Webware

Cisco has debuted an iPhone application that can make use of the company's popular WebEx collaboration tool. The new app, available free from the App Store, allows users click to join and actively collaborate in WebEx meetings. A company statement reads:

"The online meeting experience gives users the ability to take advantage of simultaneous web and audio conferencing capabilities from Cisco on both the 3G mobile and 802.11 wireless (Wi-Fi) networks. The solution supports multiple telephony configurations including SaaS-based telephony from Cisco WebEx Meeting Center, premises-based telephony from Cisco Unified MeetingPlace, or telephony from Cisco's service provider partners. "

The company says that a future edition will allow users to transfer Cisco WebEx Meeting Center and Cisco Unified MeetingPlace conferences from the Apple iPhone 3G to an office environment and back, by transferring the audio to a Cisco Unified IP Phone and the web conference.

A video demonstration of WebEx for the iPhone is available at http://www.webex.com/iphone/.

(Credit: Dong Ngo/CNET Networks)

Cisco announced on Thursday Network Magic 5.0, a suite of network management software. This is the first product released by Cisco since its acquisition of Pure Networks earlier this year.

The suite provides an array of tools for people to visualize, manage, and get a variety of network tasks done. These tasks include: connecting and sharing computers' content or printer, controlling how computers on the network access the Internet, repairing connection and performance problems, optimizing performance and reliability, and so on.

I tried the software briefly and really liked the Network Map function where all devices that connect to your network are revealed, regardless if they are printers, computers, handheld, or any other types of network devices. The software even shows a message each time a new device connects to your network. Other information such as the detailed status and network advisory can also come in handy.

One thing to keep in mind, though, the software installs a few items that run by themselves in the background each time you start the computer, including Pure Network Platform and the Network Magic front-end software. These can potentially slow down your computer.

Network Magic comes in two commercial versions. The Network Magic Essentials ($29.99) (download free trial) is built for users who only require the basic functionality of the software, such as connecting two or three PCs to share a network connection, files, or a printer. Network Magic Pro ($49.99) provides a broader set of capabilities for managing and securing the network. The Pro version supports a Mac Add-On client ($25) that allows for getting a Mac managed the way a PC would be via the network.

All of these versions offer a seven-day free trial time, and I really think they are worth a try.

Webex's core product MeetMeNow was quietly updated last night with some new features. New on the list is support for Webcams (both PC and Mac), which will automatically be detected and let the conference host know who's got video-conferencing capabilities. They've also condensed all video into one area of the interface, where the host can choose which cameras get broadcasted to others in the meeting. It's a quirky system, and not nearly as advanced as some of the collaborative services that offer up multiple user Webcams at the same time like Octopz (review), or even chat service ooVoo (review) to a degree, but it's fully capable of serving up video with audio to everyone in your meeting, which the company hopes will give them an edge over some of their competitors.

As host you can control everyone's video feeds through a drop-down menu.

(Credit: CNET Networks)

Surprisingly, video chat is not a mainstay for many of these SMB business conferencing services. While Adobe's Acrobat Connect service offers multi-user video conferencing as part of the package, Citrix's GoToMeeting, Yugma, and Vyew do not. The one thing that really sticks out with Webex's implementation of video is that as a host you can't preview someone's Webcam before switching them live for everyone to see. It's a business-friendly feature that could help avoid awkward nose-picking incidents, but is sorely missing. We also found that in order to share your cam with everyone else, and begin transmitting, the host first needs to pick you out from the drop-down menu of folks with Webcams (which incidentally is separate from the general user list) that queues up that oh-so-familiar Adobe Flash Webcam security message--a process that would be nice to be initiated by attendee and not the host.

With the update, Microsoft Office users are also getting new quick-launch buttons to start conferences from Word, Excel, and PowerPoint that show up in the add-ins section. While this is just a quick launcher, it doesn't tie down the conference to just that app, or even set it to automatically share the application.

After giving this a spin a few times, I'll echo what Rafe has said in numerous posts about Webex being less friendly to users than desired. Both of us run dual monitors in the office, and for some reason the service just can't handle it. Trying to move it over simply makes the conference manger disappear. Furthermore, separating the user chat and the video feeds (which it does) is splitting the focus of people in your meeting and forcing them to switch back and forth while trying to keep up with whatever you're sharing on the screen. While there's a "pop-out" option for the video module, why complicate the basics and clutter up people's screens with one more floating window?

Start Webex meetings from right inside MS Office apps with the new plug-in.

(Credit: CNET Networks)

What this product needs is a nice and simple UI overhaul. The core technologies are still there, and screen sharing works great and as advertised. Adding video is definitely a nice start, but as mentioned above, putting everything into one communication tab and tightening up the host controls a little more would really make things shine.

With the new features the service remains $49 a month, with annual subscribers paying $39 instead. To give it a spin, the service offers a 14-day trial that only requires your e-mail address. You can sign up for it here.

Back in early September, I wrote about the five finalists to win a combined $250,000 in development funding from MTV and Cisco, sponsors of the Digital Incubator contest for university-grown Web apps.

Today, they announced a prize even grander than the first--$100,000 in addition to the $30,000 finalist grant already applied to RapHappy.com's development. The social network for recording, editing, distributing, and commenting on user-generated raps won Digital Incubator's judges with a business plan detailing the nascent company's next level of growth.

Ben Leduc-Mills and Matt Fargo, both graduate students in New York University's Interactive Telecommunications Program and the brains behind RapHappy, are nothing short of jubilant. "We want to give a great big hug to all of you who helped us get this far," reads the message on their Web site, "But I guess you'll just have to settle for a big shoutout on the Web site instead. Thanks though, really. It's your amazing raps that won it for us."

In addition to the Web site, RapHappy rappers can also lay down vocals via hotline (for inspired cell phone rapping) and through a Facebook app.

Cisco System's CEO John Chambers is ready to add more alliteration to his name. Try calling him the collaboration kid.

Chambers, a keynote speaker Monday at Salesforce.com's user conference, "Dreamforce Expo," demonstrated the use of telepresence technology to collaborate on landing a sale.

With the increasing popularity of broadband, Chambers noted it will change the way employees work, how they work and the work itself over the next decade. And he forecast that the next wave of productivity and innovation will be driven by Web 2.0 tools that will enable collaboration.

Chambers has a vested interest in seeing this transformation happen. Cisco, a networking giant with a dominant slice in the router and switch market, announced plans in March to acquire Web-conferencing company WebEx in a $3.2 billion buyout. That will help push the company into new growth areas.

During his keynote at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, Chambers performed a sales demo using telepresence technology and some help from Salesforce's online customer relationship management (CRM) service.

And when Marc Benioff, Salesforce founder and chief executive, participated in the demo as a prospective Cisco customer, the demo took on an edge of reality as Chambers pushed Benioff to commit to a sale of Cisco's wares. Benioff, no slouch in the sales area, threw out a couple hurdles for his old friend Chambers, like come with a sharp pencil and the lowest offer.

I wonder if Chambers will get an invite to Dreamforce next year...

From ZDNet:

At the Interop conference in Las Vegas, Cisco CEO John Chambers talks about the need for businesses to increase productivity by implementing Web 2.0 tools such as wikis, mashups, and virtual conferencing. He also explains how Cisco used Web 2.0 principles in its $7 billion acquisition of Scientific Atlanta.

(Credit: CNET Networks)
• NCAA tournament clips on YouTube. Just because Viacom has gone lawsuit-happy with YouTube, that doesn't mean CBS wants to keep its content off Google's video-hosting service. CBS will be adding highlights, press conferences and specials available "immediately" following live TV coverage. YouTube users will also be able to vote on and rank their favorite game clips.

• Google adding search privacy protections. Google will be "anonymizing" search queries connected to your IP address and browser cookies about 18 to 24 months after they were created. Currently, all three pieces of information are grouped together and archived indefinitely. The new policy will be in effect by the end of the year. (CNET News.com)

• The New York Times to provide "reader" service for non-subscribers. The The New York Times reader, a small application that serves up a digital copy of the newspaper's printed version, is rolling out the service to the general public later this month. The The New York Times reader service has been available as a free beta app since September. From now on, the service will be free for paid print subscribers and will cost $14.95 a month for everyone else. (The New York Times)

• SkypePrime and SkypeFind now out of beta. Ether-competitor SkypePrime and social bookmarking tool SkypeFind have left beta and gone into the most recent version of Skype as built-in features. SkypeFind is the more interesting of the two for the casual user, adding a user-built directory right into the service, complete with user reviews like you'd find on Yelp or InsiderPages. (CNET News.com)

• Cisco serves up $3.2 billion to buy WebEx. Cisco Systems is purchasing WebEx, the business communications company. Cisco intends to utilize WebEx's technology to serve small- and medium-size businesses with its hosted collaboration tools, a subject we've ranted about previously. (CNET News.com)

I normally don't comment on industry financial dealings, but this morning I was surprised by the news that Cisco is acquiring the remote meeting services company WebEx, for $3.2 billion (official news release). When I first read this, I thought I was reading a news story that had gotten stuck in the tubes for five years and was only now surfacing on the Web. In the online market five years ago, before the Web 2.0 hype bubble began--and in the wake of crumbling airline finances--it would have made a lot of sense. Today, it's less clear.

While it makes sense for Cisco to add to its collection of communication tools, and Web conferencing certainly fits that bill, WebEx's main Web-conferencing offering is an old-fashioned product that's in serious danger of being technically eclipsed by products from Web 2.0 start-ups such as Vyew, Yugma, SlideShare (writeup coming soon), and others. WebEx is overpriced and awkward to use. Like other busy Web 2.0 bloggers, I get a lot of WebEx meeting requests--and in fact just finished with one--with the presenter and me cursing WebEx the whole way through.

WebEx does generate nice revenues (although not enough to justify this purchase price) and it does have a solid customer base. These assets are worth acquiring. But the main product itself is creaky, cumbersome, and overpriced. Cisco, if it's smart, will rewrite and reprice the offering soon.

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