VidTel's MeetMe service is an any-to-any cloud-based video conferencing service. To better explain that, it means that a customer can get video conferencing in the cloud, with no complex, costly bridges to maintain on-premise; even better, the Vidtel service also supports any-to-any, so in addition to supporting Cisco/Polycom/etc video devices, it also supports Google Talk, Skype.....and now, attendees calling in directly from a web browser via WebRTC.

So I had an (email) conversation with Alex Doyle, a long-time pal and the VP of Marketing at VidTel. Here's why this is blog worthy :), and why WebRTC in general, is important.

"Impediment Buster" - Doyle thinks historically, there have been a few key impediments to the take-up of video conferencing. End-point cost is high and management of video conferencing gear is complex and tricky. [High bandwidth circuit costs too.] Traditionally, Doyle says, "there's long development and R&D time in bringing out video end-points, and video has been relatively siloed. With WebRTC (plus cloud-based video conferencing), you can make the argument that these impediments have vanished - the bridge is in the cloud, and the "end-point" is just the browser. (There's not even an app or a plugin to download - unlike some of our competitors.)

"New Markets" - Doyle states that traditionally it's something that has been accessible only to the large enterprises - companies that could afford tele-presence rooms. With WebRTC and cloud based video, all of sudden there's an opportunity for the mid-market to benefit from video conferencing.

"Innovation and New Apps" - Doyle continues, "If you think about it, every HDX (health data exchange) on the market is basically the same thing. Building custom video end--points (like a tele-medicine "cart") is pretty expensive and takes a long time to get to market. But with WebRTC, if you think about it, the cost of building a new video app has been driven down to the cost of building a web page. Video suppliers can build custom apps like video interviewing, video health checkups, video consulting, etc as easily as they can build a web site. I think there's a huge opportunity here for innovation." So do quite a few pioneers in the WebRTC space, many of whom were at TMC's first WebRTC Conference.

I still think that video conferencing (like HD Voice and Cloud) is more hype than actual revenue. However, for a telecom agent or VAR, it takes multiple streams of income - and many tools in the toolbox - to make a successful business.

VidTel and ACT! teamed up.

It looks like service providers are starting to see video conferencing (and collaboration) is a must-have instead of a nice-to-have. PBX-Change launched miMeeting, a simple-to-use, feature-rich web and video conferencing tool organizations can use to host interactive and engaging online meetings, webinars, training sessions and events.