Deutsche Telekom has launched a videoconferencing service called VideoMeet in the UK, Germany and Austria, with other European countries to follow soon.
The service is designed to videoconferencing accessible to everyone irrespective of time, place, and type of device or video service, partnering with California-based startup Blue Jeans Network.
The operator claims that VideoMeet is the first bridging videoconferencing solution to create interoperability between both business solutions like Cisco/Tandberg, Polycom, Lifesize and others, and light weight solutions such as Skype and Google Video Chat.
The service allows companies of all sizes to initiate multi-party videoconferences using smart phones, tablets or full-fledged HD room systems. VideoMeet can be used with an IP and an ISDN-based connection. In addition, Deutsche Telekom has introduced firewall traversal, which allows secure access between videoconferencing rooms behind a company firewall and any end point outside the company.
The key feature of this service is the price at which it will allow users to bridge their calls into soft services such as Skype and Google Voice. This is currently possible using hardware solutions, at a very high cost. The Blue Jeans Network service that Telekom is reselling, is an innovative and landscape changing offering.