For this week’s No Jitter Roll, we look at several offers related to coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19), a corporate cloud move, Direct Routing certification, secure remote application access, and a new desktop video collaboration app.
Jamm Makes Its Debut
The videoconferencing market grew by one with startup
Jamm launching its solution last week.
Designed for spontaneous video meetings (“jam” sessions), Jamm is a lightweight video collaboration desktop application, said Jamm co-founder Badri Rajasekar, during a No Jitter briefing. With Jamm, users can host and join ad hoc video meetings by simply clicking on a user in Jamm and launching a meeting, Rajasekar said. In addition, Jamm users can see who is in a meeting, and with whom, and join in if need be, he added.
Jamm features include whiteboarding, screensharing, video and voice recording, and the ability to create animated user avatars. Jamm also sports a common area, which allows users to “hangout” virtually with fellow team members in an open meeting format, Rajasekar said.
Looking to the future, Jamm is working on integrating with software like GitHub and Trello, creating APIs for various Jamm components, and designing a “walkie talkie” function, as part of a bigger roadmap, Rajasekar said. Currently, the application can be integrated into Slack and email.
COVID-19 Impacts Cloud Communications
As the COVID-19 pandemic pushes businesses to allow employees to work from home, communications and collaboration vendors are ramping up offerings aimed at facilitating the burgeoning need to support remote work (see related story
here). Here are a few of the latest offerings:
- TrueConf is giving educational institutions around the world free access to TrueConf Server, an an on-premises videoconferencing system for up to 1,000 users. Schools will be able to run this self-hosted videoconferencing environment until June 30. After that data, TrueConf said it will provide up to 50% off a TrueConf Server license for any academic organization.
- Intermedia is offering its AnyMeeting Pro videoconferencing service to all new users at no cost through the end of this year — with the set of full features and no meeting time limits. For larger meetings, it is offering one free Webinar Pro license for each account, Intermedia said.
- NWN, which offers an integrated UC-customer experience platform, has expanded its solution-as-a-service portfolio to include secure connectivity, collaboration software, and mobile devices for remote working. Plan information is available here.
NTT Renames Cloud Business, Adds Execs
Global services provider NTT this week announced that is has
launched a new Cloud Communications division — previously known as Arkadin — and welcomed industry veterans Fiona Lodge, who had been with Dimension Data (now also part of NTT), and Jean Turgeon, most recently with DXC Technology, to the business unit. Lodge joined NTT’s Cloud Communications division as chief product and strategy officer, and Turgeon as chief technology and information officer.
Ribbon Gets Microsoft Teams Certification
Communications software and network solutions provider
Ribbon announced that its EdgeMarc line of session border controllers are now certified for use with Microsoft Teams Direct Routing. With Direct Routing, enterprises can connect their public switched telephone network, legacy networks, or endpoints to Teams for voice calling.
Cato Networks Adds Remote User Access Option
SD-WAN provider
Cato Networks this week released a clientless access option and application portal, Instant Access, to allow remote users to access IT-authorized applications through the Cato software-defined, zero-trust perimeter. Through Instant Access, users will click a URL, authenticate once through single sign-on, and gain access to their authorized applications.
Dana Casielles, No Jitter associate editor, contributed to this article.
