InterCall Launches New Streaming Platform with Enhanced Interaction, Social Media and Education Features

CHICAGO, Aug. 24 /PRNewswire/ -- InterCall, the world's largest conferencing and collaboration services provider, today announced the launch of InterCall Streaming, a new communications and collaboration tool for customers.  InterCall Streaming features technology and tools that enable streaming events to be more interactive, flexible and mobile.

As a sneak peek of some of the new platform features, InterCall is streaming a live yoga class from the outdoor terrace at its New York headquarters overlooking the Hudson River tomorrow at 3:00 p.m. Eastern. The class will be given by renowned yoga instructor Wendy Gross-Pinto, the creator of Soul Sweat Asana Yoga.

With InterCall Streaming, new tools enable the presenter and audience to truly interact live, ensuring that the audience remains engaged with the content.  During a training session, for example, the presenter can send out quick polls every few minutes to test participants' understanding of the material.  If all poll questions are not answered, a training participant may not receive credit for completing the training.  The new tools are also a great way for participants to contribute to the presentation.  Users can ask questions and respond back to polls about the content which the presenter can react and respond to in real time.  They can also participate in group chats during the session.  InterCall Streaming also takes advantage of new mobile technologies, integrating SMS polling and social media functionality.  Some of the new features include:

• Screen broadcast - Presenters are able to broadcast their desktop, all Flash-based, without any installation required for those viewing.
• Integrated video encoding - Presenters are able to achieve top quality VP6 or H.264 video encoding all within the application without additional steps.  Advanced users also maintain fine grained control over encoding, such as bitrate, cropping, processor usage, and more.
• New registration engine - An upgrade from the current registration system, now enabling multiple event registration, an advanced landing page, more customizable areas, control over look and feel and much more.
• SMS poll voting - Allows users to vote on polls using a standard text message.  This feature is aimed at hybrid meetings or other meetings where the webcast is displayed on a projector or LCD, thus giving participants a way to vote interactively without being in front of their own computer.
• Automatic video in PowerPoint support - Videos in PowerPoint presentations will be automatically encoded and streamed during webcasts.
• Slide and Screen Broadcast zooming and panning - Allows users to zoom in on slide and screen broadcast content - great for slides with complex graphs and charts.
• Integrated Twitter feed - Participants are able to log in to their Twitter accounts right from the application's module navigator and Tweet about the event or just follow the conversation as it is happening.  The Twitter hashtag is automatically inserted in the participant's Tweet.

"We've worked with our customers for years to pinpoint and develop the ideal features to deliver what they need in a streaming solution," said Ben Chodor, senior vice president of InterCall Streaming.  "The new InterCall Streaming platform represents this feedback.  We're giving customers an intuitive, interactive and customizable streaming experience with superb video quality.  This is truly the next step in streaming."

For more information about InterCall conferencing services, visit www.intercall.com or contact an InterCall representative at [email protected] to learn more.

About InterCall

InterCall, a subsidiary of West Corporation, is the largest service provider in the world specializing in conference communications. Founded in 1991, InterCall helps people and companies be more productive by providing advanced audio, event, Web and video conferencing solutions that are easy-to-use and save them time and money. Along with a team of over 500 Meeting Consultants, the company employs more than 1,500 operators, customer service representatives, call supervisors, accounting, marketing and IT professionals. InterCall's strong U.S. presence, which includes four call centers and 26 sales offices, is bolstered by a global reach that extends to Canada, Mexico, Latin America, the Caribbean, the United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, China, India, Hong Kong, Singapore and Japan. For more information, please visit www.intercall.com.

About West Corporation

West Corporation is a leading provider of technology-driven, voice-oriented solutions.  West offers its clients a broad range of communications and infrastructure management solutions that help them manage or support critical communications.  West's customer contact solutions and conferencing services are designed to improve its clients' cost structure and provide reliable, high-quality services.  West also provides mission-critical services, such as public safety and emergency communications.

Founded in 1986 and headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska, West serves Fortune 1000 companies and other clients in a variety of industries, including telecommunications, banking, retail, financial, technology and healthcare.  West has sales and operations in the United States, Canada, Europe, the Middle East, Asia Pacific and Latin America.  For more information on West Corporation, please call 1-800-841-9000 or visit www.west.com.

SOURCE InterCall