28 February 2005

Videoconference by Internet and satellite reduces the digital divide

As part of a European program to encourage technological innovation, an experimental program to test the use of broadband by satellite has linked 21 sites across the Provence-Alpes-Cote d'Azur region (PACA) in France. The program is led by Hautes-Alpes Développement (HAD) and has been financed by the EU (FEDER), the French government, the PACA Region and the Départements Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, Hautes-Alpes, Alpes-Maritimes, Var and Vaucluse.

The program aims to bring broadband and rich multimedia to users in the PACA region, and to develop new multimedia users including colleges, museums, ski stations, businesses and public services sharing different platforms for content management, images in 3D and videoconferencing by the Internet.

To develop Internet uses, HAD has chosen Marratech to experiment with videoconferencing between the different communities participating in the project.  

HAD spent four months evaluating different web conferencing and collaboration solutions testing audio and video quality and the ability to share documents before selecting Marratech.  Said Frédérique Fell, head of information and communication technologies at HAD: "We measured the overall performance, ease of use and the stability of the systems. Marratech fulfils all our criteria. It is simple to use and it is easy to train users. The use of videoconferencing on the web helps users create better structured meetings.

”Alexandre Forest, project leader for the experiments and an independent consultant added: “After the tests of various solutions with our supplier, IP Technologies, HAD chose Marratech because it is a cross platform solution compatible with Windows, MAC and Linux, its is a full IP solution, the free client is available without limit and it is easy to use.

Alexandre Forest, project leader for the experiments and an independentconsultant added: “After the tests with the various solutions with our suipplier,  IP Technologies, HAD choseMarratech because it is a cross platform solution compatible with Windows, MACand Linux, its is a full IP solution, the free client is available without limit and it iseasy to use.

“Marratech simplifies creating and working to a meeting agenda and note taking becomes less demanding because everyone can record the meeting and review it later” With the Marratech eMeeting portal installed on a Linux Fedora server, colleges, local government, businesses, ski resorts and museums in remote and mountainous zones can now meet and collaborate on the web over satellite broadband.ends388 words