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Re: Lypp launches genius Outlook plugin for conference calling

alexbcory — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 13:54:55 -0000

The problem is that real conference calls include a mix of internet based phone systems, hybrid systems, land lines, speakerphones, and cell phones from domestic and international locations. We are all exposed to problems introduced by the source of the signals we receive. The challenge for conferencing service providers is to take garbage in and make it clean, pure sound. We simply don't control the routes that users go through to get to our services. I am sure the technology to fix these problems and the quality of upstream networks will improve, but there is a different focus for the engineering and development for the voice/PSTN system than for data, so I wouldn't bet on just one route or technology.

I think we all have some attrition and most of it has nothing to do with us. Conferencing services are often used by people with temporary needs, for example (think about someone doing volunteer work with a community organization).

Obviously VoIP is going to be a big part of telephony. It is already a great option to replace land line telephony. And it will get better. But handling very large numbers of inputs that are routed through several networks before they reach a conference bridge is not the current strength of VoIP.

Good luck building your business. We think we have done pretty well by building to over a billion minutes a year, but we are still only 3-4% of the business conferencing marketplace. Clearly there is room for many to succeed. We also believe that there are many consumer applications for "conferencing" that are underserved and we will be releasing products over the next year to address those markets.

Re: Lypp launches genius Outlook plugin for conference calling

alexbcory — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 18:09:03 -0000

Having tested both head to head and having experience on what happens to both quality and reliability when VoIP legs are introduced, I can tell you there is a substantial and measurable degradation in sound quality and reliability of the connection on the data network. It has much larger swings in loads, suffers greater problems from packet loss and compression, and just hasn't been engineered to voice levels. There will need to be improvement across conferencing hardware, data networks, and carrier operations to overcome these issues. It will take a while to get there. The "free" aspect is no different than it is for voice. You have to pay for a broadband connection to get access to VoIP (and you save the more services you use for this fixed fee). Voice is going the same direction--you pay for access to long distance at a fixed rate and the more service you load on it the better. So for now, the arguments slant heavily to voice, as it can be as free as VoIP and at much higher levels of sound quality and reliability.

Alex

www.freeconference.com
www.instantconference.com

Re: Lypp launches genius Outlook plugin for conference calling

alexbcory — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 18:03:32 -0000

We consider the meal to be free even if you pay your own cabfare to get to the restaurant. Most other conferencing services charge a premium to long distance rates for the conferencing services they provide. And by creating a system that leverages the existing long distance network, we also ensure that users get the premium quality of the voice network vs the much less reliable and lower performing data network used by VoIP and free internet service providers. Since the heart of our business is the SMB market, these characteristics are very critical to meeting their needs. Happy to take this discussion off line. And lastly, we are all needed to continue taking swings at AT&T and the other incumbents who rely on legal and regulatory chicanery to protect their position vs innovating their services...

Re: Lypp launches genius Outlook plugin for conference calling

alexbcory — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 20:36:01 -0000

Since we offer a free service, we haven't offered outbound dialing yet. But it is on the roadmap for our premium services. If you were first, congratulations.

Re: Lypp launches genius Outlook plugin for conference calling

alexbcory — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 17:51:43 -0000

Do you work for Lypp? Do you have some other financial arrangement with them? They are a small newcomer to this business and the feature you are touting has been out for some time at other services, so I am confused by your breathless post. I work for Global Conference Partners and always identify this when I am pitching my own service or commenting on someone else's.

We have had an Outlook Add In out since last year that has been downloaded by more than 15,000 people. We offer toll calling at no cost for conferencing (just your own long distance costs) and toll free for 7 cents/min with free recording. We just released moderator controls on InstantConference.com so you can manage whoever is on your call from our website. And we are about to release a texting tool.

We started the business of user managed conferencing in 2001 and are now supporting over a billion minutes a year of calls. We provide the leading service for simple, convenient, and reliable conferencing. I wish Lypp well, and congratulate them on finally adding features that help them bring their feature set closer to the leaders in conferencing.