While security gaps like those experienced by Odson have since been fixed by the vendors, the problems convinced her to find an application that she could run on her own servers?especially important for her law firm because it handles confidential data. Odson bought a conferencing package from Latitude in the fall of 2000 and has it deployed on two servers, one for internal use only and one for use with clients. Odson says that in the long run this setup is less expensive than renting time from a host provider. While the initial cost of the hardware is high, she believes that her company will recoup the outlay within 18 months, given that the cost of teleconferencing is three cents a minute versus 20 cents a minute with AT&T. The package she has purchased also provides security benefits and allows Odson to closely monitor usage.

Videoconferencing

It may be the next best thing to getting on a plane and going somewhere?you can read someone’s body language or tell who is speaking no matter how big the crowd?but the logistics of videoconferencing are almost as complicated and sometimes nearly as expensive as flying. Videoconferencing started as a Jetsons-like novelty in the ’70s. In the ’80s it evolved into a toy for Fortune 100 executives, who would communicate between offices over dedicated network connections. In the ’90s, things got easier and less expensive?but far from cheap. A good videoconferencing system still cost around $50,000?mostly for hardware?and all communications were sent over expensive ISDN lines leased from telecom providers. Today, the hardware costs between 5 and 10 grand, and video quality has improved significantly. According to San Antonio, Texas-based market research company Frost & Sullivan, 85 percent of videoconferences still happen over ISDN; the rest use video over IP. But IP’s cost savings are rapidly changing the balance, and the two should reach equilibrium by 2004.

Besides the hefty price tag, the biggest knocks on videoconferencing have been complicated interfaces and inconsistent connections. During the past couple of years, vendors responding to the complaints have made interfaces less complicated. But a Frost & Sullivan study found that 13 percent to 15 percent of videoconferences over ISDN still expire partway through. And it’s not unusual, says Odson, for it to take 15 minutes to reestablish the connection?a real problem when you have a roomful of lawyers each charging $500 an hour.

Video over IP decreases the cost and eliminates the need for bridging, but there are other issues. "We have tried it over IP, but you have to have a lot of bandwidth," says Odson. The typical video stream is 384Kbps, and to be safe, each two-party videoconference probably needs a megabit of bandwidth. Over a standard 10Mbps LAN it doesn’t take long for the stream to start looking like a poorly dubbed kung-fu movie, with the audio several seconds behind the picture.