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AUDIO,WEBANDvideo-conferencingwillallallowyouto meetanyone,anywhereatanytime-but whichisthebest? Let'slookat markettrendsand takeadvantageofthe wisdomofothers.Audio-conferencingisstillthefavouredool for meetingsand itsusecontinueso rise.Billableminutesnthe South Pacificegionhavealmostdoubled nthepastwoyears.PricesnAustraliahavenotdroppedgreatly,but ifthe USAisanindicator(asitusually is)thenwe're infor massivepricedropsinthe nexttwoyears,The followingtrends haveemergedintheUSA, accordingto TeleSpanPublishingompany;I Thepricehas allenas lowas halfacentperminutein some instances.I Freeconference.comid l4millionminutesof"free"calls in August-growingaI30Yo month.IThe averagepriceor fullyautomatedserviceshas allen10o/oo 30%eachyearsince2001.I Pricesverallhave allen16Yoyear.Web-conferencingsthe newkidontheblock andgrowinginusage.Mostservicesreport40Yoo 100%ncreasesinusage,howeverhis is fromasmalluserbase, Thosewhoneedto shareimagesandare migratingto web-conferencingincluderesearchers,financialhousesandadvertisingagencies.hetrainingsectorsslowlycatchingonto thecapabilitiesofweb-conferencingand we'llsee itintroducedo enhancee-learningpro-gramsna big wayinthe comingyear.Video-conferencinghashadsomebadpresshisyearbeingreferredo as"oneofhe mostpromising,ndhere-foremostdisappointing,echnologiesofthe future"(SMH25103103lrHowever,thoseorganisationsthatknowhowtouse iteffectivelyhavesubstitutedmanyoftheir nationalandinternationalmeetingswiththe onlytechnologyhat isalmostasgoodasbeinghere.Video-conferencingremainsthepreferredcommunicationtoolforeducation,rainingandobinterviews.Anyapplicationthat isenhancedbyseeingheotherpersonivewillcon-tinueto find video-conferencinghemosteffectiveool,Someuserssubstitutedaudioandwebfor videofor26%of callsinthefirsthalfof 2003.Video-conferencings ina stateoffluxwiththe migrationo lPratherthan ISDN,whichhasbeenheplat-formofchoice orover 10years.Thismigrationhascausedoperationalproblemsunseensincethewidespreadadoptionof thetechnologyinAustralianthe early'90s.However,whenusers migratetheirvideo-conferencingo lB theirusagesgoingup.Thisprobablyhasmucho do withprice,s an Pnetworkandeliverhighqualitymagesatafractionofthe costof usingcommercialSDNproviders.Currently,bout10%of internationalvoiceisoverlB accordingto Tele-geographywhileTeleSpanoteshat