Call conference, web meetings

It is probably safe to say that those early pioneers who signed on to use the NVP and PVP systems undertook a great deal of time and expense to install and put those technologies to use. In the end, they were most likely rewarded for their efforts with a huge bill for equipment that could put them in touch with only the tiny handful of other forward-thinking corporations that also bought into it.

We have come a long, long way since those days. Today's audio and conference podcast equipment, for example, is cheaper and easier to use, and reaches far more people and places than those early prototypes of podcast conference equipment. But make no mistake, a poorly chosen or operated call conference, web equipment or video device can still be a waste of time and resources if you don't know how to tackle the technology. Money spent on a misused web conference service is, after all, money wasted.

Do the terms NVP or PVP ring a bell with anyone? As far back as the 1960s, telephone and communications companies were experimenting heavily with real-time video communication akin to call conference web technologies. It was in 1976 that network video protocol, NVP, first came out. A few years later, in 1981, packet video protocol was developed. These early video conferencing technologies never made it into homes or most corporate board rooms and were relegated primarily to the labs where they were invented, or in rare cases, a few companies that could afford the outrageous price of a largely unknown tool.

In addition to audio and video conferences, another technology is also gaining popularity in the corporate world. The conference podcast is opening up new possibilities for worldwide meetings where time zones and divergent schedules are still an issue. Learn more about this option right here in additional articles.