Until quite recently, video conferencing has been a business tool with lots of appeal offset byexorbitant costs and inconsistent quality. To get a good system you had to pay a premium price, which meant it was a nice idea restricted to companies with lots of money. Even smaller enterprises that could see the benefits simply couldn’t afford the price tag.

But over the last few years, that’s all been changing quickly - so quickly that many businessmen don’t realise that video conferencing is now an easy, affordable option for even the smallest company. The main technological breakthroughs that have made it all possible are things we’re now very familiar with: the Internet, cheap, powerful broadband services, and inexpensive but highly-effective digital video cameras. All it’s taken to bake the cake is a few enterprising software companies who have spotted the opportunity, created basic, easy-to-use programs and put them out on the market at a price that even home users can afford. The everyday use of video conferencing is becoming a reality - and it’s time to take serious notice of what’s happening.

The momentum grows

Hard numbers tell the story. According to Wainhouse Research, the US personal video-conferencing market will grow from about US$21 million in 2003 to approximately US$180 million in 2008 - a compound growth rate of about 53% per annum. That growth is already spawning innovations that make basic video conferencing even more appealing to the business user - and gives us all a lot more choices. For example, innovations such as computer whiteboards (screens to write or draw on as in a classroom or office), visible notes, chat rooms, web cams and technology solutions that enable audio communication and conference management are already on the shelves in your nearest computer shop. Some of the cheapest video conferencing software programs cost little more than the video conferencing camera itself.

The 2004 web conferencing industry report published by US research and consulting firm Frost & Sullivan reinforces and expands on the Wainhouse analysis. According to Frost & Sullivan Web conferencing is already penetrating non-technology sectors, particularly retail, manufacturing and legal businesses. The factors driving this growth include an increased awareness of the advantages of web conferencing, expanding availability of appropriate and easy-to-use technology, and the steadily growing convergence of audio- and video-based technologies.

The report also noted that the growing number of users of mobile Internet-connected devices - especially phones, PDAs and laptop computers ?and the growth of international trade is likely to fuel additional interest and further variations of Web conferencing. The ever-increasing availability of broadband is another factor bringing expanded opportunities to vendors throughout the world.

Gary Winder, a software engineer at a local company, Kana Software, believes that video conferencing is something that all SMEs should be looking at, particularly if they need to communicate with people in other parts of the world.

Mr Winder says there are two main levels of video conferencing. “The first is little more than a telephone conversation in which you can see the other person when you’re talking, but there’s no other interaction. The second, and more sophisticated form, includes new ways in which a number of participants can share information and images using whiteboards and visible notes to jot down notes or designs.”

“When users are simply talking and video-streaming to each other, that market has gone to instant messaging firms,” Mr Winder says. “Microsoft Messenger, Yahoo Messenger, Skype and other instant messaging services allow small companies to set up their own conferences with a web cam and invite as many participants as they want. But when it comes to having more participation, better presentations = such as white boards - and chatting at the same time, video conferencing moves to a level that requires good, purpose-designed software, such as WebEx, Placeware or Microsoft’s NetMeeting.”

The choice is yours

So if you’re interested in video conferencing, where do you start looking? There are already a number of well-established video conferencing companies in the region, of which Polycom Asia Pacific is the biggest. However, these companies are geared more towards the top end of the market.

As Polycom’s regional managing director, Jean-Francois Poulain, puts it: “Our focus is on delivering the ultimate communications experience through a complete offering of unified collaborative communications solutions. The Frost & Sullivan study cited us as leaders in the field in Asia, confirming the success of our line-up of proven, highest quality products and solutions that can meet the many requirements across all the different industry sectors.”

Which is all very well if you have lots of money to invest in your video conferencing system, but smaller firms are unlikely to be willing to spend a great deal on such sophisticated products. This is where the dominant players in the PC world are now coming to the rescue.

The recent rise in the open source Linux operating system means that there is a host of solutions for that platform, but Linux is still considered by many businessmen in Hong Kong a little too much in the ‘hobbyist’ camp to be a serious solution. Nevertheless, astute technology managers should keep their eye on Linux developments: it is a fast-moving platform with a lot of serious solutions in the offing.

Apple Computer has long been a dominant player in the multimedia and publishing worlds (though still not a common brand on office desktops throughout the region), and true to form they have developed an elegant and simple video conferencing solution that uses its own iChat instant messaging engine and can be connected to its own special iSight video camera.

Frederick Lau, the Managing Director of the New Vision chain of shops - which sells computers and services in Hong Kong - explains the simple user-friendliness of the Apple system. With a Mac, customers already have the software built in,” he said. “They then buy the iSight camera, plug it in, find their friend, relative or partner on the Internet and away they go.”

But despite this commendable performance, and Apple’s recent marketing triumphs with its iPod music players, it is still not a solution that is likely to become popular with the region’s SMEs. Windows remains the dominant operating system on Asia’s desktops, and although Microsoft have once again been slow to pick up on a trend they have now developed a video conferencing solution of their own which is likely to become the standard for small businesses.

Pros and cons

As these technologies become more pervasive and easier to implement, security will inevitably become an issue. The moment you open up a system to do something like multi-media or conferencing, you are opening the system to attack from the outside. Every time something like this is made “easier” to do, it is almost certain that the security risks are a lot higher.

There is no doubt that video conferencing is coming down from its lofty position as a technology in 30-year-old Hollywood blockbuster films such as Star Wars, to becoming almost “ordinary” At the same time, the potential cost savings of not having to make that business trip to New York or London are immense.

SMEs are notoriously poor at looking at the true cost of technology from a long-term perspective. Any company doing business with other parts of the world - even if it is as close as Beijing or Bangalore - should begin to look seriously at video conferencing. It has long been promised and until recently was a bit of a mess. Now, however, it is truly something worth spending a little thought - if not money - on.