Google Acquires Video Conferencing Company

There’s just no stopping Google. Seriously, if you’ve bought into the idea that Google is not a threat to your business, it’s time to re-evaluate that position.

Why so? Google has just announced their acquisition of Marratech, a video conferencing and collaboration company, which will now see them compete with the likes of WebEx.

Here’s how it works…

• Works on Mac, Windows and Linux.
• Runs on existing PC’s and Laptops – no additional capital expenditure.
• Have a private ‘one-to-one’ conversation with any participant
• Share any application and hand control to another user.
• All participants can record and playback the entire net meeting including voice, video and whiteboard.
• It’s easy to include office group meetings or video conferences in a Marratech video net e-meeting.
• Call remote people into the video net meeting even if they are away from a computer.
• It does all this over highspeed broadband internet without the need to use a telephone.
• End-to-end encryption ensures security for your entire net meeting including voice, video and documents .
• You can present or ‘broadcast’ to an unlimited audience.
• Marratech’s licensed Manager works on Mac, Linux, Windows and Solaris servers.
• Marratech Manager offers quick installation, upgrades and administration features for fast and easy configuration.

And here’s how it looks…

And here’s what Google has planned…

As a company, we thrive on casual interactions and spontaneous collaboration. So we’re excited about acquiring Marratech’s video conferencing software, which will enable from-the-desktop participation for Googlers in videoconference meetings wherever there’s an Internet connection.

And here’s why you should be concerned. First, there goes any chance that I’ll renew a subscription with GoToMeeting or sign-up for WebEx. Why? I already use GTalk, GMail and a host of other Google services. If they re-launch this with integration to existing Google services AND make the service free, why would I want anything else?

That’s exactly why Google is making acquisitions that, at first glance, don’t look like they fit within the companies mission to organize the world’s information. But look harder, and you’ll see that it’s building a suite of online services that will keep you glued to the Google brand. When it’s bringing in $1b+ per quarter in search revenue, it can afford to give these services away for free.

If your business has any kind of online service, you should prepare your Google contingency plan, and pray that you never have to use it!

Via