Blue Jeans Network offers videoconferencing in the cloud. At $299 per port, per month, Blue Jeans likes to call their strategy an “MCU Killer.”
Their “virtual MCU” can be anywhere from 65-90% percent less over 3 years than the physical MCU, says Blue Jeans.
The Blue Jeans Network service enables users to hold a videoconference in the cloud, allowing participants to connect any number of ways, from Cisco or Polycom systems to Skype, Google Talks. Users can also connect from any number of devices.
With the new Blue Jeans pricing, a customer can buy a license for 20 ports per month, but if their usage spikes to 50 ports, they can add capacity immediately.
The virtual MCU model is appealing to small-to-medium sized businesses that can’t afford the CapEx and OpEx of a physical MCU. But Blue Jeans may also appeal to larger enterprises who already own physical MCUs may consider Blue Jeans as an alternative to buying more physical boxes when they need to add capacity.
Traditional vendors will fight back against cloud newcomers. For example, Cisco’s Callway, a $99 per month, per endpoint subscription service is designed to work with Cisco TelePresence desktop systems or on a laptop using a Cisco Movi Web camera.
