(openPR) - White paper: The next generation of solutions must focus on low cost, flexibility and ease of use.

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. – April 20, 2009 – A new generation of video communication solutions is overcoming obstacles that have prevented its adoption by small and midsize companies and organizations.

That’s according to a white paper from Appia Communications entitled “The Benefits and Challenges of Video Conferencing.” Appia, a leading provider of managed IT and telecom services, based the paper on the experience it gained developing video communication solutions for its own customers.

“Video equipment has historically been proprietary, expensive, and difficult to use,” said Victor von Schlegell, president of Appia Communications. “Also, video used ISDN, which is charged by the minute at high rates. This made video sessions expensive, especially if some of the participants were located outside the U.S. ISDN is also unreliable and subject to outages.”

Changes involving the Internet, equipment strategies, and underlying technologies are leading to new video communication options that are affordable for nearly any business or organization.

“Large enterprises have realized the cost savings and productivity gains enabled by video communication, but now the technology can serve SMBs,” von Schlegell said.

The complete white paper can be read and downloaded for free at www.appiaservices.com/pages/white-papers/.

About Appia Communications

Appia Communications is a leading provider of managed IT and telecommunications services, enabling small and midsize companies and organizations to benefit from Internet Protocol technology for far less than the cost of an in-house implementation. Appia’s managed solutions help customers reduce costs, enhance employee productivity, improve customer care, and compete more effectively against much larger enterprises.

Headquartered in Traverse City, Michigan, Appia has operations in Boston, Chicago, Detroit, Indianapolis, Los Angeles, New York, St. Louis, and other markets in North America and Europe. Appia was named to Inc. magazine’s list of America’s fastest-growing private companies in both 2007 and 2008, and was named one of the world’s Top Five Managed Service Providers on the 2008-09 MSPmentor 100.

For more information, please visit www.appiaservices.com or call 877-277-4297. Appia is a Cisco Powered Network and holds advanced Cisco communications certifications.

Appia Communications
1030 Hastings St, Suite 100
Traverse City, MI 49686
USA
877-277-4297
info@appiaservices.com
www.appiaservices.com

Matt Cowall
Communications Manager
877-277-4297
matt@appiaservices.com