Each step that conferencing solutions take forward is gearing towards a deeper level of integration of different components of virtual communication: video, audio and web.

Yahoo!, MSN Messenger and PalTalk are not about instant messaging and chat rooms any longer. Skype is not about talking and listening to partners and sending and receiving files across the town or thousands miles away any longer. It no longer satisfies the needs of live interaction to just see the words printed on screen or the voice coming from speakers. Eyes wanted!

And the online communication providers obey and serve the trend. Now they are stretching to put up a free video conferencing solution to make the line of services complete and not to lose the right of being called a competitor.

As for the more video-conferencing-oriented tools and instruments, we should mention Eyeball, Marratech, iVisit, OnlineCall and others – free-of-charge downloadable ones. The paid-for WebEx offers a couple-of-weeks free-trial version. Net Meeting and MarratechFree is a permanently free advertising sample, with a heavy-weight full-licensed Marratech posing coquettishly outside your window.

The popularity of this or that video-conferencing solution today depends on the ability to successfully integrate with various user applications and on running on various IP connections (e.g. Wi-Fi, DSL, cable broadband, dial-up). The concern today is security and networking. Therefore, the newer versions of video-conferencing solutions have to be oriented towards providing better connection security, they have to be able to work from behind a firewall, from behind routers, they have to be able to work across several networks.

The software on the offer tends to be multi-feature. For example, Eyeball SDK for Windows, a toolkit aimed at integrating VoIP service, video telephony and instant messaging, allows to arrange multiple concurrent calls using multiple lines, 3-way and conference calls, video-conferencing, you can send/receive audio/video calls, voice and video mail, keep a call history, Anti-SPIT (technology designed to prevent spam over IP telephony), etc.

Or you can download an iVisit 3.4.3 installer and set up traditional video-conferencing equipment, including a camera (to capture the image), a display (to see the partners), microphone and speakers (to speak and hear), a codec and broadband connection.

Video-conferencing is becoming an indispensable part of e-meetings, webinars, e-training and e-learning, telemedicine, telecommuting, judicial applications, remote laboratories, emergency response. It is hard to say whether it is telecommuters (the ones that work from home) prompted the advance of video-conferencing or vice versa, but it is definitely facilitating, if not essential. Telecommuters can connect with co-workers, colleagues at different organizations, participate in all sorts of e-gatherings and data-sharing.

Companies themselves welcome the trend, as they can save on the size of the building space and feel the benefits of psychological comfort of their employees in the form of increased productivity. Telecommuters are happy to work from home and they do: the prices for equipment are getting affordable and broadband connection is getting cheaper. Video-conferencing, if organized wisely, can make your life an easier and more exciting path to take.