Blue Jeans Network, a provider of interoperable video conferencing services, announced it is showcasing “the industry’s first video conferencing interoperability between Skype and Microsoft (News - Alert) Lync” at The Enterprise 2.0 Conference held at Santa Clara, California, November 14-17.
The unique video conferencing interoperability connects users on Skype and Microsoft Lync to each other and with other video conferencing endpoints such as Cisco/Tandberg, Polycom, Lifesize, Google (News - Alert), and more.
This is a significant achievement for Blue Jeans because it happens just one month after the acquisition of Skype by Microsoft was completed. This demo is the first public display of Microsoft Lync working with Skype (News - Alert) in a single video meeting, company officials said.
This interoperability allows anyone with access to Skype and a video-enabled desktop or mobile device to participate in high quality video meetings with those using traditional video conferencing room equipment.
“Not only will we provide increased flexibility for our users with the addition of Microsoft Lync and OCS to the Blue Jeans Network offerings, but for the first time, nearly a billion people worldwide will have the ability to video conference with others thanks to Blue Jeans,” said Krish Ramakrishnan, CEO of Blue Jeans Network, in a statement.
Blue Jeans Network’s cloud-based video conferencing service is designed with a goal to make video meetings as easy, interoperable and affordable as audio. Theirs is the first video conferencing service to bridge together business solutions from Cisco/Tandberg (News - Alert), Polycom, Lifesize, and now Microsoft, with consumer solutions such as Skype and Google.
Blue Jeans Network’s video conferencing interoperability between popular business and consumer platforms has created a “network effect” for video conferencing, the company said. Blue Jeans Network’s solutions help people communicate easily with each other and expand the reach of video communications beyond corporate boardrooms and across the enterprise to telecommuters, remote workers, travelers, suppliers, partners and customers.
Earlier in August, Blue Jeans Network introduced several new pricing plans for businesses and individuals users who want to video conferencing service.
The new Blue Jeans individual plans include: $69 per month individual plan for 500 minutes (less than 14 cents per minute), $99 per month individual plan for 1,000 minutes (less than 10 cents per minute), and $199 per month individual plan for unlimited minutes (as little as 1 cent per minute).
Rajani Baburajan is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To read more of Rajani's articles, please visit her columnist page.Edited by Chris DiMarco