Heavy Enterprise Web, Video Collaboration

In the UK, nine out of 10 large companies are using some form of virtual collaboration solution to enhance the quality of their communications, both within and beyond thebusinessn say researchers at Vanson Bourne .

Nearly two thirds have incorporated an element of video or Web collaboration, in addition to audio conferencing.

The survey of UK manufacturing and service businesses also found 90 percent of businesses employing 1,000 or more people have adopted a conferencing/collaboration tool as part of their communications strategy.

For businesses with 3,000 or more employees, 96 percent have done so. About 74 percent use integrated multimedia conferencing tools to some degree, with only 26 percent exclusively using audio conferencing solutions.

This pattern is especially strong in manufacturing businesses, with 81 percent of respondents using multimedia tools.

Companies are also using virtual collaboration tools more frequently. Some 29 percent of respondents are using conferencing on a daily basis. About 45 percent use it every week.

Financial services businesses are most active, with 83 percent using conferencing tools weekly or more frequently.

Some 30 percent of respondents say they would use their conferencing solution more frequently if it could more effectively replace face-to-face meetings.

Tangible evidence of cost savings and ease of use were also seen as significant barriers to greater usage by 22 percent of respondents.

New Role for In-Home Networks

“By 2012, over 33 million U.S. households will have connections of 10 Mbps or more," says Parks Associates analyst Kurt Scherf. Broadband penetration exceeds 50 percent of homes.

And with household digital camera penetration at 67 percent, MP3 player penetration at 41 percent, PC penetration at 80 percent and mobile penetration at 87 percent, a new environment is being created where in-home and wide-area networks have new opportunities.

“No product is sold in isolation anymore,” Scherf says. “A device connects to a network, which brings content and applications to the consumer both in and outside the home."

Opportunity exists as well for technical support services for the digital home, which will be a $1 billion market by 2011,” Scherf forecasts.

As of 2007, 50 percent of U.S. Internet households were watching short video clips online, and 25 percent were downloading short video files. DVR household penetration reached over 40 percent of the U.S. online population in 2007, further increasing the place-shifting aspect of video consumption, Scherf notes.

Just Say "No" to Associated Press

The Associated Press wants to charge you $12.50 to quote five words from news stories published by the news agency. Michael Arrington says TechCrunch simply won't link to, or quote AP.

Of course, you can go their Web site and pay them. On this score, I agree with Michael. Just say "no." I prefer Reuters in any case.

PhoneGnome Virtual PBX Launched

PhoneGnome has introduced a new “PhoneGnome for Business” product with a “virtual receptionist” feature, allowing PhoneGnome boxes to be used by small and medium business or other small organizations.

The service works with or without the PhoneGnome box, an appliance-based way to integrate IP telephony with standard telephone service.

However, when the virtual attendant function is used in conjunction with remote users also equipped with a PhoneGnome box, any existing telephony number with the Virtual Receptionist, used as a company’s main number, gets free inbound minutes.

"If you set up each virtual location with the box, all inter-office calls and transfers will be 100 percent free - even if those locations are oceans apart," says David Beckemeyer, PhoneGnome CEO.

"And what’s nice about the PhoneGnome approach is you don’t have to be a SIP or VOIP expert to set it up," says Beckemeyer. "The box self-configures when you connect it, doesn’t need a computer, and you use your existing regular phone numbers to call and transfer."

Beckemeyer is an astute observer of user behavior, and obviously has figured out that one of the most-popular features of any IP phone system, in a smaller business setting, is the virtual attendant feature.

So what he's done is take a simple IP telephony appliance and add the single most valuable feature for many small businesses.

Of late, when observing the ways communication habits seem to be forming among younger users, I have asked the question of whether it will necessarily be logical for business managers to buy PBXes. If you assume everybody already has a smart phone, then you are talking about some software that creates business personalities for users, without requiring dedicated hardware.

Virtual Attendant is an interesting way to add a very-popular feature to a very low cost way of integrating IP telephony with standard POTS in a smaller business setting.

AP Screws Up

AP seems not to get it. Michael Arrington at TechCrunch is so incensed about what many of us consider dumb policies that TechCrunch now refuses to link to or even quote Associated Press.

AP apparently hassled the Drudge Report (also not a smart move) for linking to their stories along with short quotations via reader submissions.

Drudge Retort is doing nothing different than what Digg, TechMeme, Mixx and dozens of other sites do.

AP does not want people quoting their stories, despite the fact that such activity very clearly falls within the fair use exception to copyright law. They claim that the activity is an infringement.

A.P. vice president Jim Kennedy says they will issue guidelines telling bloggers what is acceptable and what isn’t, over and above what the law says is acceptable. They will “attempt to define clear standards as to how much of its articles and broadcasts bloggers and Web sites can excerpt without infringing on The A.P.’s copyright.”

Those that disregard the guidelines risk being sued by the A.P., despite the fact that such use may fall under the concept of fair use.

It's just a bad move by an organization that seems not to understand how journalism is changing.

AT&T Launches More U-verse Markets with VoIP

AT&T has launched U-verse--with VoIP--in portions of the Columbus and Cleveland, Ohio and Reno, Nev. markets. The voice is priced about the same as cable digital voice.

Unlimited VoIP costs $40 monthly. A separate plan offering 1000 minutes of talk time costs $30.

The moves mean the competitive landscape is changing: AT&T finally is making a push into VoIP, for example. Up to this point it has been the cable companies that have profited most from VoIP in the U.S. market.

$1.54 3G iPhone to be Sold

Deutsche Telekom's T-Mobile will sell Apple Inc's new iPhone for as little as 1 euro ($1.54) for the 8-gigabyte version together with a 69 euro monthly contract.

And you thought a 3G iPhone for $199 was a great deal.