TokBox's Browser-Based Video Conferencing Wisconsin

By Robert Poe

Lots of Web and other applications started as consumer services. Take instant messaging. It was easy, free and convenient. But corporations originally didn't take it seriously — it seemed both too simple to be a serious business tool and too difficult for IT departments to control. Now, of course, it's a business staple. So what will companies think about video calling that requires nothing but a Web camera and browser? TokBox Inc. is promoting just such a free, easy-to-use service as a super-fun consumer experience. But small businesses could find it especially useful.

Using TokBox

TokBox built its product around Adobe Systems Inc.'s Flash technology, which is in well over 95 percent of Web browsers. TokBox also recently upgraded its service to make it friendlier for users, adding text chat and incoming-call notification. It's now almost as easy to use as email or instant messaging programs themselves. And that gives it the potential to change the way small businesses do business.

If you have a webcam, getting started requires simply going to TokBox's Web site and registering by entering your first and last names, email address and password. Once logged in, you have three choices: call someone, send a video message or start a conference. All three involve little more than clicking, dragging or pasting.

Services

Click the 'Video Message' option to open a window. To display your live image in the window, click 'Accept' when Flash Player asks to let TokBox access your Web camera. If you click the red button in the middle of the image, TokBox lets you record a message of up to 15 minutes. After clicking 'Stop,' you have the options of rerecording, playing or sending your message. To send the message to a friend, enter his or her email address, click the 'Send' button and minutes later your friend will receive an email message containing a link to a TokBox page where he or she can view your message.

Clicking 'Call Anyone' opens a similar screen into which you can drag names from your friends list. You can import friends from AIM, Web mail services or the TokBox directory. You can also invite friends to join TokBox, in which case TokBox sends them an email and adds them to your list if they join. If you drag someone to the box who is logged into TokBox, a prompt pops up on your friend's screen letting him or her accept or ignore your call request. If your friend accepts, the view from his or her Web cam appears in a box next to yours. You can also invite people to call or video message you by sending or telling them your TokBox home page address, which is the TokBox URL plus your user name.

Clicking 'Conference' opens a somewhat larger screen. You are given the URL of the conference, which you can email or IM to friends. When they click on the link, their Web cam feeds appear in boxes within the main screen. Six people can comfortably participate in a conference at once. During both calls and conferences, you can text chat in an attached window, which lets you send URLs and other crucial text-based information to one another.

Additional Uses

Other features include a full-screen mode and a 'Meet New People' option. To use the latter, simply click a box to make yourself available. You can then see people all over the world who are online and want to talk. And if your contacts don't have webcams, TokBox works in voice-only mode as a simple-to-use alternative to Skype Ltd.'s service, no software download necessary.

SMBs will have to figure out for themselves how best to use such a service, since CEO Nick Triantos said TokBox is definitely targeting individual consumers for now. But given all the ways companies currently use instant messaging, it shouldn't be hard.


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