Virtual Meetings 1

Running Head: VIRTUAL MEETINGS IN A GLOBALIZED MARKETPLACE

Virtual Meetings in a Globalized Marketplace

Andrea Sitler

University of Maryland University College

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Abstract

Globalization has created the need for companies to locate alternative methods of

communication and meetings. International travel is time consuming and costly. Global

businesses can easily incur a half-million USD annual cost just in meetings. Technologies exist

that allow companies to save 80% of their meeting costs through the implementation of VoIP

services. VoIP allows the users to attend a meeting virtually saving them travel time and costs.
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Virtual Meetings in a Globalized Marketplace

Globalization has created the need for companies to locate alternative methods of

communication and meetings. International travel is time consuming and costly. A standard

flight from Dallas, TX to Frankfurt, Germany consumes ten business hours at an average cost of

$800USD per business traveler. Consideration for the time difference of seven hours, flying to

Germany from Texas results in the loss of seventeen hours or one full business day. Asian travel

can easily consume two business days at twice the cost per traveler. Additional travel costs

include ground transportation, parking, rental cars, motel and meals.

Attending a two-day global meeting easily consumes four business days and an incurred

cost of $1500USD per attendee. Smaller meetings of thirty business colleagues cost a company

$45,000USD in travel expenses. Meeting room rentals, handouts, preparation, entertainment and

other accessorial costs combined with the value of lost productivity easily nets $100,000USD per

global meeting. Incurring these costs on a quarterly basis means a company is spending almost

a half-million USD annually on meetings.

VoIP Options

Services based upon Voice over Internet Protocols (VoIP) are attracting more users each

year. "VoIP is able to deliver what older, legacy technologies cannot". (IPC, 2005) VoIP

services are accessed through a variety of methods. MultiSoft Conference Virtual Meeting Room

is a desktop application costing $24.95USD. Skype and Yahoo offer downloadable software

with both free and paid packages available. Internet based virtual meeting sites such as Second
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Life offer virtual meeting alternatives ranging in price from pennies per participant to over

$1000USD.

Companies are now available that specialize in offering VoIP services. Their business is

to create physical meeting rooms in which VoIP services are offered. Meeting rooms are rented

on a subscription or need basis. Users travel to the designated location and are then connected

via that providing company's VoIP network for their meeting time.

Any combination of these VoIP service offerings has represented tremendous savings

opportunities for the companies who choose these services over physical travel. "Businesses that

have installed VoIP phone systems report savings of as much as 50 percent on their local and

long distance calls". (Lent, 2004) Companies implementing VoIP phone and virtual meetings

are cutting costs up to 80%.

Industry Testing and Acceptance of VoIP

Traders have realized the value of VoIP. IPC published a White Paper on Trader usage

of VoIP in November 2005.

VoIP is meeting – and exceeding – the expectations of management and

technologists at trading firms of all sizes, around the world. VoIP takes the trading
environment’s voice communications to levels of efficiency and capability that were
impossible in a legacy circuit-based Time Division Multiplex (TDM) environment. VoIP
allows for nearly unlimited expansion of voice communications capabilities. As a
technology platform, the Internet Protocol (IP) has proven its ability to efficiently deliver
trader voice communications for more than five years, and is in use by many hundreds of
trading rooms and many thousands of traders, today. (IPC, 2005)
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(IPC, 2005)

With VoIP being a success in such a demanding environment, it is clear to see why other

companies find this growing technology appealing. Despite strict European regulations in

regards to telecommunication, VoEX has expanded its service base in London. This positive

approach to the proposed changes of 2010 has VoEX in a position to be a key player as VoIP

networks expand. (Cave, Prosperetti & Doyle, 2006)

Global Expansion of VoIP Availability

The global expansion of the VoEX network has further increased the reliability of VoIP

services and availability.

VoEX™ Inc., an IP managed-service provider bridging the gaps between VoIP-

carrying networks, announced that it has extended and equipped its managed VoIP
network to meet global voice carriers at three of the world’s largest interconnection hubs:
60 Hudson in New York, Equinix in Chicago, and Telehouse in London. Connections
made at these three "SuperPOPs"(points of presence) give VoEX’s peering customers
and partners core IP access to tens of millions of wireless and wireline, VoIP- and TDM-
based telephony end points. (IntelePeer, 2007)

VoIP Technology in Application

During the "Spring Kickoff Event" in 2008 for Kubota Tractor Corporation (KTC), a

Director commented, "Welcome to a ten-million dollar meeting". KTC is the American

counterpart for Kubota Corporation, a Japanese based company. Each year KTC holds a "Spring

Kickoff Event" in which all new product lines are introduced and tested. Sales people from all

140 locations in the United States as well as international guests bring their spouses to Torrance,

CA for a four-day convention. All home office personnel and their spouses are invited to attend.
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Out of state attendees, reside at the Radisson Convention Center on the Pacific Ocean in

Redondo Beach. Nightly entertainment is provided. Leased tour buses transport the attendees to

places like the Comedy Club. The CEO of Kubota Corporation flew in from Japan to join the

festivities. An annual fall event incurs an even greater cost. Select annual "winners" receive a

two week all expense paid trip for two to tour the company facilities throughout Japan. As the

economy turned and drought or flooding reduced sales in over 80% of the US market, new

methods for product advertising and communication came under investigation. Virtual meeting

were one of the considerations in an effort to reduce costs.

Private VoIP networks have been in use with large companies like Northrop Grumman

since the 1990s. These privately maintained networks allowed Northrop Grumman's global base

of companies to perform virtual face-to-face meetings without leaving their buildings. Video

and audio capabilities were incorporated into this separate network. Northrop Grumman is a

leading contractor for the US Government therefore all travel, meetings and communications

must be secure. Their proprietary VoIP network was designed to provide a secure and cost

effective method of communication. Travel outside of the United States is highly regulated for

anyone holding a Security Clearance. VoIP enhanced virtual meetings provided a means for

clear and effective communications without the concerns of international travel restrictions. To

maintain security of the network, the IT team, of which I was a part, had very limited access to

this separate VoIP network. Access to this network was on a need basis when one of our

particular skill sets was required.

Skype offers a platform to accommodate group meetings. Environtainer, a Swedish

company with offices in the US, Europe, South America, Australia, Africa and throughout Asia

uses this service to conduct their weekly staff meetings. It is the belief of the VP of Operations
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that "seeing the people in the other offices promotes company unity." (P. Tobler, personal

communication, 2006) The IT Manager, Clause Bjorn, chose Skype for usage due to the

fundamental workings of the software. "Skype is a more secure platform then Yahoo, which by

design has too many back doors which invite network invasion". (C. Bjorn, personal

communication, 2006)

Skype, a European based service, is very similar to Yahoo Messenger in that it was

designed for instant messaging as well as voice service. Each user must install the Skype

program on their computer then designate a name and password. Free and pay versions are

available depending on the level of service desired. Skype meeting options allows ten internet

access points without charge. A designated group leader must register the company for a

meeting time. Group access codes, including a password and phone number are then received.

Groups who wish to have participants join via cell or land phones, exceed ten internet access

points or desire a designated virtual meeting room can obtain these services through a paid

subscription. Communication in the meeting forum can be via voice or text messaging limited

only by the technology available on each user's computer. Mixed usage is acceptable during a

meeting. File sharing and the viewing of slideshows such as a PowerPoint presentation may

occur. Skype offers a very versatile platform for a low cost.

Prior to Envirotainer's transition to Skype, mid and senior level personnel were constantly

traveling from office to office to conduct business. International phone calls were as

commonplace as a homemaker calling the neighbor. Skype's services replaced 75% of these

expenses. Flights that averaged $800USD per person were now replaced by a virtual meeting,

which cost less than €50 per year for group usage. (Skype Limited, 2009) Skype instant

messaging replaced the international and long distance phone calls except in emergency or
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extremely detailed situations. Reduction in international travel not only saved on costs but

increased productivity. Workers now spent their time in the office instead of in an airport. All

quickly and clearly, saw the benefits of this transition.

Skype's popularity among users may be attributed to it low bandwidth usage. In a black

box study conducted by Saikat Guha of Cornell University and Ravi Jain Neil Daswani of

Google during September 1, 2005 to January 14, 2006 over 82 million datapoints were collected

regarding the population of online clients, the number of supernodes and their traffic

characteristics. The surveyors concluded that:

Skype uses spare network and computing resources of hundreds of thousands of

supernodes, and little additional infrastructure to handle calls, as compared to traditional
telephone companies and wireless carriers who rely on expensive, dedicated, circuit-
switched infrastructure. We analyzed the role this peertopeer network plays in the
context of VoIP. We found that Skype supernodes incur a small network cost for
participating in the Skype network. Skype supernode uses very little bandwidth most of
the time. The bandwidth used by our supernode is plotted for 30-second intervals. Fifty
percent of the time, our supernode consumes less than 205 bps.

VoIP silence suppression. We also observe that Skype does not use silence
suppression and sources 33 packets per second for all VoIP connections regardless of
speech characteristics. Clearly using this simple technique could reduce client bandwidth
consumption. It would also reduce supernode bandwidth because calls that cannot be
completed in a direct peertopeer fashion are relayed via a supernode. In addition, Skype's
use of peertopeer potentially represents a convenient looking glass into a global VoIP/IM
network. (Guha & Daswani, 2006)

VoIP Implementation at The DOT Doctor

Implementing what I had learned in regards to VoIP technology during these consulting

engagements, I investigated the usage of this technology for my own gain. Travel is a large part

of my consulting business, The DOT Doctor. Even domestic travel is costly and time

consuming. Most business phone calls are long distance or international. Yahoo Phone Out was

considered but the quality of the service made this choice unacceptable.
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Magic Jack offered a cost effective solution for my phone bill. Combining VoIP

technology with their hardware, phone calls are made using a standard telephone connected to

the internet. The cost is $19.95USD per year and less when you pay for multiple years in one

billing. (Magic Jack, 2009) Usage is the same as that of a landline. Calls are received via your

assigned phone number and no one knows you are not using a traditional phone service. My

phone bill is now a tenth of its normal cost.

Flexibility is necessary when offering a virtual meeting to a client. Many clients are

limited by their IT Department and computer capabilities. J.J. Keller, a Wisconsin based safety

supply company, insisted on the usage of a rental VoIP service for virtual meetings. Keller was

making the move to this method of communication in an effort to reduce travel costs. The

company they chose offered a subscription service and provided offices in many major cities

throughout the US. Access to your virtual meeting room was not via computer but in a physical

room designed by the service provided. Local travel was required to the provider's facility where

you then engaged in your virtual meeting. In theory, this was a good plan. In execution, rooms

were rarely available and not conveniently located to most of their cliental. Technical

difficulties at the facilities further compounded the availability issues of the service offering. (K.

Coopman, personal communication, 2009)

Second Life as a Virtual Meeting Platform

Skype and Second Life (SL) have been the top choices of my clients for virtual meetings.

Second Life, an online virtual world created by Linden Research, Inc of California, offers a

gathering place for online student groups and global businesspersons. The University of

Maryland University Campus' Computing Student Club (CMTR900) has created a virtual
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meeting place in SL. Businesses are using SL to reduce the cost of travel. Like any virtual

meeting place, SL offers an array of pros and cons. Boardroom furniture, presentation systems

and meeting areas are available in-world. Handouts and other traditional meeting items are

available for presentation at the meetings and conferences. The tiny SL screens fill your

computer monitor once you us your SL camera controls to line up the presentation area. There

are a wide variety of graphic settings offered. The graphics range from low to very high

resolution, which is all, based upon the capabilities of your computer's graphic card and internet

connection speed. This inventive use of information technology allows for face-to-face meetings

for companies whose personnel are not in one location. IBM has been using SL for virtual

meetings for two years and found the experience to be successful. ("Getting a (Second) Life",

2007) SL removes the boundaries of age, appearance and ethnicity allowing for the

concentration on business and learning.

Costs of SL meetings vary from a low budget rental facility costing pennies per attendee

to a $1000USD acquisition of a company sim. Sims are a 256X256 square meter virtual land

mass upon which structures are built. Establishing an optional common last name for each

company member costs an additional $500USD. Purchased items incur additional monthly fees

for upkeep. IBM uses their eight sims for training of new employees as well as college

recruitment. ("Getting a (Second) Life", 2007)

Conclusion

Virtual meetings and VoIP technology are growing in acceptance and usage worldwide.

"Industry revenue data show that communications is no longer dominated by voice calling over

traditional circuit-switched network, but is conducted in multiple ways using multiple

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technologies." (Lent, 2004) Virtual meetings save time and money. Just as the "Virtual

Meeting" television commercial shows us, consultants and business people with multiple global

cliental can conduct business at opposite ends of the world all in a single day through the use of

VoIP technologies. Companies and individuals are enjoying the freedom and cost savings they

experience from these services. As optical internet capabilities like, Verizon's FIOS continue to

spread and companies such as CISCO and VoEX establish new hubs; VoIP service offerings will

further increase in popularity. VoIP technologies benefit today's globalized marketplace.

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References

Cave, M., Prosperetti, L. & Doyle, C. (2006). Where are we going? Technologies, markets and

long-range public policy issues in European communications. Information Economics

and Policy, 18. doi:10.1016/j.infoecopol.2006.06.002.

Guha, S. & Daswani, R. (2006). An Experimental Study of the Skype Peer-to-Peer VoIP System.

Retrieved from http://www.iptps.org/papers-2006/Guha-skype06.pdf.

IntelePeer. (2007). VoEX Extends Its Reach Around The World For End-To-End VoIP. Retrieved

from http://www.intelepeer.com/news/newsandarticles_article.php?DID=9.

IPC. (2005). VoIP: Meeting the needs for a focused approach to voice communications.

Retrieved from http://www.ipc.com/repository/document/255.pdf.

Lent, L. (2004). The Transformation of the Telecommunications Industry. Presentation at

George Mason University School of Law to Telecommunications Policy Research

Conference, Arlington, VA.

Magic Jack. (2008). Magic Jack. Retrieved on May 9, 2009 from http://www.magicjack.com.

Skype Limited. (2009). Skype. Retrieved on April 3, 2009 from http:// www.skype.com.