53. Audio/ Videoconferencing Packages: Low cost

A comparison was conducted of Voxwire MeetingRoom and iVocalize v4.1.0.3, both Webconferencing products using voice-over-Internet protocol (VoIP) to provide unlimited, inexpensive, international audio communication, and high-quality Web-conferencing fostering collaborative learning. The study used the evaluation criteria used in earlier reports, including common technical framework, clarity, control, complexity, and costs. Criteria sub-divisions applying to one or more of the products’ synchronous and asynchronous components are included in a side-by-side product comparison table. It is concluded that these two highly competitive products provide a serious challenge to the markets of their highly priced rivals. The report also contains a brief summary of GRCLive, another promising conferencing software, which the evaluation team attempted to evaluate, though gave up owing to technical difficulties.


Introduction
Given the increasing maturity of VoIP technologies, the evaluation team decided to examine two products (Voxwire and iVocalize) both with solid VoIP Web-conferencing capability, and features usually associated with higher priced collaboration packages (e.g., report #52).The report expands upon an earlier evaluation of iVocalize in this series (report #31).As the online free trial version provided by iVocalize is limited to a two-person Web-conference, and product demonstrations for Voxwire are provided via scheduled demonstrations, the necessary arrangements for the evaluation were made with the product vendors.

Voxwire
The Voxwire MeetingRoom provides unlimited computer-to-computer Web-conferencing application with features for synchronous audio and text-chat, browser-sharing, and presentations posted on the Internet.The meeting room is controlled by single or multiple moderators, with presentation and participant management features that can be pre-configured in the Room Configuration Panel, or modified during a session via the Moderator Menu.Moderators are able to synchronise all participant Web-browsers, poll the participants, mute the voice, and text chat of any participant, terminate participants, and, if necessary, ban them from returning to the conference for a specified duration.Participant features include synchronous audio, text-chat, browser sharing, active participant list, adjustable text and presentation areas, a favorites list, active URLs in text-chat, adjustable text size, font, and colour, and private conversations.Presentations must be uploaded to the Internet prior to being presented, as Voxwire does not currently have an integrated file upload feature.The combination of moderator and participant features is controlled in a simple and intuitive interface.Voxwire MeetingRoom has limited collaboration and recording features, and appears to be more appropriate for larger group presentations.
Currently, Voxwire has limited support for older PC's (e.g., Pentium III with Windows/98), or for Web-browsers other than Internet Explorer 6. Macintosh, Unix, and Linux operating systems are not currently supported.Voxwire is available primarily as a hosted service, though, as Appendix I shows, private hosting is available at a substantially higher cost that may be beyond the reach of many educational institutions.

iVocalize
Since the previous iVocalize evaluation in (report #31), a new version has been released (v4.1.0.3), containing some changes of note.The audio/ text-chat helpdesk service is no longer available, and only email support is now provided.Mac and Linux support has been added since the previous review.Regrettably, the software purchase plan has been withdrawn, and only rental options for rooms and servers are now available.
Participant user features still include synchronous audio and text-chat; time-stamp on text entries; private conversations; active participant list; website/ presentation navigation; adjustable text area; favourites list; and active URLs in text-chat.The shared whiteboard includes a useful PowerPoint converter that allows for the synchronous presentations of slides, which can be annotated, as well as a screen capture mechanism that allows participants to capture images of any document, screen, or image.The accessibility features detailed in the earlier report now include improvements to the recording features using Java technology.Participants have the option of creating recordings than can be played back at a later date in a Java-enabled browser that synchronises mp3 audio, text-chat and websites/ slides presented in the main room.The recording files (.html, .jar,.bin,.mp3)are saved to the users' PC.Applications-sharing and filetransfer features announced in the 2004 review are still not included.As with Voxwire, the iVocalize conference room is controlled by moderators using a simple and intuitive interface.Moderators can synchronise participant browser windows, mute participant audio and chat, and disconnect participants as required, but cannot ban a participant unless they have room administration privileges.Private chat, presentation recording, and individual participant Webbrowsing can be enabled or disabled in the room configuration, and blanket levels of annotation capability can be assigned to the participants and individualized during the session by a moderator.
It is to be hoped that the changes observed since the earlier review do not indicate that the iVocalize product is in difficulty, as it is a valuable audio-conferencing option for educational users.

GRCLive
GRCLive is a collaboration and conferencing software produced by Grassroots Communications.Three levels of conferencing are offered: GRC Lite, GRC Business Edition, and GRC Pro.Common to all three products are secure document and application sharing, file storage and transfer, Web-browser sharing, text-chat, document printing, calendar, and scheduling.The Business Edition adds audio and multipoint videoconferencing capabilities, session recording and playback, remote desktop, and instant messaging features.The top-tier GRC Pro contains all of these features, plus VoIP dialing and polling.
Pricing for GRC Lite begins at $29.95 USD per month for five concurrent users, and increases incrementally to $449.95 per month for 25 concurrent users using GRC Pro.At the time of writing, GRC and its parent company, Newport, offer limited technical support for this product, and the current evaluation was halted when technical problems were encountered, which could not be resolved.GRCLive has also developed a new product entitled Conga, whereby users can instantly share documents, use VoIP calling, participate in text/ audio/ videoconferences, and send instant messages through Yahoo Messenger, AIM, MSN Messenger, and ICQ.Conga is currently available in beta edition, though internal sources suggest that resources for its continued development, evaluation, and testing are also unlikely to be made available before early 2006.

Conclusions
Voxwire and iVocalize are both user-friendly, cost-effective options for online audioconferencing, briefings, and presentations to large audiences.The comparison of the two products indicates that iVocalize, in particular, provides impressive capabilities comparing well to the features usually associated with higher priced collaboration packages (see report #52).In addition, iVocalize's minimum system requirements are considerably less than those required for Voxwire (see the comparison table provided at the end of this report in the Appendix).The iVocalize developers appear to have concentrated on adding collaborative tools such as a sharable whiteboard, and joint uploading/ annotation of presentations and images.Another valuable feature, not provided in Voxwire, is the ability for participants and moderators to record and playback sessions at a later date using Web and mp3 technologies.Voxwire's strengths are in its marketing and customer service options, with better documentation, a comprehensive website, and the flexibility for clients to deploy the product from their own server.In addition, Voxwire has a polling feature.
Given the opportunity to use both products, the evaluators chose to use iVocalize to collaborate at a distance in creating this report.Its presentation and asynchronous features make it a superior tool for distance educators who require a collaborative learning environment using VoIP technology.Little advantage appears to be gained in the use of highly expensive conferencing products such as those examined in the previous report #52.iVocalize and Voxwire appear positioned to provide these higher priced software packages with a "run for their money."GRCLive is a promising product in this genre, though currently lacking in technical support.

N.B.
Owing to the speed with which Web addresses become outdated, online references are not cited in this report.They are available, together with updates to the current report, at the Athabasca University software evaluation site: http://cde.athabascau.ca/softeval/.Italicized product names in this report can be assumed to be registered industrial or trademarks.