TELECONFERENCING

TELECONFERENCING

A teleconference is a telephone meeting among two or more participants involving technology more sophisticated than a simple two-way phone connection. At its simplest, a teleconference can be an audio conference with one or both ends of the conference sharing a speaker phone. With considerably more equipment and special arrangements, a teleconference can be a conference, called a video conference, in which the participants can see still or motion video images of each other. Because of the high bandwidth of video and the opportunity for larger and multiple display screens, a video conference requires special telecommunication arrangements and a special room at each end. As equipment and high-bandwidth cabling become more commonplace, it's possible that video conferences can be held from your own computer or even in a mobile setting. One of the special projects of Internet is to explore the possibility of having teleconferences in which all participants actually appear to be in the same room together. Today's audio teleconferences are sometimes arranged over dial-up phone lines using bridging services that provide the necessary equipment for the call.

The simplest phone teleconference is a three-way call, available in many homes as a service from the telephone company. Another very simple (but not necessarily effective) method is to have two groups of people talk to one another via speakerphone. The limits of three-way calling and the sound quality of speakerphones make both of these options impractical for most businesses.

Conference calls let groups of people -- from a few to hundreds -- communicate by phone. Banks and brokerages often use conference calls to give status reports to large numbers of listeners. Other businesses use conference calls to help coworkers communicate, plan and brainstorm. To connect to the call, attendees call a designated number (MeetMe conferencing), or an operator or moderator calls each participant (ad hoc conferencing).

Conference calls connect people through a conference bridge, which is essentially a server that acts like a telephone and can answer multiple calls simultaneously. Software plays a large role in the bridge's capabilities beyond simply connecting multiple callers.

A company can have its own bridge or can contract with a service provider for conference call hosting. Providers frequently offer add-on features for conference calls, such as:

• Attendee polling
• Call recording ­
• In-call operators or attendants

Companies using Voice over IP (VoIP) telephones can also host conference calls themselves if the VoIP software supports them. Many phone conferencing systems require a login and personal identification number (PIN) to access the system. This helps protect confidential and proprietary information during the call. Video phones can add a visual element to conference calls, but businesses often need to share other visual information.