, he has been able to cut down international travel and reduce his telephony bills after selecting to use internet phone and video calling for his business.

For firms operating on incredibly tight budgets like PippedOnline the ability to conduct high quality video conferences via PC is literally a Godsend. Not only can Wilson get the vital human interaction necessary to develop meaningful business relationships, but he can also do it without leaving the comfort of his own office. In addition, it also addresses the productivity issue as key employees are not out of the office traveling to meetings.

He said: "We win in three ways with video conferencing. Not only can we spend more time in the office being productive, we keep costs down by not traveling and it also makes PippedOnline more eco-friendly by cutting down our traveling carbon emissions."

But, Wilson concedes it is the economic benefits that appeal to him most. In line with the figures produced by OFCOM detailing the impact on SME costs, he has seen his broadband bills drop by 20% since 2004, and his telephone costs reduced by 8% over the same period.

Now, he is also seeing the benefit of reducing international travel costs, as he regularly makes free video conference calls to his clients in Canada and Germany, via the internet. Using video conferencing is particularly pertinent for Wilson as he is able to include several staff and suppliers at any one time, although he has never got anywhere near the maximum 24 people that he could include.

He is in no doubt though that all small businesses should take up the internet phone and video calls options, although rather mischievously he hopes his competitors don't, making their cost base significantly higher than his own!

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