Blue Jeans Network Launches New Features For Mobile, HD Videoconferencing

Blue Jeans Network is expanding its cloud-based videoconferencing solutions to include new capabilities for content sharing, HD video and hosting meetings from mobile devices, the Mountain View, Calif.-based company said Wednesday.

This new package of features, dubbed "Room to Remote," is aimed at meeting what Blue Jeans says is a surge in demand for on-the-go, more affordable, and more integrated video-collaboration solutions, explained Stu Aaron, chief commercial officer at Blue Jeans.

"We are starting to see a mass proliferation of mobile devices within our business customers," Aaron told CRN. "We are seeing customers that have access to these tablets, in particular, and smartphones more generally that want to use these devices to join meetings."

[Related: Blue Jeans Network Nabs $25 Million Funding Round ]

To align with this trend, Blue Jeans rolled out Wednesday a mobile app for iOS devices that will let users perform HD videoconferencing directly from their iPads and iPhones. While Blue Jeans users previously had the option of tapping into the company's services from mobile devices, the new iOS app affords them more robust features for bi-directional content sharing and more, Aaron said.

Secondly, Blue Jeans announced Wednesday a partnership with Tely Labs, a maker of video-calling appliances for conference rooms that aren't otherwise equipped with HD videoconferencing capabilities. The alliance has resulted in a solution called telyHD Enterprise Edition that allows for direct access to Blue Jeans' meetings, regardless of what conference room a user is sitting in.

Blue Jeans said the telyHD Enterprise Edition lets customers video-enable any conference room that has a TV for roughly $1,000 -- a price point that's far more modest than purchasing the additional endpoint that's usually required for this sort of functionality.

"We are starting to see a huge demand for access beyond the traditional videoconferencing rooms, meaning the specialized rooms or the board rooms," Aaron said. "People were asking to be able to access a service like ours from all the other, tertiary conference rooms in their companies that aren't video enabled and are too small to spend the big bucks for the Polycom or the Cisco endpoints."

Thirdly, as part of the "Room to Remote" launch, Blue Jeans announced new dual HD streams for video and content sharing that will allow users to simultaneously share content and participate in videoconferences without the quality of either feature suffering, as it traditionally has, Aaron said. The company also rolled out a new "slider" feature that lets users control the layout of their video and content sharing windows and adjust the size of those features on demand.

NEXT: Blue Jeans Network Gains Channel Traction

Blue Jeans Network, which only emerged from stealth mode in 2011, has quickly been gaining industry and channel recognition, thanks in part to its ability to bridge different video and audio protocols, meaning users can connect with one another whether they use high-end Cisco or Polycom video systems, or, for example, consumer-focused services like Skype and Google Talk.

This unique angle has helped the still-young Blue Jeans quickly gain traction in the channel, where it already partners with solution providers including Tampa, Fla.-based AVI-SPL and Happauge, N.Y.-based IVCi.

Blue Jeans' Aaron said the new "Room to Remote" features will help accelerate partners' sales of its services, along with their sales of endpoints.

"It's enhanced functionality that will make it easier for partners to sell and to sell more. Everything we are doing is basically extending the reach of this service," Aaron said. "We are giving the ability to sell more value, ... and all of that should make it easier for the channel to sell the Blue Jeans' service, and then sell more endpoints along with it."

PUBLISHED MARCH 13, 2013