- Structuralism explores how meaning is constructed within a culture through systems of signs and symbols. It examines how the positioning and context of objects can influence their meaning.
- The Halloween trailer uses iconography and structuralism to adhere to the codes of the slasher horror genre. Shots of a masked killer stabbing a victim with a knife establish the psychopathic killer trope.
- Non-diegetic music builds tension as the killer stalks victims. Contrasting lighting draws attention to the masked killer and their prey. The murderer's dual identity as a child and adult subverts expectations and suggests a troubled psyche.
This document summarizes the results of a questionnaire about horror film/trailers. It found that the target audience is interested in action that relates to real life, as this results in genuine fear. They will not be as scared by or enjoy films that are too far removed from reality. The information suggests the audience prefers gruesome subgenres and expects action in trailers/films. This will help the document's author decide what their viewers want to see for a successful trailer.
This document summarizes a European project called WOMENTOR that aims to create a network of mentors to support girls and young women. The network currently includes 16 partner organizations across Europe. The project seeks to identify challenges women face, exchange best practices for supporting women, and evaluate types of help available across Europe to improve support for women through mentorship programs. Local examples from Italy demonstrate initiatives to promote equal opportunities and work-life balance for women. Contact information is provided for those seeking more information.
Peter has a pig that can run very fast after eating carrots due to a special gift. Peter decides to race the pig after eating carrots as well, but he falls asleep instead and breaks his leg when he wakes up and tries to race the pig, who wins due to Peter being thinner than the pig.
This paper proposes an adaptive energy management policy for wireless video streaming between a battery-powered client and server. It models the energy consumption of the server and client based on factors like CPU frequency, transmission power, and channel bandwidth. The paper formulates an optimization problem to assign optimal energy to each video frame. This maximizes system lifetime while meeting a minimum video quality requirement. Experimental results show the proposed policy increases overall system lifetime by 20% on average.
Microsoft PowerPoint - WirelessCluster_PresVideoguy
This document analyzes delays in unicast video streaming over IEEE 802.11 WLAN networks. It describes conducting an experiment using a testbed with a Darwin Streaming Server and WLAN probe to capture packets. The analysis found that video bitrate variations, packetization scheme, bandwidth load, and frame-based nature of video all impacted mean delay. Bursts of packets from video frames caused per-packet delay to increase in a sawtooth pattern. Increasing uplink load was also found to affect delay variations.
Proxy Cache Management for Fine-Grained Scalable Video StreamingVideoguy
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- Structuralism explores how meaning is constructed within a culture through systems of signs and symbols. It examines how the positioning and context of objects can influence their meaning.
- The Halloween trailer uses iconography and structuralism to adhere to the codes of the slasher horror genre. Shots of a masked killer stabbing a victim with a knife establish the psychopathic killer trope.
- Non-diegetic music builds tension as the killer stalks victims. Contrasting lighting draws attention to the masked killer and their prey. The murderer's dual identity as a child and adult subverts expectations and suggests a troubled psyche.
This document summarizes the results of a questionnaire about horror film/trailers. It found that the target audience is interested in action that relates to real life, as this results in genuine fear. They will not be as scared by or enjoy films that are too far removed from reality. The information suggests the audience prefers gruesome subgenres and expects action in trailers/films. This will help the document's author decide what their viewers want to see for a successful trailer.
This document summarizes a European project called WOMENTOR that aims to create a network of mentors to support girls and young women. The network currently includes 16 partner organizations across Europe. The project seeks to identify challenges women face, exchange best practices for supporting women, and evaluate types of help available across Europe to improve support for women through mentorship programs. Local examples from Italy demonstrate initiatives to promote equal opportunities and work-life balance for women. Contact information is provided for those seeking more information.
Peter has a pig that can run very fast after eating carrots due to a special gift. Peter decides to race the pig after eating carrots as well, but he falls asleep instead and breaks his leg when he wakes up and tries to race the pig, who wins due to Peter being thinner than the pig.
This paper proposes an adaptive energy management policy for wireless video streaming between a battery-powered client and server. It models the energy consumption of the server and client based on factors like CPU frequency, transmission power, and channel bandwidth. The paper formulates an optimization problem to assign optimal energy to each video frame. This maximizes system lifetime while meeting a minimum video quality requirement. Experimental results show the proposed policy increases overall system lifetime by 20% on average.
Microsoft PowerPoint - WirelessCluster_PresVideoguy
This document analyzes delays in unicast video streaming over IEEE 802.11 WLAN networks. It describes conducting an experiment using a testbed with a Darwin Streaming Server and WLAN probe to capture packets. The analysis found that video bitrate variations, packetization scheme, bandwidth load, and frame-based nature of video all impacted mean delay. Bursts of packets from video frames caused per-packet delay to increase in a sawtooth pattern. Increasing uplink load was also found to affect delay variations.
Proxy Cache Management for Fine-Grained Scalable Video StreamingVideoguy
This document proposes a novel video caching framework that uses MPEG-4 Fine-Grained Scalable (FGS) video with post-encoding rate control to achieve low-cost and fine-grained rate adaptation. The framework allows clients to have heterogeneous bandwidths and enables adaptive control of backbone bandwidth consumption. It examines issues in caching FGS videos, such as determining the optimal portion to cache (in terms of length and rate) and optimal streaming rate to clients. Simulation results show it significantly reduces transmission costs compared to non-adaptive caching while providing flexible utility to heterogeneous clients with low computational overhead.
The document compares Microsoft Windows Media and the Adobe Flash Platform for streaming media. It discusses key differences like user experience, workflows, and playback reach. Flash offers more flexibility in creative expression, richer interactions, and wider device playback than Windows Media. It also has a 98% install base, making it easier for viewers to watch streams without extra software. The document outlines workflows for experience design, programming, broadcasting, production, and more using Flash tools versus Microsoft alternatives.
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BT has developed Fastnets technology to improve video streaming. It avoids start-up delays and picture freezing during congestion. Fastnets streams multiple encoded versions of the video at different data rates and seamlessly switches between them based on available bandwidth to maintain quality without pausing. This allows for near-instant start times and reduces bandwidth usage by up to 30%. Fastnets provides a high-quality video streaming solution for both mobile and IPTV applications.
This document summarizes recent research on video streaming over Bluetooth networks. It discusses three key areas: intermediate protocols, quality of service (QoS) control, and media compression. For intermediate protocols, it evaluates streaming via HCI, L2CAP, and IP layers and their tradeoffs. For QoS control, it describes how error control mechanisms like link layer FEC, retransmission, and error concealment can improve video quality over Bluetooth. It also discusses congestion control. For media compression, it notes the importance of compression to achieve efficiency over limited Bluetooth bandwidths.
The document discusses video streaming, including definitions and concepts. It covers topics such as the difference between streaming and downloading, common streaming categories like live and on-demand, protocols used for streaming like RTSP and RTP, and the development process for creating streaming video including content planning, capturing, editing, encoding, and integrating with servers.
Inlet Technologies offers a live video streaming solution called Spinnaker that uses Intel Xeon processors with quad-core technology. Spinnaker can encode live video streams into multiple formats and resolutions simultaneously. This allows content to be delivered optimally to various devices. Spinnaker is a flexible, scalable solution that can increase broadcast capacity cost-effectively while maintaining high video quality.
Considerations for Creating Streamed Video Content over 3G ...Videoguy
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The document discusses the impact of forward error correction (FEC) overhead on scalable video streaming. It aims to address uncertainty about the benefits of FEC and provide insight into how FEC overhead affects scalable video performance. The motivation section explains that FEC is often used for streaming to overcome packet loss without retransmission. However, previous studies have reported conflicting results on the benefits of FEC. The background section provides details on media-independent FEC schemes.
The document proposes a cost-effective solution for video streaming and rich media applications using Vela's RapidAccess video server combined with iQstor's iQ1200 SATA storage system. The integrated encoding, decoding and video serving capabilities of RapidAccess are paired with the scalable storage and virtualization features of the iQ1200 SATA storage array to provide a robust yet affordable infrastructure for applications such as video on demand, corporate training and distance learning.
This document provides information on streaming video into Second Life, including:
- The basic prerequisites for streaming video include being the landowner, using QuickTime format videos, and having the video hosted on a web server.
- There are three main ways to stream video: establishing movie playback, streaming live video, and broadcasting from Second Life.
- Streaming live video or broadcasting involves using software like QuickTime Broadcaster or Windows Media Encoder to capture the video stream and send it to a hosting server, then entering that URL in Second Life.
XStream Live 2 is a live video encoding and streaming software that allows users to broadcast high quality HD video at low bitrates. It supports various video formats and streaming servers. The software provides high quality H.264 encoding with proprietary technology. It is designed for live event streaming, IPTV, and other video distribution uses.
The document provides instructions for setting up a homemade videoconference streaming solution using Windows Media software. The solution involves installing Windows Media Encoder and Administrator on a server and configuring the software to receive a video stream from a videoconferencing terminal. The streaming server then broadcasts the stream in real-time to clients who can view it using media player software. The solution provides a low-cost way to stream videoconferences but has limitations such as only supporting one conference stream at a time.
This document describes iStream Live 2 software for live streaming video to iPhones and iPads. It allows streaming of SD or HD video over HTTP from a variety of video sources. Key features include support for all major CDNs, encoding of H.264 video and AAC audio for high quality at low bitrates, and integration with existing Windows streaming systems. It provides better quality streaming than other encoders at lower bandwidth requirements.
Glow: Video streaming training guide - FirefoxVideoguy
This document provides a guide to using Glow video streaming. It includes tutorials on setting up video streaming by adding the Video Streaming Management web part, uploading video clips, viewing clips, editing clip information, and deleting clips. The guide also discusses how video streaming can be used to support learning and teaching, such as adding videos to lessons.
The document discusses video and streaming capabilities in Nokia phones. It provides information on video and audio coding formats supported by Nokia phones, including H.263, MPEG-4, RealVideo 7/8, AMR, AMR-WB, and RealAudio. It also describes the video and streaming capabilities of specific Nokia phone models like the 6600, 3650, and 6220, including supported players and recorders. Tools for creating video and streaming content are also mentioned.
This document summarizes and compares several video streaming and compression technologies: MPEG4, Theora, H.264/AVC, and XviD. It discusses the features, licensing, implementation, and compatibility of each codec. Benchmark results of encoding and playback tests for each codec are provided in an appendix. The document aims to identify viable and open technologies for providing wide area network access to a video art collection while prioritizing video quality, standardization, and longevity of the compression algorithm.
University Information Systems Product Service OfferingVideoguy
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The document compares Microsoft Windows Media and the Adobe Flash Platform for streaming media. It discusses key differences like user experience, workflows, and playback reach. Flash offers more flexibility in creative expression, richer interactions, and wider device playback than Windows Media. It also has a 98% install base, making it easier for viewers to watch streams without extra software. The document outlines workflows for experience design, programming, broadcasting, production, and more using Flash tools versus Microsoft alternatives.
Free-riding Resilient Video Streaming in Peer-to-Peer NetworksVideoguy
This document summarizes a PhD thesis about free-riding resilient video streaming in peer-to-peer networks. The thesis contains research on two approaches: tree-based live streaming and swarm-based video-on-demand. For tree-based live streaming, the thesis presents the Orchard algorithm for constructing and maintaining trees to distribute video in a peer-to-peer network. It analyzes attacks on Orchard like free-riding and evaluates Orchard's performance under different conditions through experiments. For swarm-based video-on-demand, the thesis introduces the Give-to-Get approach for distributing video files and compares it to other peer-to-peer protocols. It evaluates Give-to-Get's performance in experiments
BT has developed Fastnets technology to improve video streaming. It avoids start-up delays and picture freezing during congestion. Fastnets streams multiple encoded versions of the video at different data rates and seamlessly switches between them based on available bandwidth to maintain quality without pausing. This allows for near-instant start times and reduces bandwidth usage by up to 30%. Fastnets provides a high-quality video streaming solution for both mobile and IPTV applications.
This document summarizes recent research on video streaming over Bluetooth networks. It discusses three key areas: intermediate protocols, quality of service (QoS) control, and media compression. For intermediate protocols, it evaluates streaming via HCI, L2CAP, and IP layers and their tradeoffs. For QoS control, it describes how error control mechanisms like link layer FEC, retransmission, and error concealment can improve video quality over Bluetooth. It also discusses congestion control. For media compression, it notes the importance of compression to achieve efficiency over limited Bluetooth bandwidths.
The document discusses video streaming, including definitions and concepts. It covers topics such as the difference between streaming and downloading, common streaming categories like live and on-demand, protocols used for streaming like RTSP and RTP, and the development process for creating streaming video including content planning, capturing, editing, encoding, and integrating with servers.
Inlet Technologies offers a live video streaming solution called Spinnaker that uses Intel Xeon processors with quad-core technology. Spinnaker can encode live video streams into multiple formats and resolutions simultaneously. This allows content to be delivered optimally to various devices. Spinnaker is a flexible, scalable solution that can increase broadcast capacity cost-effectively while maintaining high video quality.
Considerations for Creating Streamed Video Content over 3G ...Videoguy
The document discusses considerations for creating video content that can be streamed over mobile networks with restricted bandwidth like 3G-324M. It covers topics like video basics, codecs, profiles and levels, video streaming techniques, guidelines for authoring mobile-friendly content, and tools for analyzing video streams. The goal is to help content creators optimize video quality for low-bandwidth mobile viewing.
ADVANCES IN CHANNEL-ADAPTIVE VIDEO STREAMINGVideoguy
This document summarizes recent advances in channel-adaptive video streaming. It reviews adaptive media playout at the client to reduce latency, rate-distortion optimized packet scheduling to determine the best packet to send, and channel-adaptive packet dependency control to improve error robustness and reduce latency. It also discusses challenges for wireless video streaming and different wireless streaming architectures.
Impact of FEC Overhead on Scalable Video StreamingVideoguy
The document discusses the impact of forward error correction (FEC) overhead on scalable video streaming. It aims to address uncertainty about the benefits of FEC and provide insight into how FEC overhead affects scalable video performance. The motivation section explains that FEC is often used for streaming to overcome packet loss without retransmission. However, previous studies have reported conflicting results on the benefits of FEC. The background section provides details on media-independent FEC schemes.
The document proposes a cost-effective solution for video streaming and rich media applications using Vela's RapidAccess video server combined with iQstor's iQ1200 SATA storage system. The integrated encoding, decoding and video serving capabilities of RapidAccess are paired with the scalable storage and virtualization features of the iQ1200 SATA storage array to provide a robust yet affordable infrastructure for applications such as video on demand, corporate training and distance learning.
This document provides information on streaming video into Second Life, including:
- The basic prerequisites for streaming video include being the landowner, using QuickTime format videos, and having the video hosted on a web server.
- There are three main ways to stream video: establishing movie playback, streaming live video, and broadcasting from Second Life.
- Streaming live video or broadcasting involves using software like QuickTime Broadcaster or Windows Media Encoder to capture the video stream and send it to a hosting server, then entering that URL in Second Life.
XStream Live 2 is a live video encoding and streaming software that allows users to broadcast high quality HD video at low bitrates. It supports various video formats and streaming servers. The software provides high quality H.264 encoding with proprietary technology. It is designed for live event streaming, IPTV, and other video distribution uses.
The document provides instructions for setting up a homemade videoconference streaming solution using Windows Media software. The solution involves installing Windows Media Encoder and Administrator on a server and configuring the software to receive a video stream from a videoconferencing terminal. The streaming server then broadcasts the stream in real-time to clients who can view it using media player software. The solution provides a low-cost way to stream videoconferences but has limitations such as only supporting one conference stream at a time.
This document describes iStream Live 2 software for live streaming video to iPhones and iPads. It allows streaming of SD or HD video over HTTP from a variety of video sources. Key features include support for all major CDNs, encoding of H.264 video and AAC audio for high quality at low bitrates, and integration with existing Windows streaming systems. It provides better quality streaming than other encoders at lower bandwidth requirements.
Glow: Video streaming training guide - FirefoxVideoguy
This document provides a guide to using Glow video streaming. It includes tutorials on setting up video streaming by adding the Video Streaming Management web part, uploading video clips, viewing clips, editing clip information, and deleting clips. The guide also discusses how video streaming can be used to support learning and teaching, such as adding videos to lessons.
The document discusses video and streaming capabilities in Nokia phones. It provides information on video and audio coding formats supported by Nokia phones, including H.263, MPEG-4, RealVideo 7/8, AMR, AMR-WB, and RealAudio. It also describes the video and streaming capabilities of specific Nokia phone models like the 6600, 3650, and 6220, including supported players and recorders. Tools for creating video and streaming content are also mentioned.
This document summarizes and compares several video streaming and compression technologies: MPEG4, Theora, H.264/AVC, and XviD. It discusses the features, licensing, implementation, and compatibility of each codec. Benchmark results of encoding and playback tests for each codec are provided in an appendix. The document aims to identify viable and open technologies for providing wide area network access to a video art collection while prioritizing video quality, standardization, and longevity of the compression algorithm.
University Information Systems Product Service OfferingVideoguy
The University Information Systems (UIS) offers a video streaming service that provides storage and delivery of video content worldwide. The service includes a video streaming server, content delivery software, an FTP utility for uploading files, and support for account creation and content backups. Customers can live stream events for up to 4,000 viewers using the UIS server or partner with Akamai for larger events. On-demand storage is $65 per gigabyte monthly. Additional video production services are available through external partners.
University Information Systems Product Service Offering
Accelerate the ROI of Your VoIP Investment
1. Accelerate the
ROI of Your VoIP
Investment
CONTENTS:
Overview
Enterprise Conferencing Defined
Increase Cost Savings
Expand Productivity Gains
Enhance Security
Reduce IT Workload
Conclusion
2. Accelerate the ROI of Your VoIP Investment
Enterprise conferencing may be the killer application for corporate VoIP initiatives. This
increasingly popular IP technology enhances the value of IP telephony infrastructures by
unifying voice, Web, and video conferencing into a single enterprise-wide application. Adding
this application to your VoIP strategy creates immediate — and significant — economic
benefits, drives highly visible productivity improvements, and increases security
for key business communications.
Overview According to industry analysts, a rapidly growing number of companies
either plan to or have already begun their deployment of VoIP technology.
The promise of cost savings and new business applications are driving
this trend.
But making the transition is not simple. Expensive, complex, and time-
consuming infrastructure and desktop equipment upgrades hit the IT
budget well before any measurable ROI. Savvy network and IT executives
legitimately wonder how they can show larger, more immediate, and more
visible returns in the early stages of VoIP deployment. Enterprise
conferencing provides the answer.
A real-time communication and collaboration tool, enterprise conferencing
integrates the functionality of voice, Web, and video conferencing in one
IP-based software application. Designed for use by everyone in your
organization, like email, enterprise conferencing dramatically improves the
ROI of your VoIP investment by:
Delivering incremental cost savings that may dwarf those of the direct
VoIP initiative itself,
Expanding the business productivity benefits of voice, Web and video
conferencing to a much larger group of employees,
Raising the level of security for voice and Web conferencing, and
Reducing your IT group’s conference support workload.
ACCELERATE THE ROI OF YOUR VOIP INVESTMENT 2
3. Enterprise Most businesses use some combination of teleconferencing, Web
conferencing, and video conferencing in their daily operations.
Conferencing Enterprise conferencing integrates these three tools into a single
Defined IP-based software platform that delivers:
A complete range of live
conferencing and collaboration
capabilities, including stand-
alone voice conferences, Web
meetings, eLearning classes,
marketing seminars, all-hands
broadcasts and on-demand
recordings for use by employees
as well as external prospects,
partners and suppliers;
A fixed-price, unlimited-use
pricing framework, enabling you
to offer conferencing to everyone
in your organization, like email;
A “blended” deployment model, combining the cost savings, security,
and control of on-site software with the rapid start-up, global reach, and
overflow/failover protection of a hosted service;
Integration with your company’s existing multi-vendor IT infrastructure,
enhancing security, accelerating user adoption, and simplifying
administration;
Alignment of corporate conferencing expenditures with your IP telephony
strategy, while leveraging existing TDM investments.
Increase VoIP infrastructure investments save money because they enable you to
bypass long-distance telephone tolls; they require you to staff and maintain
Cost Savings only a single integrated network for voice and data; and they reduce your
requirements for outside services to perform routine activities such as
moves, adds, and changes.
Enterprise conferencing brings additional economic return on your VoIP
investment by:
Reducing business travel expenses,
Drastically reducing high, unpredictable usage-based Web and voice
conferencing expenses,
Pulling forward savings that would otherwise be deferred until
completion of the IP telephony rollout, and
Deferring capital expenses for the purchase of IP telephone handsets.
ACCELERATE THE ROI OF YOUR VOIP INVESTMENT 3
4. Reducing travel expenses
Voice, Web, and video conferencing have amply demonstrated their ability to
significantly reduce business travel expenses. While never intended to
replace the majority of face-to-face interactions, companies find that they
can substitute electronic interaction for about 25 percent of in-person
meetings and training activities. And the resulting cost savings are
substantial, often running into the millions of dollars.
Cutting overall conferencing costs in half
Most companies spend more than they realize — and more than they need
to — on voice, Web, and video conferencing. Driven by per-minute pricing
and overage penalties, these costs range from $150–$300 per person, per
year. While these services deliver real value, they do so at a premium, and in
a manner which is unpredictable and difficult to manage. Enterprise
conferencing significantly reduces this expenditure, often cutting overall
conferencing expenses by half.
It does this by:
Replacing the services’ usage-based pricing with the fixed price/
unlimited use economics of software,
Providing all-inclusive conferencing functionality in a single
product, and
Leveraging your converged network rather than using an external service
provider in communication-intensive locations.
Even companies using hardware-based on-premise conferencing bridges can
benefit by turning to software-based enterprise conferencing, which:
Reduces ongoing proprietary hardware equipment and maintenance
expenses,
Ends long-distance charges generated by calls into centralized
conference locations, and
Eliminates the need for additional Web and video conferencing services.
Metso, a global engineering and technology company, provides an example
of the level of cost reduction that enterprise conferencing creates through
conference call and travel savings alone. Metso estimates that it saved more
than $4.2 million in these two areas during 2005 through the use of enterprise
conferencing. These savings were achieved with a less than 50 percent
deployment to the company’s 20,000 employees worldwide.
ACCELERATE THE ROI OF YOUR VOIP INVESTMENT 4
5. Getting benefits before VoIP deployment is complete
For a medium- or large-sized enterprise, the transition to IP telephony is
often a multiyear endeavor. Although toll bypass savings can be achieved in
the early stages of the project, the remaining economic benefits are realized
only when the deployment is complete.
While enterprise conferencing relies on IP connectivity, it does not require a
fully deployed converged network to deliver its benefits. The application also
furnishes value in a partially deployed VoIP environment by integrating an
on-site software component with a companion hosted conferencing service.
Locations that have installed IP telephony infrastructures bring the
conferencing software on-site, while offices
without this infrastructure access
the conferencing application via
the integrated hosted service. The
combination of this “blended” in-
house/hosted deployment working
together with a fixed price/
unlimited usage business model
allows your organization to realize
the significant cost savings of
enterprise conferencing —
Blended deployment provides the best of both worlds: regardless of your current level of
Customer’s on-site software extended by a global hosted service . IP telephony deployment.
Deferring capital expense
The “last mile” of a VoIP initiative requires putting IP phones, costing $300
per unit or more, on your employees’ desktops. This final stage of the project
represents a significant capital expense — on top of your already sizeable
network investment.
Enterprise conferencing defers this expense because it doesn’t require IP
phones for its operation. The application certainly utilizes any IP phones
already installed in new offices or brought in when old equipment is retired.
But enterprise conferencing solutions also take a TDM signal from existing
analog phones and convert it to IP at the converged network edge, deferring
your need for a specialized IP handset. This allows regular phone users,
mobile phone users, IP phone users, and even people listening to the voice
component of the conference on their computers to act as full and equal
participants in enterprise conferencing meetings and events. This way,
organizations start enjoying the benefits of VoIP even before installing its
classic end point — the IP phone.
ACCELERATE THE ROI OF YOUR VOIP INVESTMENT 5
6. Expand VoIP justifies itself by giving companies more direct control over their
communications environments and allowing them to respond more quickly to
Productivity business opportunities. But the IP telephony infrastructure itself has little
Gains impact on productivity or efficiency. Enterprise conferencing does.
In addition to cutting costs, enterprise conferencing delivers proven
productivity benefits across your organization. Delivering these benefits
through the converged network immediately and visibly increases its value as
a core business tool and as an investment.
Providing business productivity improvements across the
entire organization
On a daily basis, thousands of companies worldwide take advantage of voice,
Web, and video conferencing to enable sales reps to call on more prospects,
marketing teams to create more potential leads and support more partners,
and instructors to train more customers. Similarly, by fostering more
frequent interactions in sessions that can easily include off-site participants
who could not otherwise attend, these technologies improve the
effectiveness of key business processes, such as the management of
distributed projects, collaborative forecasting, and multiparty contract
negotiations.
In most companies, the usage-based pricing of point conferencing products
limits their use to a select minority of employees. By contrast, enterprise
conferencing is designed —both technically and economically — to be given
to everyone in the company, like email. This allows companies to extend this
key application to everyone in their organization, expanding the scope of
business productivity gains.
Raising the visibility of network infrastructure investments
Like many infrastructure projects, VoIP investments are virtually invisible to
end users. IT managers feel this limited visibility at budget time, when they
must weigh these investments against other higher profile technologies, and
justify their choices.
The rapid economic and productivity benefits delivered by enterprise
conferencing showcase the value of IP telephony investments both to
business users and to corporate executives. Designed for organization-wide
deployment, enterprise conferencing delivers an array of benefits with
widespread visibility.
Consider the all-hands company or divisional meeting. When senior managers
want to connect with large groups of employees to announce performance
results, explain strategic decisions, or simply get different groups working
more closely, they discover these sessions are time-consuming to set up and
expensive to conduct.
ACCELERATE THE ROI OF YOUR VOIP INVESTMENT 6
7. In contrast, enterprise conferencing allows full voice, Web, and video
broadcasts to thousands of employees to be scheduled within minutes,
implemented quickly, and automatically recorded for on-demand use by
people who missed the original event. Instead of costing thousands
or tens of thousands of dollars through an external service, enterprise
conferencing delivers these events as part of the existing software license.
Enhance TDM voice conferencing may be the most vulnerable part of your company’s
communications infrastructure. Enterprise conferencing can significantly
Security improve this situation by:
Bringing it behind the firewall,
Integrating it with existing security investments (e.g., reverse proxy
systems, directory services systems, single sign-on tools, etc.),
Allowing meeting organizers to require both phone and Web participants
to authenticate against the enterprise directory and predetermined
attendee and/or employee lists, and
Adding a Web-based visual monitoring capability.
Utilizing conferencing on the enterprise network ensures that both the live
voice, Web, or video conference itself and any associated meeting materials,
recordings, and sensitive participant information stay behind your
organization’s firewall, rather than traveling over the open Internet to a
third-party service provider. This gives your organization greater control and
allows you to integrate conferencing into your existing security model.
Reduce IT Most companies with a thousand or more employees and multiple geographic
locations engage in numerous meetings, phone conferences, and other
Workload collaborative activities, internally and with customers, prospects, partners,
and suppliers. According to Gartner, business users’ expectations are rising
with regard to the quality and availability of tools to support these
interactions. If corporate IT groups do not supply adequate tools, individual
groups will procure them for themselves. Gartner warns that if left
unchecked, the result will be “collaboration chaos.” 1
Enterprise conferencing allows corporate IT groups to support their
organizations’ growing need for conferencing and collaboration tools in a
way that reduces the IT teams’ workload. It does this by:
Providing a single, enterprise-wide solution,
Integrating the solution with existing administrative tools and
processes, and
Aligning conferencing with the broader IP telephony strategy.
1
Nikos Drakos, Tom Austin, Tom Eid, Kathy Harris, and Jeffrey Mann. 3 February 2006. Findings from the Gartner 2006 Global Research Meeting: Fulfilling
Users’ Collaboration Expectations. ID Number: G00137548
ACCELERATE THE ROI OF YOUR VOIP INVESTMENT 7
8. Consolidating multiple products in one enterprise-wide solution
Most companies use several different services for voice, Web, and video
conferencing, all provided by different vendors and billed separately on a
per-use basis. This requires IT to support multiple overlapping products and
makes it difficult to understand overall conferencing costs, let alone
control them.
Enterprise conferencing replaces disparate systems with a single, company-
wide, software-based standard. This approach:
Reduces the number of vendors and products your IT department needs
to manage,
Decreases end-user training requirements, and
Centralizes the costs of multiple services in one easy-to-monitor
solution.
Simplifying IT administration and support
Enterprise conferencing integrates effectively with existing user management
tools, security frameworks, and business applications, allowing your organi-
zation to maximize the value of its existing IT investment. For example:
Integrating conferencing with familiar scheduling tools such as Microsoft
Outlook, Lotus Notes, or customer-specific portals accelerates adoption
and minimizes user support calls, and
On-going administration is simplified by using existing directory services
and Single Sign On (SSO) tools.
Aligning conferencing with the corporate IP telephony strategy
As a native IP software application designed to integrate easily into a
multivendor technology environment, enterprise conferencing aligns with
both your company’s current and future IP telephony strategy.
Equally important, enterprise conferencing enables simple, cost-effective,
IP-based communications for users during what will inevitably be an
extended transition period as your organization makes the move to VoIP.
It does this in two ways:
The application’s ability to work with TDM and VoIP technologies
simultaneously allows individual participants using different voice
protocols to fully interact in a single meeting, and
The blended on-site/hosted deployment model enables company-wide
usage even before full deployment of the converged network.
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