 |
WebEx adds free version, online office workspace
November 21, 2011 | Author: Adam Levine
Finally, the most popular Web-conferencing service Cisco WebEx is getting closer to small business. At the Collaboration Summit in Miami Cisco has introduced the new version of Webex and the subscription free plan for 3 people and 250 MB of space. In addition to basic functions (screen-sharing, whiteboard, online presentations, document collaboration, VoIP and instant messaging) the free version also provides video conferencing (but not in HD-quality). Of course, there are several other web-conferencing services that offer free version, but WebEx differs by high quality and extensive functionality. According to the Cisco representatives the free version is already available, but we couldn't find it on the WebEx site. So, let's wait. We also have to wait till Q1 2012 for the new version of WebEx, which includes the very interesting feature - online workspace.
Even before Cisco bought WebEx, it included not only the web-conferencing tool, but also the virtual office WebEx WebOffice. It's an intranet-collaboration SaaS service that includes file storage, tasks, calendar, discussions, contacts, mail and of course it was integrated with WebEx online meetings. Long ago it was the best solution on the market, but then Google Apps, Zoho and others appeared and WebEx WebOffice was lost in the crowd.
Now Cisco is trying to unite web-meetings and collaboration from the other side - to add online office tools to the WebEx web-conferencing service. The next WebEx version will feature the new shell - WebEx Meeting Space, designed for collaboration before and after meetings. It includes activity stream, file storage, online chat, meetings calendar and scheduler. For example, in this workspace you can schedule a meeting, send invitations to attendees, share some files in advance and discuss the upcoming meeting in comments and live chat. And after the meeting - you can upload the meeting video, the resulting documents and discuss the meeting results in the comments.
Here is a video showing how it works.
See also: Top 10 Office suites
