The Skype Mega Conference is here. Now up to 500 people with Skype can participate in the same conference call. (Now how does that work? 500 talking at once!). Last week I met Ben Lilienthal who introduced me to Vapps and the premium service they are working to create. Despite the availablity of FreeConference.com, he believes that there is a viable market for this type of mega service. Over 100 is a premium service at FC's at 10 cents per minute. The High Speed Conferencing solution will require Skype participants to have a SkypeOut account. Rates for conference callers are likely to be 3 cents per minute.

As Ben took me through the details I could see a whole group of opportunities emerging for products like this. From "Expert Panels" to "meeting places". This initial integration merely shows what may be done. It's conservative in retaining a traditional cents per minute charging structure and just scratches the surface on integrating Skype into conference management. As a plus they have effectively eliminated the need for DTMF on registration. Apart from being a bugbear on Skype (often producing errors) this reflects the capability to bring Skype profiles into the conference management system. Their Personalization option adds to this.

Additional integration opportunities (for the future) include invites by Skype IM, MultiChats for the conference attendees, screen sharing etc. No video at this time.

What do I think? I don't quite understand the need for pricing on a cents / minute basis. The real value is in the setup. Thus pay $50 to set up a four person panel with up to 500 invites etc. Enable meeting rooms for meeting new people; could be a subscription etc. The Personalisation option is worth having if all the communication is via Skype. E.g. Invites over Skype, Multichat support etc. What I want to see is a Skype enabled conference capability that adds to innovation. This is a first step.

For now the beta test is free. Who's going to invite me to the first Skype 500 Mega Conference? For press release details see below.

PRESS CONTACT: Steve Fiore SZPR (858) 427-1667 fiore@szpr.com

Vapps Brings Large Scale Audio Conferencing Service to Skype Users

Highspeedconferencing.com, the New Vapps Global Voice Service, Connects the Skype Community Through Multi-Party Conference Call, with up to 500 Participants Per Call

HOBOKEN, NJ — Jan. 30, 2006 — Vapps, a leading global provider of audio conferencing systems and services for converged networks, today announced the first multi-party audio conferencing service for the Skype™ community, supporting up to 500 participants per call. Powered by Vapps, the service, Highspeedconferencing.com, gives Skype users the ability to communicate by hosting or joining conference calls with up to 500 participants using any type of Skype, wireless or traditional telephone calling device from any where in the world.

Highspeedconferencing.com has all the features of a traditional conference calling service such as standard call management (volume control, muting, participant announcing, conference locking and recording) along with sophisticated moderator features for Web-based on-demand call control. An upcoming premium service available in early February will target advanced business class users and incorporate conference call recording and Web-based question and answer sessions.

“For the first time, Skype users can enjoy the benefits of full featured multi-party conference calling at any time and from any place,” said Ben Lilienthal, CEO and co-founder of Vapps. “Furthermore, our service can be accessed by any type of network and is a testament to our commitment for bringing high quality converged communications to the marketplace.”

Highspeedconferencing.com has two distinct service options:

HIGH SPEED allows Skype users to join conferences by dialing +990008271111 on Skype and entering their conference room number. All non-Skype users can dial 1-419-753-7120 in the United States, or 0870-119-2350 in the United Kingdom, then enter the conference room number via dial pad. To instantly host a new conference, all Highspeedconferencing.com users can press 0 when prompted and a conference room number will be automatically assigned.

GET PERSONAL option issues customers a permanent, lifetime Skype conferencing number that automatically places the user into their own personal conferencing room and grants access to all Web-based call control features. The customer has the choice of using Skype or a standard telephone to place calls. Registration for GET PERSONAL is free. The U.S. number for this service is 1-419-753-7120 and the UK number is 0870-119-2350.

Powering the Highspeedconferencing.com service is the Vapps CB1000 conferencing platform. CB1000 is a SIP-enabled, carrier-grade conferencing platform that delivers reliable, seamless reservation-less conference calls on both legacy and IP-based telecom systems. The product supports up to 20,000 total conference participants in multiple simultaneous conferences, with the ability to easily scale on a card-by-card basis.

Highspeedconferencing.com is available now and will initially be free during the beta period, transitioning to a paid service at a later date.

About Highspeedconferencing.com
Powered by Vapps, Highspeedconferencing.com is the first multi-party, audio conferencing service available to the Skype community that runs over any communication network. The service offers unrestricted full featured reservationless conference calling on a global scale. Visit us at www.highspeedconferencing.com.

About Vapps
Vapps develops, licenses and supports enhanced services products for converged network providers. The company’s flagship product, the CB1000 conference bridge, is a scalable, fault-tolerant conference calling platform for converged networks being used by service providers like MeetingZone, VoiceText Communications, Powwownow and Excel Conferencing to reliably and continuously provision reservationless conference calling. For more information, visit www.vapps.com or call 201-420-1155.