Hello Steve,
> This thing about ASP hosting, I guess I don't quite understand what
> is going on with that. What exactly is ASP and how does it relate
> to White Pine?
So ASP stands for Application Service Provider ... it's a company that will "outsource" the running of some application over the Internet. The reason that I feel this is so significant is that White Pine has been selling it's software to customers so far. But as they are no doubt getting interest from more and more companies, they are also no doubt getting a lot of questions about supporting and maintaining a video-conferencing server.
If a company wants to buy and install the software, they then have to hire people to install and maintain the server. This can often become costly. Now think about some big Internet company that wants to offer video conferencing ... the *real* costs to them are not the software, but the Internet connection, the hardware, and the support people.
White Pine appears to be setting up the ASP service so that they can give customers a choice - buy our software, or "rent" the service directly from WPNE. White Pine will install the hardware/software and provide all the support. My guess is that they will generate a much greater amount of revenue by "renting" the conferencing capabilities ...
> Regarding Netmeeting, I recently tried to use it a couple of weeks
> ago... first time in many months. What I noticed was that after the
> program loaded, I could not connect to the ils servers that allow
> people to conference 1 to 1. If I remember correctly, I had to go
> to one of Microsoft's web pages and install Microsoft Messenger in
> order to be able to link up with anyone. I may not have the facts
> straight here, but I remember it being a royal pain in the a**.
Yes ... you are hitting on one of the primary issues with doing this type of conferencing on the net ... "phone numbers". On the net, "phone numbers" are really the IP addresses of the people who want to conference or talk. And since you might have a different IP address each time you connect to the net, your "number" changes constantly.
ILS was Microsoft's approach to creating a way to locate people. ILS = Internet Locator Service. When you run NetMeeting, your application "publishes" your name and address so that others can look you up and "call" you ...
But ILS was based on a LDAP directory service that didn't scale real well ... so when you got so many people using the service (let's say 10,000+) the service would grind to a halt.
Programs like ICQ and Microsoft Messenger are the next generation of products designed to allow better ways to locate and "call" them ...
> After this experience with the Netmeeting software, I concluded
> that CU-SeeMe is much easier to use and navigate with. Netmeeting
> seems like it is the closest competing product to CU-SeeMe, even
> though it does not have multipoint capability. Are there other
> products that come close to rival CU-SeeMe?
No ... when you really get down to it, I have to say that CUSee-Me is one of the best products for conferencing ... it's the one that's been around the longest.
> I realize that I am only being exposed to the client side of White
> Pine's software business. I would really love to hear from someone
> who relies on the server side (MeetingPoint) to get their
> impression of the software and their interactions with White Pine
> representatives.
So MeetingPoint is based on the original "Reflector" technology, but they have now greatly improved the capabilities. I've run a server on and off for a while, but not for long amounts of time ... I'm interested in getting a new version up and running soon ... maybe let some SI people start to use it for testing/interaction ... ;-)
> Also, can anyone shed some light on the current CEO, Mr. Killko
> Caballero? What I'm interested in learning is his background and
> previous experience in management.
So I have talked with Killko numerous times, and am impressed with him. I know that he came from a company that was acquired by White Pine, and I have to say that he has continued to take a methodical approach to re-orienting the company towards their primary focus - CUSee-Me and voice/video conferencing.
It's always been fun talking with him about where the technology is going to lead, and he fully understands and can see the goals and potential ... yet he has also been very realistic in taking things one step at a time.
That's why I bought in quite a while ago ... and I told a bunch of friends about it ... we're all in under $3 and happy about it! ;-)
Scott C. Lemon |
