Zoho adds Web meeting tool to online office suite

Zoho, makers of more than a dozen office and productivity tools, have announced a new meeting app called Zoho Meeting. It's currently in private beta and will be available to all Zoho users next month.

Zoho Meeting is screen-sharing without the need to install an application, as we've seen with Vyew, Yugma, and others. It also integrates Zoho Chat, allowing participants to talk without the need for a separate phone solution, although an integrated VoIP solution is said to be coming soon. What may be the standout feature is the ability to record, save, and share meetings for free. This opens up a wide range of uses for the tool, especially in the field of education and training tools for small groups. Just because somebody can't make the meeting doesn't mean they have to miss it or spend time having it relayed, wasting someone else's time.

Zoho meeting has integration with other Zoho apps. In particular, Zoho Show (previous coverage) has added a new type of slide that automatically launches a Zoho Meeting within the presentation. There's no need to open a separate window, it just starts up. Likewise, users will be able to embed their Zoho meetings on blogs and Web sites, which can be handy if you intend on creating Web archives of meeting notes or demonstrations. There's a whole lot of potential here.

Zoho will be one of the many presenters at tomorrow's Under the Radar Office 2.0 event. Stay tuned for a hands-on and live coverage. In the meantime, Zoho has put together a three-minute overview, which I've embedded below.