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Video Conferencing
Video conferencing is a communications technology that integrates video
and voice to connect remote users with each other as if they were in the same
room. Each user needs a computer, webcam, microphone, and broadband internet
connection for participation in video conferencing. Users see and hear each
other in realtime, allowing natural conversations not possible with
voice-only communications technology.
Communications companies have been dabbling in video conferencing technology
since as early as the late 50s, but it took the advent of broadband internet
and affordable web cameras (late 90s) for video conferencing to really take
off. Good bandwidth is necessary for high-fidelity streaming video and voice.
Video conferencing took a serious step into mass use with the release of
Microsoft Netmeeting 3.0 in 1999. Now there are dozens of software vendors
marketing video conferencing software and a number of investors interested in
bringing video conferencing to mobile devices.
Very appealing to the educational and business sectors, video conferencing
allows users to save time and money on travelling and housing costs by
bringing people face-to-face virtually. Many prominent universities have
adopted video conferencing as an educational tool to be used in conjunction
with online courses. Business leaders around the world use video conferencing
to keep in touch with important contacts while on the go.
Present-day applications of video conferencing technology are just the
beginning. As video and voice capture technology, software, and display
technologies continue to improve, the experience of video conferencing will
become increasingly natural and intuitive to a wider range of users.
Eventually video conferencing and similar technologies will allow the
creation of "virtual cities", online spaces where people work together
without the constraint of geographic proximity. This may decrease urban
congestion and save the environment by making it possible for skilled workers
living in the suburbs to acquire high-paying jobs without the commute.
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