Video Conferencing: Why are On Premise Server Based Solutions the Safest ?

April 17th, 2018 by ali No comments »

Data security is not for the cloud, as it needs a total control of resources to be really effective. Therefore, the safest video conferencing tools will remain on premise still for long

In 2016 – then, not so long ago – an unknown hacker was able to break into an important conference of the leaders of Quebec Liberal Party and hear the whole discussion about the strategy of the party. Luckily, he had no malicious intent. He promptly alerted the security staff, and there was the happy end.

He was not alone. According to the magazine Security, hackers attack computers with an internet access every 39 seconds. In most cases, attacks are made by bots – a diminutive for robots – or by human hackers that employs automated scripts that hit indiscriminately millions of PC`s at a time. This number gives an idea of how serious the issue of security is today. Risks are high especially for users that utilize video conferencing, as this technology massively relies on the web to work.

How to efficiently tackle with the problem of data security during video conferences? Experts have always said that a crucial step is to take control of the flow of data into and out your network. This is true also for next generation security firewalls and IPS. But this implies to remain on premise, as it is the only way to maintain a whole control: nothing is thus going to change next years. In other words, on-premise server based solutions, like R-HUB`s suite TurboMeeting, is and will be the safest video conferencing tools for long.

This is not as bad as it may seem at first sight. Today, on-premise servers are able to offer all the ease and comfort of cloud based solutions. TurboMeeting (http://www.rhubcom.com) servers, for example, are plug-and-play machines: once pulled your server out of the box, you have simply to put its plug into the power socket, and everything happens itself.  Even updates are remotely managed. Therefore, users don’t need to worry about anything. The sizes of R-HUB`s servers are so small that they can be easily placed on the shelve of a bookcase. Noise is very loud, at the point that no dedicated cabinet is necessary to store them.

Naturally, the choice of the best technological solution varies according to the rate of risk tolerance that a company can accept. Organizations are different, and they have different risk tolerance rates. For example, it is obvious that the Pentagon wants to keep a total control on everything, while organizations with less data sensitivity like small businesses prefer going on cloud. However, modern on premise servers could be a practical solution even for this second category of users. Not only because they are small-sized, but also for the price. As paradoxical as it may sound, on-premise servers can cost less than software based solutions.

In conclusion, on-premise server based video conferencing solutions are irreplaceable in terms of security. They are the safest conferencing tools available, and the scenario is not going to change next years, despite the advent of clouds. But contrary to the past, today’s on premise servers are inexpensive and user-friendly, and the point that they are similar, not to say equal, to cloud based solutions in terms of ease, scalability and fastness of implementation.

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Are You Really Safe in Your Conference Room?

April 14th, 2018 by ali No comments »

Zuckerberg’s troubles related to Cambridge Analytica remind us how important data security is in the digital era. The solution? Safe technologies and rigid security protocols

Sometimes, events seem to happen as there was an obscure, hidden design behind them. In 2017, Zuckerberg announced proudly that Facebook was getting ahead of its competitors in the march toward the building of the virtual office and a totally new virtual environment for video conferences; today, Zuckerberg’s misfortunes remind us how fallacious can be the fate of humans, and, in particular, how important data security is.

When you are in your conference room, you are not safe, especially if you are using a web application. The intrinsically public nature of the web makes it the ideal haven for hackers and digital thugs of any sort. Stealing your unavailable business data is easier than you could expect. No matter how far the progress of software technology goes: today, there isn’t yet a web conferencing app that could be deemed as safe as 100%. Therefore, you have to be careful and take any possible measure to protect your digital data during whatever conference call.

What shall you do? The first step is to choose a safe technology. Today, on-premise server based solutions for audio and video conferencing are still the only way to enjoy your online conversations without fear for hackers and data leaks. Despite the huge progress of cloud and browser based solutions, some few recent cases give evidence that there is still some way to go. The old, good on-premise server’s are thus irreplaceable for every industry that relies strongly on data safety, like, for example, law firms, hospitals, or the government.

However, – the reader will think – servers are cumbersome and noisy, and they need an expensive team of technicians that constantly take care of them. Luckily, the progress has changed this scenario. Now, there are new kinds of on-premise virtual conferencing servers that are extremely small, very silent, self-installing and self-configuring. This way, there is no need of a dedicated cabinet or IT team. In other words, you can have all the advantages of on-premise servers merged plus the advantages of software based solutions in the same product.

An example of this new concept of on-premise servers for virtual-conferencing is R-HUB`s suite TurboMeeting (http://www.rhubcom.com). As small as a book, R-HUB`s servers can be easily placed on the shelf of your bookcase. Reliable and powerful, they assure you the best in term of real collaboration and data protection, at a cost that is even lower than some software based solutions.

The second step is to create and follow a rigid data security protocol. No matter how secure the technology you utilize is, when you let everybody know your password, or it is possible to spy your team members from behind. It is also necessary to study, write and implement a rigid data security protocol and ask every member of your team to conform to the basic safety rules that have been set inside your organization.

In conclusion, security remains a crucial aspect of video conferencing that cannot be ever neglected. But the adoption of an appropriate technology and a good safety protocol is usually enough to make you sleep well.

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Artificial Intelligence and Remote Collaboration: A Winning Mix

April 9th, 2018 by ali No comments »

AI is going to enhance remote collaboration in several ways, from addressing routine functions to contextual and predictive applications that will make virtual meetings more efficient and better aligned with people’s expectations

How much is AI going to change virtual conferences? This question ishighly rhetoric, as the answer cannot but be “a lot”. Chat boxes and Digital assistants have already given us a little taste of how much powerful this technology can be; therefore, let’s expect many disruptive changes in the near future. On the other side, AI and remote collaboration sounds to be a winning mix for several reasons: final users should enjoy a lot of benefits from the application of AI to virtual conferencing, in the end. Let’s see why.

First, there are a lot of menial tasks during a conference that could be happily delegated to AI, like complex dial-in, conference scheduling, content sharing and password management.  Joining and ending a virtual meeting – the so called conversational AI – is probably the first area that will profit from this technology.

Yet, conversational AI is not the way to exploit the real potential of AI. Image, facial and voice recognition are three areas where AI could bear fruits in a couple of years, if it is combined with big data, the second technology that is going to change the way we live. It will be possible to build applications with cognitive capabilities that are able to reshape the virtual conferencing world that we presently know.

Many repetitive manual tasks will be automatized this way, like, for example, taking meeting minutes and notes, or receiving follow ups after the conclusion of your meeting. Voice commands will allow users to conduct a conference by simply giving vocal orders, and facial recognition will enable your pc to assign tasks to the right participants to your conference.

An interesting application of AI is contextual conferencing: imagine a tool that can measure the level of engagement of your audience by monitoring nonverbal language and head movements. This could be helpful in order to check the success of a presentation, or else to adjust the frame of the video conference and adapt it to the device of each individual user.

Last, we have predictive AI, the frontier of this technology. Still far from being implemented, predictive AI will utilize big data to monitor and forecast the needs of your audience before they are aware of them. To give you an idea, imagine that your pc becomes able to read a whole library, in order to find the right quote to read during a virtual meeting and serve it to you one second before you think “an appropriate quote would be really helpful at this point. Ah, thank you, my virtual assistant. What would I do without you”.

In conclusion, the merge of virtual conferencing and AI is expected to bring about another revolution the extent of which is difficult to imagine now. Virtual meetings will be much more different from today in the future, with features and functionalities that we can barely imagine.

If you are interested to the applications of AI to video conferencing, please visit R-HUB`s blog (http://www.rhubcom.com), where you are going to find more useful resources and posts.

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5 Best Solutions For Your Mobile Video Conferences

April 7th, 2018 by ali No comments »

Video conferencing is the future of remote communication, even for smartphone owners. What video conferencing tool should you choose among the hundreds available on the market for your mobile video conferences? Here come five great video conferencing apps that really gives good value for money

“There is no limit to progress”, we say. And just eight years after the invention of the mobile phone, video calls have changed the way millions of people do business around the world. Through mobile video conferencing, it has become possible to meet your business partners virtually today, even while standing on the bus or waiting your flight at the airport. In order to benefit from this technology, you need simply to purchase the right video conferencing product. Here come my suggestions:

R-HUB`s TurboMeeting (http://www.rhubcom.com) is a powerful, inexpensive suite of servers that is able to cover all your needs in terms of remote support, remote control, audio and video conferencing, web conferencing, real time collaboration. Small and silent, R-HUB`s servers can be placed on a shelf of your bookcase.

They are totally self-installing and self-upgrading devices. Therefore, maintenance costs drop to zero. Coming to R-HUB`s servers features for mobiles, they offer support to the most important operating systems like iOS, Android and Linux. The graphic interface is really intuitive and easy to use, which is a great advantage for smartphones and tablets, as their small screens requires clear and quick-to-use graphic interfaces.

Zoom:  The strong point of this mobile app lays in its simplicity. The graphic interface is minimalist, skinny and with very intuitive buttons. This allows users to control their video calls with one or two clicks, which is great in situationswhen it is necessary to operate with only one hand. The amount of memory required is minimal, and it is possible to adjust the device for a better video resolution according to the quality of your internet connection. The cons: the number of participants to your video calls is limited to 50 / 500 people (TurboMeeting can reach 3000 people), according to your tariff plan.

Appear.in. This app for smartphones has been growing in popularity this year. It features several useful functionalities which range from the possibility for screen, link and text sharing without having to leave the conference to stickers to cover face. Unluckily, the number of allowed participants per conference is not very high (12 for premium plan), and it works well only on some browsers like Chrome.

EzTalks Meetings: Specifically designed to meet the needs of the 21 century businessman, this popular app is highly versatile, as it can be used in a high variety of situations, from audio and video conferences to online webinars. Among its much helpful functionalities, we find an interactive whiteboard and the possibility to record your conferences. The cons? After 40 minutes, group meetings end up.

Slack.  Its HD image quality is amazing. Your conference will seem as real as a physical rendezvous. Plus, the special feature for 1 to 1 meetings is really powerful and helpful. However, the number of participants is limited to 15, and there is no free version.

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How Artificial Intelligence Will Enhance Video Meetings

April 2nd, 2018 by ali No comments »

The future of video conferencing according to Robb Woods, director of Business Value and Solution Strategy at BlueJeans

How is Artificial Intelligence going to shape our future? A field where AI could be heavily applied is exactly video conferencing. Robb Woods, director at BlueJeans, has little, if no doubt. He describes a future when AI will help us in a way that is hardly imaginable today. And this future is near, not far: we are going to see the first AI applications to video conferences in a couple of years only.

Robb gives an interesting example of how AI could become helpful for a busy manager like him. He receives a lot of invitations to many video conferences a day, too many to attend each of them. A computer with AI could select the right invitations for Robb and discard the less interesting. More, AI could wear an avatar and act in behalf of Robb by answering questions, taking notes and placing kind calls of refuse to any unwanted invitation or of request for further information. Brilliant, isn’t it?

Another interesting trend that could disrupt video conferencing industry is downsizing. AI propels even more the trend of the last decades towards miniaturization of devices. This is possible through the combination of enhanced software services and more powerful hardware. We have already passed from dedicated conference rooms to small devices like R-HUB`s video conferencing servers (http://www.rhubcom.com) which have been downsized to the dimensions of a book and can be placed on a shelf of your bookcase. In future, devices will get even smaller: they could be placed on a finger ring or mounted in a pair of glasses.

Cloud computing could be also enhanced by AI, according to Robb. The race to cloud has already started in video conferencing industry, but AI could speed up a lot the process and bring about new disruptive technologies and scenarios. It is not a case that big companies are more and more involved on line. For instance, Microsoft has grown in the cloud market up to the point to become a leader. Amazon is going to follow Microsoft’s example by purchasing Biba, a mobile business conferencing app.

In conclusion, AI seems to be a powerful and strategic resource for video conferencing. It is going to highly disrupt this industry as a whole and particularly video conferencing services and tools, in order to offer new and more advanced solutions to users. AI revolution is not a remote, far perspective: it will happen and affect our daily tasks very soon.

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