Web Conferencing (lync & webex)

woolymammoth

Looking into this at the moment, and i'm eyeing up either Lync or WebEx. Just wondering if anyone here uses either for web conferencing at all? Question is intentionally vague, it is for corporate use, just like to hear any good or bad comments on either?


Thanks

swampgas

woolymammoth wrote: »

Looking into this at the moment, and i'm eyeing up either Lync or WebEx. Just wondering if anyone here uses either for web conferencing at all? Question is intentionally vague, it is for corporate use, just like to hear any good or bad comments on either?


Thanks

I have used webex extensively at my (corporate) employer. I find it to be an excellent tool, but I have no idea what it costs or how it compares to any alternatives.

woolymammoth

swampgas wrote: »

I have no idea what it costs or how it compares to any alternatives.

fair enough. about $49 per user per month for webex i think.. how do you find it as a user though? ever many problems, or any? easy to use? do you have the connect client?

swampgas

woolymammoth wrote: »

fair enough. about $49 per user per month for webex i think.. how do you find it as a user though? ever many problems, or any? easy to use? do you have the connect client?

It's all browser based, and easy enough to use. My primary uses were remote control of some-one else's system, and on-line meetings and presentations.

Don't know if they have a "try before you buy" option ...

tommycahir

[Declaration] I am an IBM employee and this is an IBM product, I am not in sales and am only giving my opinion of the experience using this tool [/Declaration]

I have been using the IBM lotus live product to host meetings for the last 2 years and never had an issue with it and have often had users in a conference from across Europe using it without any issue.
Lotus Live Meetings

I hope that this is some help to you.

gibo_ie

webex is good if you just want online conferences. Lync on the other hand gives you a huge amount more functionality. Like Instant Messaging, realtime presence through Outlook and Sharepoint, file sharing, remote desktop connections, email from Lync client and best of all you can "Federate" or connect to another business org who also runs Lync (Or Office communications server 2007 - its predecessor) and share all functions with them as if they were part of your org.
Oh and of course you have peer to peer voice and phone system integration wherever in the world you are.
Feel free to ask more or PM me on this as i am a solution architecht and have experience in both in large and small scale environments (5 up to 25000 users)

woolymammoth

gibo_ie wrote: »

webex is good if you just want online conferences. Lync on the other hand gives you a huge amount more functionality. Like Instant Messaging, realtime presence through Outlook and Sharepoint, file sharing, remote desktop connections, email from Lync client and best of all you can "Federate" or connect to another business org who also runs Lync (Or Office communications server 2007 - its predecessor) and share all functions with them as if they were part of your org.
Oh and of course you have peer to peer voice and phone system integration wherever in the world you are.
Feel free to ask more or PM me on this as i am a solution architecht and have experience in both in large and small scale environments (5 up to 25000 users)

Thanks gibo.

unfortunately, we're not really sure what we want/need at this point. The a/v conferencing is of primary interest between closly associated companies. We have only 35 users, and a small portion of those would likely use any video tech, mainly for conferencing to avoid travel. For those reasons, i'm interested in WebEx and Lync online. however, if video calls become popular, more people will probably use it. It's desireable to have it available for all users. And for that reason, i'm interested in Lync server. The only problem with Lync server is the investment. Even though it would pay for itself in 2 or 3 years compared to WebEx, hardware still needs to be bought and all that.

Was just wondring if anyone had used either, and what the opinions were of them as a user. have you put Lync in many places? could you recommend it?

bhickey

I think you should just try them all out in whatever scenario(s) you think would best represent how you think you would use them. Every company uses them differently and most underestimate the planning and management involved in using them effectively.

woolymammoth

bhickey wrote: »

I think you should just try them all out in whatever scenario(s) you think would best represent how you think you would use them. Every company uses them differently and most underestimate the planning and management involved in using them effectively.

too true. and that's what bothers me, it's wanted, but they've no real idea what they want. WebEx have a 14 day trial, which will be handy.

gibo_ie

you can do Lync online at less than €5 per person per month, if you like I can arrange a free trial for you as I work for a Microsoft Gold Partner... Just let me know.

Vico1612

Hi,

You can also check out Citrix GoToMeeting
http://www.gotomeeting.ie/fec/

My 2 cents
Vico

Note : This is a CitrixOnline product and I am a Citrix Systems employee so I use this tool as part of my job. I don't work for sales : the only purpose of my post is to provide you the link for the 30 day trial.

Mr_Broadband

Please try this new site and provide feedback and suggestions.

<SNIP>

Oh, and its FREE!!!

All the best.

Pyongyang

Lync is fantastic, I'm rolling this out in the work place right now and the response from users has been very positive.

It's so much more than an IM application. Webex is good but I feel it's a bit more limited in what it offers compared to Lync.

kingthomas

I use on premise RHUB web conferencing appliance for conducting business meetings online. It provides better security as it works from behind my company’s firewall.