Santa Cruz Networks, Inc., which has deployed the world’s first multi-point real-time communications platform, today announced general availability of VidiTel 2.0™. The new version of the breakthrough Internet real-time communications service delivers a genuine, fully interactive meeting experience that combines voice, video and data sharing—all on a PC with any headset and camera.
VidiTel 2.0 includes several new features. It has a significantly improved user interface and improved audio clarity and audio redundancy. It also includes several features that make it easier to connect to colleagues and associates via VidiTel, such as integrated call invitation lists, improved contact list management and directory searching for other users. VidiTel 2.0 also features improved collaboration features. Most importantly, VidiTel 2.0 identifies users via their e-mail addresses, rather than a proprietary screen name.
“The improvement in IP networks means that voice, video, data and collaboration tools are merging into a single real-time, IP-based platform. VidiTel delivers the full suite of integrated communications tools—it’s the ideal way to bring together people and ideas via a communications medium that’s as rich as an in-person meeting. By combining high-quality video and voice with private and group instant messaging and application sharing, VidiTel enables truly productive interaction and collaboration,” said Keith Teare, CEO, Santa Cruz Networks, Inc., developers of the Real-Time Communications Platform that powers VidiTel.
“We chose the e-mail address as the screen name for VidiTel quite deliberately,” continued Teare. “We believe that as communications media merge into a single platform, it is essential that every person have a universal identifier—and nothing is more ubiquitous than an e-mail address.”
VidiTel corporate users are enthusiastic about the new release. “The simpler user interface and ability to move easily between multiple ongoing VidiTel sessions makes this online communications tool even more valuable,” noted Joe Costello, CEO of think3, an internationally distributed software company. “My customer-support and engineering teams around the world use VidiTel on a daily basis to collaborate on mission-critical issues. We expect our ROI to continue to improve using VidiTel.”
VidiTel, which recently won a PC Magazine Editors Choice Award, copes with the Internet’s unpredictable bandwidth fluctuations to deliver consistent high-quality voice and video communications. Unlike its competitors, VidiTel uniquely supports one-one, one-many or many-many communications. It overcomes the performance, ease of use and price barriers that have hampered rapid adoption of real-time communications in the past. Enterprise-grade security is built in. VidiTel works with a broad range of readily available cameras and headsets. At $50 per seat per month for unlimited use, VidiTel is extremely cost-effective. In fact, VidiTel delivers 83 percent savings over traditional videoconferencing and is highly competitive against teleconferencing, as well.
Free two-week trial VidiTel subscriptions are available during January 2004 at www.viditel.com .
