Videoconferencing services became mainstream in 2007 when private videoconferencing was made public by Cisco. The history of videoconferencing may not be very long, but it is important to understand how this very useful business tool came to be the popular medium for business conferences around the world.

Today videoconferencing is easy to use and widely available. It is hard to believe that it began as a tool for select businesses. It is helping to save money and create an easier way to communicate within a business and even to outsiders, like investors, partners and customers.

The push towards videoconferencing is not just led by businesses. Carriers see that people love the convenience of technology in all areas of their life, such as with Skype and HDTV. The potential of this new medium is very appealing to carriers as a new market for expansion and potential for a large profit.

There are now three basic types of videoconferencing services. You could consider them levels of videoconferencing. They are desktop, room-based and immersive. Each has different features and, of course, the cost increases as you go up a level due to the increased benefits and features at the higher levels.

Desktop videoconferencing service work by allowing participants to see and hear the conference live on their personal computer. The video is not of the highest quality and the sound can often be intermittent, but it is very affordable. For a small business or for internal meetings this may be the way to go for affordability.

Room-based videoconferencing services involve an online conference room or chat room. All participants have videoconferencing gear that allows them to connect to the IP data network of the conference. These rooms must be reserved, but the quality is much better and more reliable than with desktop services. This is the mid-level of videoconferencing services and the most popular business choice.

Immersive videoconferencing is the top of the line experience. It provides the best in video and audio quality. This type of conferencing makes it feel like everyone is in the same room. Of course, to accomplish this can be pricey since there is a need for high quality equipment and technology. However, for important meetings and events this is the best choice for the best experience.

With three levels from which to choose you can easily find the right services to meet your needs. You should always consider the quality because that is the big thing that sets these service levels apart. However, if money is a concern then you may need to choose based upon that. The good news, though, is that things are improving rapidly so quality is getting better while costs are going down.

Videoconferencing services are pretty new and as such they are still being developed and altered to meet the needs of the business sector. Over time they are evolving so that higher quality and lower cost are starting to come together and making it more affordable for businesses to have the best possible experience with videoconferencing.




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