Which Web conferencing solution is the best?

New portal provides vendor-independent product overview, including comparisons and test results

The first Website to provide a vendor-independent assessment of online meeting tools has now gone live at www.webconferencing-test.com. The portal provides comparisons of all leading solutions ? including Microsoft Live Meeting, Macromedia Breeze (now called Acrobat Connect Professional) Webex, and GoToMeeting from Citrix.

Online meetings used to be costly affairs, relying on video-service and telecoms companies. But that has now changed. Thanks to increasing competition, the growing popularity of PC-based technologies, and a wide choice of providers, today´s solutions are more user-friendly and more affordable. In fact, they are now commonplace office tools. Web conferencing is, for example, typically used for phone- and Internet-based customer and employee meetings, online training and support.

The portal not only compares the functional scope of online meeting tools, it also judges how well they meet real-world needs. Analysis is based on key user requirements such as ease-of-use, security and cost. For example, the need for training is assessed, and how easy it is to organize spontaneous online meetings.

www.webconferencing-test.com compares the potential savings offered by each of the tools in comparison to conventional, on-site meetings. It also reviews pricing policy and cost transparency. While some solutions offer a flat rate, others have complex pricing models based on multiple components.