Sprint Offers IP-Based VideoconferencingSprint Offers IP-Based Videoconferencing

Sprint last week launched a turnkey IP-based videoconferencing service that ties together all the needed equipment, support, and network transport. Because the service uses IP, it can be accessed by any worker with a high-speed Internet connection to a PC; other videoconferencing services require a far more expensive dedicated private line or ISDN circuit.

Andy Nilssen, a senior analyst with Wainhouse Research, says the service is the first of its kind from a major carrier. He expects IP-based services such as Sprint's to make multimedia conferencing accessible for the first time to a broad audience. And because Sprint's IP network is less expensive to operate, the carrier charges less for the IP-based videoconferencing service than it does for other videoconferencing services: IP videoconferencing is priced at about $30 an hour-or about 40% less than the cost of Sprint's ISDN-based videoconferencing service. The service is available now.

The service uses ViewStation videoconferencing systems and ViaVideo desktop video appliances from Polycom Inc. and the VX Communications System from Ridgeway Systems & Software. Polycom products are already used by many companies, says Becky Replogler-Wilkes, director of collaboration applications marketing at Sprint.

The carrier chose Ridgeway's VX Communications System products because they can be used in combination with Sprint's videoconferencing client software to conduct IP video calls across firewalls. One of the biggest technical hurdles of IP videoconferencing is that the traffic is often blocked, either by a company's own firewall or by firewalls operating within the network of the service provider a company uses for its IP services, says Tory Teague, VP of global sales at Ridgeway.

The VX Communications System overcomes that obstacle by allowing the IP videoconferencing traffic to pass through both sets of firewalls. Built-in security protects the network.