The SMB collaboration startup introduces a new online collaboration product. It's freeconomic!San Francisco—Collaboration
specialist companies are never in short supply at Web 2.0 Expo, but this year's
show featured one with a unique approach.
ESPRE Solutions' spinoff OpenACircle.com will offer a Java-based collaboration
application geared for the mobile professional at a time when knowledge workers
are increasingly on the go but need to stay connected through meetings over the
course of the day.
The software, now in private beta, offers, among other things, audio and
videoconferencing, online presentations, and document sharing, for free.
OpenACircle.com Chief Strategy Officer Andy Wilson provided eWEEK with a demo of
what he called this "free-conomic" app here April 23, describing the
app as a mashup of the social networking aspects of Facebook, the business
collaboration tools of solutions like WebEx and GoToMeeting, and the real-time
collaboration features of products such Skype.
When users download the application they are asked to join or create a "circle,"
or a virtual team space, in a very clean but colorful dashboard. New users
initially invite one person, but when they click the More button they may
invite up to 10 people, so clearly the product is for small and midsize
businesses.
Collaboration on the fly
OpenACircle aims to be an easier collaboration application than IBM
Lotus Sametime or Microsoft SharePoint, allowing those with some experience
with Web 2.0 apps, such as blogs, wikis or even Google Gadgets, to set up quick
meetings on the fly.
During the demo, Wilson showed how
OpenACircle lets a user invite other users with a widget that pulls e-mail
contacts from Microsoft Outlook and Google's Gmail. Users can then e-mail files
to each other.
Users can also browse through files, photos or documents on their computers and
upload them, rendering articles and other content in the center of the
dashboard to let others in the circle comment. However, users can only upload
one file at a time. Wilson said
users will be able to use the control key to upload a variety of files from a
list when the public beta is ready.
Wilson also demonstrated
synchronous sharing, which is a key capability for online collaboration
products. With a single click of the Go Live button, users can share files and
other content with the other team members in the circle.
Users can also view each other via Webcam with a click in the app, as well as
persistently chat with anyone in the conference through a Text Chat tab. VOIP
(voice over IP) calling is also supported.
Stays out of the way
OpenACircle is currently available for Windows, but
the company plans to make the technology available on Macs by summer 2008.
Collaborative Strategies analyst David Coleman reviewed the product and gave it
the thumbs up in a research note.
"OAC is a good collaboration application in that it gets out of the way of
the work people are trying to do, yet supports the interactions necessary in an
intuitive way," Coleman wrote.
He listed public relations personnel, doctors, lawyers and software developers
among those who might find value in OpenACircle.
