Executives in companies hold meetings regularly to see how each department is doing. If you are working for a large company with offices in various locations in the US, you can pay for airfare and travel expenses or do something better with the money such as employing video conferencing.
The definition of video conferencing is simple. This allows two parties to talk with one another and send data. The system enables you to see and hear the other person which is as some say, the high tech version of using the telephone.
Video conferencing can be used for a lot of things. Private corporations can use it to make their employees more productive, schools can use it to train students who can’t come to school and can only learn through distance education, build relationships with people you have never seen for a long time and so forth.
If you think that video conferencing goes from just one point to another, you are mistaken as you can talk to others at the same time. This enables you to spread your message globally and get to see who you are talking to.
Perhaps the beauty of video conferencing is the ability to communicate with others in real time. It is like watching the news as it happens but this can only happen if you use a higher bandwidth so the feed is not interrupted.
You will also need a higher compression system to transmit and receive which also varies depending on the kind of system that you will be getting.
But in general, video conferencing itself takes places in the internet from PC to PC. You don’t have to buy an expensive one if you are using this at home. All you need is a camera, a microphone, a modem and the software that can easily be downloaded for free from the web.
There are two types of video conferencing systems. The first is called proprietary and the is standards based.
If you choose to use proprietary, applications can only work through a single vendor since it can only be accessed through closed API’s. This means that it is not compatible with the applications of other vendors. The standard on the other hand is more flexible making it better to use compared to the latter.
The network connection is done through a integrated digital services network (ISDN) or through Internet protocol (IP) lines. ISDN is very common in Europe because it is much easier and less complex than the IP’s but those of us who live across the Atlantic think differently.
Many of us see that using this network connection is more convenient because you are assigned your own IP address so you are sure that information that is sent or received is secure.
You just have to get one from your internet service provider (ISP) so this can be made. You then hand this over to the other party that you will be talking to or vice versa so you can get in touch with one another.
The definition of video conferencing is simple. It is new way of talking to another person or party since you don’t only hear them but also get to see how they look like. The only thing you have to do is get the hardware and software you need so you will be able to use this system to your advantage.
