Web and Video Conferencing Software for
Online Meeting & Collaboration

Welcome to WiredRed UK Ltd

The UK office of San Diego based WiredRed Software / Nefsis Corporation

Video Conferencing Made Easy

Web and Video Conferencing Company

WiredRed Software was formed in 1998 in San Diego, California and is widely known as a technology leader in enterprise real-time communications software. WiredRed's software applications heritage include e/pop secure instant messaging (IM) and e/pop company-wide alert messaging as well as e/pop web and video conferencing. Nefsis®, the newest version of and effectively the replacement for e/pop was launched in late 2008 and is a revolutionary improvement to all web and video conferencing products available today. WiredRed opened its UK office in 2004 following increasing European demand for on-line meeting software and web-conferencing applications. It was also important to provide local support for the growing UK and European customer base. WiredRed UK is located in Chichester - a town famous for its picturesque position on the south coast in Sussex, yet only 75 miles from London, and of course only seconds away on-line...

Web Conferencing Software

Videoconferencing on its own is generally still seen as a "management tool" and harks back to the days when only management had a phone on their desks. Most employees (i.e. disregarding those in manufacturing, production, "shop floor" type roles, etc) use a PC these days and even have the "luxury" (or misfortune?) of having a telephone on their desk and their own email address - isn't that just the norm? More and more companies are investing in converged IP voice & data networks, increasingly referred to as Unified Communications, in order to enhance their communications capabilities. Web conferencing, video conferencing, telepresence, webinars, teleconferencing and online meetings are becoming ubiquitous for multi-site / multi-party collaboration. Moreover, web and video conferencing is increasingly part of the 'technology arsenal' employed by mid-market IT organizations to help them reap the benefits of globalisation, take advantage of outsourcing opportunities, and compete with companies many times their size. Web Conferencing is easily deployed across an organisation for use by people both inside and outside of the organisation with the added benefit of not having to have dedicated "real estate" to do so.

Nefsis web conferencing software includes PowerPoint, application and desktop sharing, as well as audio (VoIP) and multi-party video conferencing, remote control, and a complete set of intuitive controls over layouts, bandwidth and all aspects of the web conference. The use of dynamic, on-line collaboration helps companies reduce travel costs and reduce their carbon footprint whilst at the same time improving employees' work-life balance by reducing the need to spend so much time travelling. What's more, Nefsis web conferencing is extremely scalable, starting with small meetings of up to 5 concurrent users and scaling up to 500+ users for true mega meeting sized conferences, webinars and online meetings. With Nefsis, our next generation, on-demand video conferencing service, this can scale to unlimited concurrent meeting attendees.

Nefsis is also available as an on-premise web and video conferencing software application, complementing the existing hosted web conferencing service. The installable on-premise application may often be the best choice for companies that are primarily interested in secure video conferencing rather than traditional point-to-point video conferencing hardware. For meetings and collaboration between internal and external users, Nefsis utilises SSL/TLS encryption, and also supports the use of a customer's own PKI (on-premise installation only) for the highest level of secure web conferencing available. Alternatively, Nefsis as a hosted video conferencing service provides complete peace of mind and ease-of-use for busy, security conscious IT teams.

Multi-point Video Conferencing Software

Nefsis Internet video conferencing uses a browser-based client, enabling collaboration and on-line meetings with participants anywhere with intranet or internet connectivity. It is far more cost-effective than expensive, traditional, point-to-point video conferencing hardware installations. Nefsis uses MPEG4 for video encoding/decoding and many customers use Nefsis for its superior video conferencing features alone . We also provide information and guidance on a wide range of video conferencing equipment to use with our software application. This can range from inexpensive webcams right through to broadcast quality cameras and almost any audio equipment. Many of our customers use Nefsis as a modern-day alternative to room based video conferencing hardware in order to help reduce their company's carbon footprint.

Installation, Training and Support Services
Nefsis customers have access to email and telephone hotline support services for all of the company’s products together with an on-line electronic forum. Nefsis web conferencing includes complimentary pre and post sale support and training, assistance with Nefsis evaluation plus software installation and deployment. Our on-line Video Conferencing Guide also helps provide Best-in-Class web and video conferencing support for complete self-service use. For critical requirements, WiredRed can provide custom, on-site pre-sales systems analysis, implementation and training.

Because Nefsis can reach virtually any business desktop, it is arguably among the best green communications technologies, providing immediate repeat travel and commute-time reductions and a practical method for organisations to reduce their carbon footprint. For a commentary about "Nefsis Cloud Computing Meets Parallel Processing Technology" see the How it Works article.

Web Conferencing Research & Competition
The following resources may be helpful in researching web conferencing software, services and alternative solutions.

Microsoft (http://www.microsoft.co.uk/) was the developer of NetMeeting, amongst other things! NetMeeting was designed for direct PC to PC connections, it does not work well between firewalls, and Microsoft support was discontinued in 2005. Nefsis complies with proxy and firewall security standards, providing excellent connectivity for inter-office and business-to-business online meetings, is secure, and it has far more features such as multi-party video conferencing at up to 30 frames per second (FPS).

Microsoft introduced Live Meeting following its purchase of Placeware in 2003. Microsoft's pricing model includes: named user, per room, monthly minutes or shared seats. With the introduction of Windows Vista, Microsoft includes Office Live Meeting which provides hosted web conferencing and application sharing. With the addition of Windows Meeting Space it will enable file, desktop and application sharing across networks for up to 10 people in the same virtual room.

To enable voice conferencing, video conferencing and/or web conferencing, users and organisations will require Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 (OCS Server) and Microsoft Office Communicator 2007 client (Microsoft's unified communications client ). At the moment, Microsoft Office Communicator 2007 is included in Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2007 and Microsoft Office Professional Enterprise 2007only (see 2007 Microsoft Office system suites). Microsoft Office Communicator 2007 was released in the second quarter of 2007. International versions of Microsoft Office Communicator 2007 were released in the second half of 2007. The Office Communications Server 2007 reference architecture shows a web conferencing edge server, A/V edge server(s), HTTP reverse proxy server, Communicator Web Access app server, Mediation server, Front End server for registration and presence and a backend SQL server, plus conferencing servers for A/V, data and IM.

WebEx (http://www.webex.co.uk/) is the largest online web conferencing service provider - generally charging on a per user model (per minute). Webex was purchased by Cisco during 2007. e/pop is already a well proven, on-premise, software alternative to WebEx and Nefsis will provide enhanced capabilities for small, medium and large organisations - WebEx does not provide the option for on-premise configurations. On-premise software has fundamental advantages for some companies. It runs on your server(s) in your network, it is exclusively available for your use and you have far more access, bandwidth, and feature controls. As a result Nefsis is usually more secure (use your own PKI or system generated certificate) and less expensive than usage-based services. For those companies that require a hassle-free WebEx alternative online meeting application or service, Nefsis is the ideal on-line collaboration solution.

TANDBERG® (http://www.tandberg.net/) is again mostly a boardroom videoconferencing company.Tandberg has offered web conferencing support to its customers via a partnership with WebEx and this has been significantly strengthened by Cisco's Recommended Offer to Acquire TANDBERG which will expand its collaboration portfolio. Tandberg also has a PC-based solution, called Movi, that "enables busy professionals to enjoy PC-based, visual communication from anywhere at anytime without making an appointment with the IT department", but whether this survives the inevitable WebEx and Tandberg product consolidation is anyone's guess.

Polycom (http://www.polycom.com) concentrates mostly on boardroom video conferencing and generally requires application specific routers and other infrastructure hardware for desktop video conferencing. To experience the difference between web conferencing software vs Video Conferencing hardware, ask for a live demonstration from their office to your desktop (without opening additional ports on your firewall). Interestingly enough, Polycom licensed the right to distribute the Microsoft RoundTable, as of April 13 2009. Microsoft then ceased selling the RoundTable themselves, instead it is now officially known as the Polycom CX5000 Unified Conference Station. So, with Cisco buying Tandberg, will the Microsoft / Polycom collaboration become even stronger or will IBM, Dell, HP or even Apple make a play for Polycom?

The Polycom CX5000 is a plug-and-play device that connects to a PC via USB, so no extra provisioning or configuration is needed and it works extremely well with Nefsis as described in this Polycom CX5000 review.

Genesys Conferencing (http://www.genesys.com/), not to be confused with Genesys the contact centre company (http://www.genesyslab.com/) - providers of the Genesys Real-Time Customer Interaction Suite, and Genesys Meeting Center - offering on-line pay as you go virtual communications and collaboration services. Genesys Conferencing has been a leading provider of converged collaboration and communication services for over 20 years. Genesys also offers a free 15-day evaluation of their Genesys Meeting Centre.

Useful sources of information & IT news
http://www.computerweekly.co.uk/ – one of the top computer weeklies for UK based IT news and information, regularly including convergence and collaboration, security & easy administration of corporate IT networks
http://www.computing.co.uk/ – one of the UK's leading publications serving the business and information needs of IT professionals
http://www.itweek.co.uk/ – aimed at providing up to date information to senior managers within the UK's IT industry. Regular features on VoIP, Webcast software, convergence, web conferencing and collaboration as well as a whole host of IT news and analysis.
http://www.crn.co.uk/ – content rich news and analysis regularly featuring communications software and other essential infromation for VARs Integrators and convergence resellers.
http://news.zdnet.co.uk/communications/ – news and analysis regarding communications, networking, collaboration software and appliances together with other essential convergence information.

Useful sources of general news
http://www.yahoo.com/ – a good general research tool.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/ – UK and world news from the world's favourite broadcaster.
http://www.sky.com/ – another great news site.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/ – UK and world news from the world's favourite broadcaster.
http://news.independent.co.uk/ – UK and world news from the world's favourite broadcaster.
http://www.ft.com – The latest UK and international business, finance, economic and political news, comment and analysis from the Financial Times
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/ – A global view on world, UK and business news and comment from The Times
http://www.guardian.co.uk/ – The on-line version of the award winning Guardian and Observer newspapers, having a keen following in the education and public sector marketplace.

Green Buying – Sustainable Purchasing Support for businesses, councils and charities.
Green Mega-Meeting – McDonalds decides to green its meetings with huge recycling effort!