Video-conferencing: A revolution on the verge of discovery

"Free," when used in conjunction with anything you purchase, can be a double-edged sword. It tends to make you, well, a little worried, because too often what it really means is junk or worthless, or is simply a come on to entice you into buying something you really have little interest in. I mean, we've all gotten those calls from telemarketers offering us a free weekend in Las Vegas, a free financial consultation or a free microwave if we test drive a car at a local auto dealer. And, yes, I've taken the 45-minute timeshare pitch in Aruba for the beach towel and $25 in chips to a casino, but I was young and not nearly as smart. Hmm.

But sometimes, those free offers do make sense. I took the $100 from a local bank for opening up a no-fee checking account recently, and I haven't yet seen a downside. I also occasionally opt-in for the free golf at a resort in exchange for staying there mid-week.

This week, GoToMeeting vendor Citrix launched a pretty "wow" upgrade of its webconferencing service. It added a no-charge videoconferencing service, HDFaces, and it did so without adding an extra charge to the $39 or $49 monthly it charges for GoToMeeting. It was, ahem, free.

And here's the thing: it works.

I tried it out a few times this week. First I tried it with the folks from Citrix, where the quality of the video was outstanding; then, I called a buddy in a nearby city, two friends on the East Coast and then, trying to stretch a bit, I added a friend from one of the most remote areas I know, Michigan's Upper Peninsula. It still worked, and well.

We had great audio--even when we all talked at once--and the video quality was solid for a group videoconference.

And, it was, by far, the easiest set-up I've ever used. Even my friend in the U.P.--he's a writer who describes himself as technically illiterate (sorry, Tom)--managed to connect and join in with no training.

That is one of the factors the company thinks will make it popular.

"It's incredibly easy to use, you click on a link and it launches," Bernardo de Albergaria, VP and GM of Collaboration for Citrix Online, told me. "And that's the message we have to get out to the market... the understanding that videoconferencing has finally come to a level where it's no longer a Jetson's promise anymore; it's not a novelty. It's a vital tool to use with a diversified and distant workforce. It's not just for the C-level suite anymore."

Citrix and other videoconferencing vendors continue to face reticence in the market-- a hesitancy to include videoconferencing as an every day tool, he said.

But, when it is used, it's a great tool to enhance productivity because there's greater user engagement. You really can't get away with doodling or checking your email when on camera.

"Our beta community has loved it," said de Albergaria. "But we're seeing bigger penetration in larger companies that want to extend video conferencing to as many employees as possible.

The platform, he said, has been adopted by a health provider in Australia that's using it to launch a program, "General Practitioner at Home," a telemedicine outreach to rural Australia.

For the price of five or six telepresence rooms they can reach 2,000 or 3,000 people," he said.

De Albergaria said Citrix isn't looking to compete with the big telepresence providers.

"The addressable market with SMBs and enterprise is huge," he said. "And we think that, at $39 a month, we can be a disruptive force. We give them high-quality videoconferencing at no additional cost."

Citrix is going after it full force. It is offering a one-month free trial available on the website and is launching radio commercials and a TV ad that shows a team collaborating on a water project in Africa.

De Alberaria says he believes HDFaces is hitting the market at the right time. He predicts the market will reach the tipping point in the next 12 to 24 months.

"The combination of this technology and the decreasing prices of HD-quality webcams and cheaper bandwidth, everything will come together to make it happen," he said. "Before long, it will be strange to be on a conference call and not be on a video conference."--Jim