Modern-day communications have advanced at such a rapid pace that it is now possible for remote teams and workers to communicate and collaborate effectively using value-added tools and technologies such as Web-based collaboration services. This new class of value-added online services is a powerful enabler for highly efficient communication between groups of distantly located people, without requiring huge investments in complex and expensive infrastructure.

“Web-based collaboration services integrate tried-and-tested forms of collaboration such as Web conferencing and instant messaging with newer technologies such as desktops, workspaces, wikis and podcasts,” notes Frost & Sullivan Senior Industry Analyst Dominic Dodd. “They form a core component of the growing ‘Software as a Service’ (SaaS) market.”

Frost & Sullivan (http://www.conferencing.frost.com) finds that the Global Web-based Collaboration Services Market generated revenues of $682.7 million in 2005, and estimates this to reach $2,644.5 million in 2010.

Currently, Web conferencing contributes a significant portion of these revenues. However, this is likely to change over the forecast period, as synchronous or real-time and asynchronous collaboration service technology increasingly merge due to the growing need for tools such as shared virtual workspaces and online collaborative authoring of documents.

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