Macromedia Breezes Into Web Conferencing

Macromedia is expanding its Breeze online presentation offering into a full-fledged Web conferencing product, going head-to-head with vendors including WebEx Communications, Microsoft, and Cisco Systems.

Breeze has been offered until now primarily as a tool for creating presentations that users can view online, not for live conferences. A new release scheduled for March will change that and add features such as whiteboarding, polling, and application sharing, says Leesa Lee, senior product manager at Macromedia in San Francisco.

In a Flash

Macromedia hopes its ubiquitous Flash player will help it stand out in the crowded Web conferencing space. Over 98 percent of Internet users already have Flash installed, removing the need for an additional download to use the Breeze Web conferencing product. This sets it apart from competitors, Macromedia says.

Moving into the Web conferencing arena is a departure from Macromedia's traditional software business, says Paul Ritter, program manager for collaboration research at The Yankee Group in Boston.

"Entering the Web conferencing marketplace is not a guaranteed slam dunk. They will have to do significant marketing and advertising to let the world know that they are in this space," Ritter says. "However, I do believe they have a chance to compete because of some of the features and functionalities of Breeze that are different."

Macromedia is promoting the software's ability to archive presentations for on-demand playback, as well as a searchable library that will provide easy access to existing content, custom online meeting room layouts, and an extensible architecture that will allow users to make Breeze part of their own infrastructure, such as corporate portals, Lee says.

Business Model

The Web conferencing space is dominated by a couple of large players, with WebEx leading the pack, but has dozens of small players. The worldwide market reached about $480 million in revenue in 2003 and is expected to grow to about $700 million in 2004, according to Yankee Group estimates, Ritter says.

Macromedia plans to offer Breeze conferencing as both a hosted service and a software product that business users can install and run themselves. The hosted service will cost $84 per concurrent seat per month, and a perpetual license for the software starts at $22,500 including 25 concurrent seats, Lee says.

North America currently is the most important market for Breeze and the product is available in English only. However, Macromedia will sell it to interested international customers, Lee says. "We're just starting to get noticed and obviously we have a long way to go," she says.