Talk Is Cheap, but Valuable – at Least InnoMedia Hopes So

Banking on consumer appetite for more chat and less expense, InnoMedia today is introducing a multi-pronged VoIP product – BuddyTalk – aimed at an expanding base of consumer users.

BuddyTalk runs off Internet connections ranging from 28.8 Kb/s to broadband and handles multiparty conferencing, PC-to-PC calling, PC-to-phone and instant messaging, said Robert Selzler, InnoMedia’s marketing vice president.

“It’s a full duplex natural conversation thanks to this server-based mixing that takes place,” Selzler said. “There’s no additional burden on the PC and no additional bandwidth requirement.”

The server-based mixing makes the whole thing run, added Arthur Vaysman, InnoMedia’s product manager.

“We do conferencing and voice mixing on a network, not a client,” he explained. “This allows clients to use a dial-up connection to hear voices of multiple participants.”

And that, said Vaysman, is a rarity in the IP word.

“All the voice goes on our network server which mixes voices and generates a stream of voices and sends it back to the participant so each participant hears multiple parties speaking at the same time (over) a single stream of data,” he said.

BuddyTalk, which will be distributed via InnoMedia and partners yet to be named, requires a multimedia PC with Windows 98 or 2000 and a small software download that will be available, among other places, on the InnoMedia Web site.

“Beginning in August we’ll have partners who will start distributing it and in that case it will be on CD,” Selzler continued.

The product, he said, is aimed at “a whole gamut of customers” but its initial targets will be teens and young adults (who are already accustomed to instant messaging and multitasking), families doing conferencing, distance learning and small office/home office (SOHO) remote business users.

InnoMedia plans to make money in several places. It will collect $3 an hour for group conferences of up to 10 participants—with the first participant footing the bill—and for PC-to-phone connections. It will also license its software to the unnamed partners. And, finally, it will make money off hardware upgrades to make the conferencing even friendlier, Selzler said.

“We can go back to these people and upsell them any of our appliances and devices if they want even better quality,” he said.

Finally, there is BuddyTalk’s the intangible value.

“Not too many people have heard of InnoMedia. BuddyTalk, in its nature and appeal, and the fact that it’s going to be a broadly available product, will help get the InnoMedia name out there,” he said.

The BuddyTalk system, from the control side, consists of an InnoMedia presence server, Web server, conferencing server, conferencing bridge and call agent.

“The product isn’t shipping yet. It’s still in beta,” Selzler cautioned.