Also called Web Conferencing, these
tools provide an interface for synchronous, over-the-web meetings and
classes. They typically include a
whiteboard for presentation and data sharing with interactive graphic
tools. They may also include video
sharing, audio tools, a chat window for instant messaging among participants
and polling and feedback tools. This is not a comprehensive list. A Google search for Web Conferencing will
turn up many more. I have tried to
identify the major players by the highlights.
1. 3Dsolve 3D4M
(3Dsolve Inc.) http://www.3dsolve.com/3d4m.html a
software environment for collaborative simulation-based training
2. Adobe Acrobat Connect
Professional (Formerly Macromedia Breeze Meeting) http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobatconnect/ Purely Flash based - no other plug-ins
required. Adobe purchased Macromedia in
2005.
3. Akiva WebMeeting
(Akiva Corporation) http://www.webboard.com/products/webmeeting/prodinfo/index.cfm
4. Arel Spotlight Application Suite and
Integrated Conferencing Platform (ICP) (Arel Communications and Software,
Ltd.) http://www.arelcom.com/conferencing.html Concentrates its marketing effort on its
video offerings more than its web conferencing product.
5.
AT&T Connect (AT&T) http://www.interwise.com In Nov. 2007
AT&T purchased Interwise.
6. Aunwesha LearnITy Virtual Classroom (Aunwesha
Knowledge Technologies Private Limited) http://www.aunwesha.com A suite of tools.
Based in
7. Call Fusion CF WebConference (Call
Fusion) http://www.call-fusion.com Purchased by ConferTel http://www.confertel.net/ in November 2007.
8.
Centra7 (Centra) http://www.centra.com Centra is now owned by
9. Cisco Unified MeetingPlace
(Cisco Systems, Inc.) http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/sw/ps5664/ps5669/index.html
10. Citrix GoToMeeting
and GoToWebinar (Citrix) https://www.gotomeeting.com/s/gg/aw/gotomeeting
11. Communicast
- now Vcall Web Conferencing (see below)
12.
Communiqué Conferencing (Communiqué Conferencing, Inc.) http://www.communiqueconferencing.com/web-conferencing.asp
13.
ConferTel i-Present Pro (ConferTel) http://www.confertel.net/ Offer several
different versions of their web conferencing capability. Purchased Call-Fusion in Nov., 2007.
14.
Data Connection Meeting
Server
(Data Connection Ltd.) http://www.meetingserver.com/
15.
Desire2Learn LiveRoom (Desire2Learn, Inc.) http://www.desire2learn.com.
16. Dialcom Unified
Collaboration (Dialcom Networks) http://www.dialcom.com Based in
17. Dimdim Web Conferencing (Dimdim, Inc.) http://www.dimdim.com. Open source and free up to a point.
18. Distance Learning
ScribeStudio (Distance Learning, Inc) http://www.scribestudio.com/ Includes learning management, content
authoring, etc.
19. Documentum eRoom
(Documentum) http://www.documentum.com/products/glossary/eroom.htm
20.
eBLVD (eBLVD) www.eblvd.com
21. e-Learning Consulting Learning
Management System (e-Learning Consulting) http://www.e-learningconsulting.com/
Low cost, e-learning only
22. Elluminate Live! http://www.elluminate.com – based in
23. ePath Learning LIVESM (ePath Learning) http://www.epathlearning.com
24.
Facilitate.com 8.5 (Facilitate.com) http://www.facilitate.com
25.
Farstone Virtual Class (Farstone Technology,
Inc.) http://www.farstone.com/
26.
Foroso Meeting Center/Training Center
(Foroso Communications GmbH) http://www.foroso.com
27. G-Cube Solutions Virtual
Class Room (G-Cube Solutions) http://www.gc-solutions.net Based in
28.
Glance (Glance Networks) http://www.glance.net/
29.
Global Crossing Ready-Access Web
Meeting Service (Global
Crossing) http://www.globalcrossing.com/enterprise/collaboration/collaboration_ready_access_webmeeting_over.aspx
30. HP Virtual Rooms
(HP) http://education.hp.com/hpvr/
Also offer HP Halo Video Conferencing.
31. Hyperwave eConferencing Suite (Hyperwave AG) http://www.hyperwave.com/e/products/ecs.html
32. IBM Lotus Virtual Classroom and
SameTime Unyte (IBM) http://www-142.ibm.com/software/sw-lotus/lotus/offering7.nsf/wdocs/homepage
and http://www.unyte.net IBM purchased
WebDialogs in Aug. 2007 and has integrated it into the product called Lotus
SameTime Unyte.
33.
Inet Conference Room Discovere
Conference Room (Inet
Conference Room) http://www.inetconferenceroom.com/rooms.nsf/home_contact
34. Infinite Conferencing Desktop
Sharing WebInterpoint (Infinite Conferencing) http://www.infiniteconferencing.com/web-conferencing-solution.asp
35. Informa Systems InformaStream
(Informa Systems) http://www.informasystems.com/. A complete suite including an LMS, authoring
software and a live, online classroom.
36. Intellor eXtend: Web and eXtend:
Live (Intellor Group)
http://www.intellor.com
37. InterCall
38. JDH Web-4M (JDH
Technologies) http://www.jdhtech.com/
39. KMX Live (Knowledge Management
Solutions Inc. (KMSI)) http://www.kmsi.us/kmx_live.htm -
part of KMx platform
40. Krawler Virtual Classroom (Krawler Networks) http://www.krawlerlms.com. Also offer an LMS, an LCMS and an educational
customer relationship management system (CRM).
Based in
41. Learn.com WebRoom (Learn.com) http://www.learn.com
42.
43. Linktivity Inter-Tel Web
Conferencing (Linktivity
division of Inter-Tel, Inc.) http://www.linktivity.com/
44. MeetingOne Click&Share Web Conferencing (MeetingOne) http://www.meetingone.com
45.
MicroPower Presence (Micropower) http://www.micropowerpresence.com.br
Based in
46.
Microsoft Live Meeting
(Microsoft) http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/FX010909711033.aspx Formerly PlaceWare.
47.
Microsoft
NetMeeting (Microsoft) http://www.microsoft.com/windows/netmeeting/
- The original and most familiar. It is
basic and free but it doesn’t seem to have much support from Microsoft any
longer.
48. Netbriefings (Netbriefings)
http://www.netbriefings.com
49.
Netdive eAuditorium (Netdive) http://www.netdive.com/
50. Netmarketingsolution.com
Inc. GlobeMeeting (Netmarketingsolution.com
Inc.) http://www.globemeeting.com.
51.
ON24
52.
OneTouch
Live Classroom (OneTouch) http://www.onetouch.com
53. Open Text LiveLink Meeting Zone (Open Text Corporation) http://www.opentext.com
May no longer be a current product.
54. Oridus SpaceCruiser Web Conferencing
and iM (Oridus Inc.) http://www.oridus.com/
55. iLinc (iLinc
Corporation) http://www.ilinc.com They
provide several interfaces designed for specific purposes – MeetingLinc,
LearnLinc and ConferenceLinc and SupportLinc.
56. Photon SPARK (Photon Infotech Private Limited,
57. Pixion PictureTalk
(Pixion) http://www.pixion.com/
58. Radvision Click To Meet (Radvision)
http://www.radvision.com/EnterpriseSolutions/VideoconferencingProducts/ClickToMeet/
59. Raindance Meeting Edition and
Raindance Seminar Edition (Raindance) http://www.raindance.com/. Now owned by
InterCall.
60. RWD u360 Conference (RWD
Technologies) http://www.rwd.com/products/learningmanagementtechnology/u360conferencing/ Part of a suite of products.
61.
Saba Centra7 (Centra) http://www.centra.com Centra is now owned by
62. SimplyDigi DigiCast (SimplyDigi.com,
Inc.) http://www.simplydigi.com
63. SkillSoft® Dialogue (Skillsoft) http://www.skillsoft.com/products/custom_content/default.asp
64. Smile Tiger
(SmileTiger Software
Corporation) http://www.smiletiger.com/
65. Speechi Share (Speechi
66. Streamlogics MyTalkback EVENT/SHARE (Streamlogics)
http://www.streamlogics.com
67. SumTotal TotalVCS (SumTotal
Systems) http://www.sumtotalsystems.com/products/stvcs.html
68. TeraLearn
Virtual Rooms and Registration Solution (VCR) (TeraLearn.com Inc.) http://www.teralearn.com/2004/index.html
Partners with HP. Adds registration
features.
69.
TFactor WebView (TFactor, Inc.) http://www.tfactor.com
70. Time4You IBT Live Collaboration
(Time4You GmbH) http://www.time4you.de
71.
Vcall Web Conferencing (formerly Communicast) (Vcall Inc.) http://www.vcall.com
72.
Viack VIA3 (Viack Corporation) http://www.viack.com/
73. Web Conferencing Central (Web Conferencing Central) http://www.web-conferencing-central.com/
74. WEBCONFERENCE.COM™ (Webconference.com)
http://www.webconference.com
75. WebDialogs Meeting Central (WebDialogs)
http://www.unyte.net Purchased by IBM in
August, 2007.
76. WebMeet Pro (WebMeetPro)
https://www.webmeetpro.com
77.
78. WebTrain Communicator (WebTrain
Communications) http://www.webtrain.com/
Vancouver.
79.
Wimba
Classroom (Wimba) http://www.wimba.com/ Focuses on the formal
education market. Also offers an
authoring tool called Wimba Create. Merged
with HorizonLive in 2004 and was known as Horizon Wimba for a short time. Purchased
Silicon Chalk in 2005.
80. Winnov CBOX and Videum Conference Pro XP (Winnov
81. WiZiQ Virtual Classroom (WiZiQ)
http://www.wiziq.com Basic version is free.
82. XStream sofTV.net (softTV.net
a division of XStream Software Inc.) http://www.softv.net Streaming technology for audio, video and
PowerPoint.
83. Yugma (Yugma,
Inc.) https://www.yugma.com Basic service
is free.
Notes:
Interwise ECP Connect (Interwise)
http://www.interwise.com/ In Nov. 2007,
Interwise was purchased by AT&T and the tool became AT&T Connect.
There
are many companies that offer web conferencing as a service using one of the
tools listed above. For example Allen
Communication uses LearnLinc, Brainshark uses Microsoft Live Meeting, and some
use their own in-house tools but offer them only as a service.
Links
to more virtual classrooms
- http://www.learningcenter.unisg.ch/learningcenter/lcweb2.nsf/0/3631cdab2583fb10c1256e5c0039ae6a?OpenDocument
- http://www.thinkofit.com/webconf/realtime.htm#general
