Telstra has selected Microsoft Office Live Meeting to underpin its Web Conferencing Service, making it the first Australian-operated telecommunications carrier to provide Microsoft Live Meeting as a service. Telstra already offers hosted software solutions using other Microsoft collaboration technologies, Microsoft Exchange and SharePoint.

According to Mr Dion Weisler, General Manager of Telstra Conferencing and Collaboration, the hosted Live Meeting service builds on the depth and breadth of Telstra’s conferencing portfolio to give customers a complete suite of web conferencing and collaboration tools focussed on delivering a positive and unique user experience.

“Telstra Web Conferencing services help our customers make the most of their time and maximise productivity and efficiency,” he said. “Telstra has recently announced an IP growth strategy, with 16 competency centres managing specific IP applications and solutions. When combined with Telstra’s IP and conferencing solutions, the Microsoft Live Meeting service clearly demonstrates our combined leadership and commitment to delivering business value for customers,” said Mr Weisler.

Based on Office Live Meeting 2005, the Telstra Web Conferencing service enables users to share presentations and other documents with customers, staff and suppliers, through the use of a phone, PC and an Internet broadband connection. The service will also offer text chat, online polling, whiteboards and recording and playback of presentations, enabling groups of people to collaborate in real-time from their desktop.

The service is designed for organisations both large and small, especially companies that have more than one office. Telstra will also use the web conferencing service internally for staff including its national sales force and its IT services.

The Telstra Web Conferencing Service powered by Microsoft Live Meeting is available now. A flexible pricing structure means organisations that subscribe to the service can choose the most cost effective way of paying for the service: per minute, per seat, named user or named room based upon their organisational needs. More information is available online at www.conferencing.telstra.com/solutions .