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Working toward the ultimate goal of making “everything possible video-capable,” Sony Electronics has partnered with GlowPoint Inc. to launch Instant Video Everywhere, a consumer-oriented Internet telephony option that offers free video VOIP calling capability worldwide, the companies announced Wednesday.
IVE is a standards-based application that combines desktop video services with voice-over-IP capability. The IVE service is compatible with a number of communication devices (such as cell phones and laptops) and enables live, face-to-face interactions between users, regardless of whether they have Web cam access, according to a recent news release.
“We look at video communication as the final frontier in terms of thinking about the ways people can connect,” said David Trachtenberg, CEO and president of GlowPoint. “We are visual beings, consistently bombarded by one-way video. Moving forward, what were talking about here is two-way real-time video communication.”
Sonys IVE service is available at the consumer or enterprise level, upping the overall VOIP ante. It uses patent-pending standards-based technology to allow users to place and receive audio or video calls to any mobile phone, traditional telephone or videoconferencing system.
“With the current options available on the market, users can only communicate with people in their network,” said Trachtenberg. “With the IVE solution you can now connect to anyone, anywhere, including cell phones and land lines.”