MDL supports more licensed users worldwide than any other desktop conferencing company. Communique! is ideal for collaborative workgroup computing, concurrent engineering, distance learning, boardroom videoconferencing, customer support and training. MDL serves a myriad of vertical industries such as financial services, telecommunications, discrete manufacturing, defense, research, insurance, medical and health services, legal, oil, education and more.
Communique!, like all MDL applications, is based on a core software architecture called Digital Video Everywhere (DVE). DVE is an open systems platform. It allows our full suite of applications including Communique! to conference between various MDL-supported host desktop systems, transparently interoperate across Ethernet, ATM, FDDI, Frame Relay, SMDS and ISDN, and simultaneously support video compression standards such as JPEG, CellB, Indeo, H.320, and DVE2. In addition, you don't need an installed video board to view video on your desktop system. You can still benefit from all of the collaborative tools Communique! provides, and participate as a viewer in a videoconference. Communique! is the most flexible, mature product on the market. There is no other solution available today that provides this level of cross-platform, network- and video-interoperable support, at such an affordable price point. The features described below highlight the functionality that raises MDL Communique! above all other products. A Natural, Interactive Meeting Room Feeling Right from Your DesktopBusiness Card EditorCommunique! includes a Business Card feature. Each user maintains a Business Card containing their photo and phone number, along with other contact information. Pre-Set ConferencesWith a point-and-click, you can initiate departmental meetings and launch frequently used applications, and access a Rolodex, distribution and alias lists from home directories or system databases. A Notebook remembers people you have conferenced with in the past, allowing you to easily build a guest list. Users can now scan a LAN or WAN for possible conference attendees. This reduces the time it takes to bring people together for a meeting. An Intuitive User Interface that Maximizes ProductivityThe Virtual Conference Room
It's the cornerstone of Communique!'s intuitive, highly productive drag-and-drop, point-and-click, multipoint conferencing and video icon interface technology. The Virtual Conference Room represents a true "in the room" feeling which allows you to focus on the content and issues of your meeting instead of the software and system configuration. It's where on-line meetings are conducted between chosen participants, file and image transfers are initiated, and where meetings can be saved, reviewed or continued at a later date. Automated Installation and System ConfigurationCommunique! allows a single directory hierarchy for all supported hardware platform/window manager/video board combinations. At startup, Communique! determines the configuration of the machine it is being launched on and runs the proper executables. This approach eliminates the need for multiple copies of the software. Conference Manager Video IconsAll Communique! modules and conference members are represented as video icons in the Conference Manager Window resulting in the most intuitive user interface available. International users can also quickly identify functions and conference participants, which is critical in serving today's global markets. MDL 's state-of-the-art user interface technology is fully configurable. Either system administrators or users can determine which modules are available, and in which order they appear in the window. Additional modules written to the MDL OpenDVE API Specification may be installed at any time. The Highest Quality Audio/Video SynchronizationState-of-the-art Desktop VideoconferencingThe most important feature for videoconferencing is state-of-the-art audio/ video synchronization. Communique! includes MDL InSync, an adaptive fully scalable algorithm that transparently balances frame speeds and sampling rates in response to varying CPU and network loads. It delivers the highest quality audio/video synchronization with 24-bit image handling under the most demanding network conditions. Productivity within Network LimitationsBandwidth AllocationMDL's "throttler" allows you to preset your video bandwidth throughput to assure you work within your network limits, yet still achieve productive, effective quality. Network administrator tools can also be instituted for greater monitoring and control. Multipoint and Point-to-Point FlexibilityFor mixed network environments, both multicast and point-to-point data transmission is supported in the same conference. Unlimited Communique! Functionality Through MDL OpenDVE PluginsOpenDVE, the new application development toolkit from MDL, is a robust suite of application programming interfaces (APIs), libraries and management functions. OpenDVE is based on the MDL Digital Video Everywhere (DVE) software architecture that enables true interoperability between supported Windows and UNIX desktops, video compression algorithms, such as, JPEG, H.261, Indeo, CellB and DVE2, and networks such as Ethernet, ATM, FDDI, Frame Relay, SMDS and ISDN. Communique! supports the growing availability of OpenDVE-based Plugins. Plugins are 3rd-party or MDL -developed custom modules that provide enhanced functionality to the intuitive Communique! collaborative and conferencing environment. Examples of OpenDVE-based Plugins include enhanced image capture and viewing modules for telemedicine and CAD applications, automated Help modules for customer conferencing environment support applications, speed-dial "Hoot-n-Holler" modules for trading and financial applications, and remote camera control for executive conferencing environments. Each user can customize the Conference Manager to use only those Plugins which are needed. Sharing Ideas And Applications Remotely Fosters InnovationSharing Graphs and ImagesAll conference members using our shared WhiteBoard can mark up, point out and make comments on financial graphs and charts, CAD or medical images, and video clips in real-time. A QuickPic feature makes screen capture fast and easy to import, and an extensive list of image formats are supported for both importing and exporting. The WhiteBoard also has the ability to print and save video images. Communique!'s shared WhiteBoard supports multiple pages, synchronized screen movements, zooming, panning and rotating images, plus on-the-fly compression for network bandwidth economy. Page Synchronization in the Edit menu will bring all White Boards to a common point if any system or network problem has placed them out of sync. Shared Text and GraphicsYou can share graphics or image files, ASCII and PostScript files, notes, video frames and hold a multipoint, text-based chat session. |
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