RADVision Targets SMBs

RADVision last week introduced a new line of videoconferencing products aimed at the SMB market.

Solution providers can use RADVision's viaIP100 product line, which supports both IP and ISDN networks, to target clients with between three and 30 videoconferencing end points, said David Sokolic, vice president of marketing for the networking business unit at RADVision, Glen Rock, N.J.

The new line uses the core technology of the company's viaIP400 product line, which focuses on large enterprises and service providers, but offers fewer ports and a lower price, Sokolic said.

"We're breaking new ground in terms of the quality of videoconferencing at these price points," Sokolic said.

RADVision plans to continue producing its previous SMB line, the OnLAN videoconferencing product family, for the near term but will eventually phase it out, he said.

Compared with the OnLAN product line, the new line offers greater port capacity, more sophisticated features for viewing multiple conference participants simultaneously, and enhanced video processing capabilities, he said.

"It's a nice, low-cost box, and they've increased the quality of it tremendously," said Eric Maas, director of network services at Wire One Technologies, a videoconferencing solution provider based in Hillside, N.J.

The viaIP100 line, available now, includes two gateways, starting at $12,950, and two multipoint control units, starting at $24,950. An option to include RADVision's Enhanced Communication Server gatekeeper software is also available.

"It scales down from a functionality and price point [so] that you can go into a customer that's just getting into desktop video, give them a gateway and not break the deal," said Bob Kipke, vice president of sales and marketing at CritiCom, a videoconferencing solution provider based in Lanham, Md.

Kipke said the new line should serve as an entry-level product to ease customers into video-over-IP deployments.

"A lot of people will walk in IP before they will run," Kipke said. "Now I've got a good, logical product line to start customers off with, and they don't have to learn anything new as they grow and migrate to the viaIP400," he said.

RADVision sells almost entirely through the channel, Sokolic said.

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