Enrique, help me understand a bit about the history of Dialcom and Spontania. How long have your products/services been in development?

"We started Dialcom in the summer of 2000. We dedicated 15 months to develop our core technology. Since that time, we continue developing our technology with new products and features, for both enterprise and consumer markets. We are particularly proud of our ability to bring video to mobile devices. As an example, we can deliver 12 frames/second to a GPRS handset. We believe this is unique and demonstrates that we are a bridge between the Internet and the Mobile Telco networks."

Bill: “holy (expletive deleted)”

When did you generate your first revenues?

"Our first revenues came on the Fall of 2001."

You have sites in Spain, Germany and Portugal. Tell me about what goes on in these different sites.

"Spain is our local market, in which we have some of the most relevant references, like Banco Santander, BBVA, Repsol, Endesa and Telefonica. We also work with the most important mobile operators and ISP, like Telefonica Mobiles, Amena and Terra.
Portugal is a natural expansion for us, and there we work with Portugal Telecom, the largest Telco Operator in the country.
We recently opened our sales and support office in Frankfurt, covering DACH region (Germany, Austria and Switzerland) and Eastern Europe. During the second half of 2005 we will open sales and support offices in UK, Italy and US."

Tell us about Dialcom. How many years in business and “Spontania” is it a business unit, a product line or a brand?

"Spontania is a brand for our suit of products."

As I understand it from your web site Dialcom’s core business is the delivery of hosted conferencing services: voice, video, and data. With a particular focus on mobility─ on mobile devices such as smart phones and PDAs. What’s your competitive edge? What can you do that other companies can’t do?

"Dialcom provides real-time video communication and collaboration capabilities over IP for any device and any network - seamlessly. We extend video communications from the boardroom to the desktop and to all types of mobile devices. As previously mentioned, we believe that we can take video to GRPS, EDGE and UMTS devices from the PC environment better than anyone else. We are the bridge."

When did your developers start developing Video4Skype? Was it a difficult decision? Was there worry it would eat into your traditional market?

"We started developing Spontania for Skype in March of 2005 with several goals in mind: 1) Demonstrate our video technology using our P2P architecture, 2) demonstrate that we can seamlessly integrate into global products such as Skype by respecting their philosophy and being non intrusive and 3) develop a business partnership with Skype for premium services."

How many employees does Dialcom have? How many are directly associated with Video4IM? Tell us about the corporate culture. It seems pretty relaxed to me. I was in a video test with Mario yesterday and there seemed to be a lot of clowning around in the background. (Smile)

"Currently we are 25 employees. Out of them, three people are dedicated to Spontania Video4IM, two engineers and a product manager. Regarding our corporate culture, the core group was together before, during and after the Internet bubble. We learned a lot about working hard and having fun at the same time. The management tries to encourage people to do challenging new things to keep their strong motivation, and up to now we are achieving it."

Skype is free. Video4IM is free. What’s your business model? What story did you have that caused investors like Mangrove Capital Partners to fill your wallet with 3 Million Euros?

"As you say, Skype is free, but out of the free version comes premium services. We follow the same strategy. We are a private owned profitable company, and obviously we need to generate revenue to keep these black figures ongoing.

Mangrove Capital Partners was particularly attracted to our ability to bring video to the mobile world and our vision of becoming a bridge for video between the Internet and the mobile network."

Mangrove also invested in Skype. What business relationship do you have with Skype? Is Video4IM “Skype Certified”? Are you a member of the Skype Developer Program? If not, why not?

"As you say, Skype and Dialcom share investors and a board member. We have a nice personal relationship with Skype, but not a business relationship. We decided launching a product which reflects positively Skype’s user experience. I believe Spontania video4skype is demonstrating that good third party software is also good for Skype.
Dialcom is member of the Skype Developer program and we are currently talking to Skype about becoming certified."

We all know Skype is developing video. If Skype does for video, what they did for voice engines, how will Dialcom ever compete with the incumbent Skype?

"Beyond the free version of Spontania and independently of what Skype is planning with video, our real interest lies with how we can really be different. Regarding Spontania Video4IM, in some weeks we will announce some cool premium features; among others, videoconferencing between PC users and 2.5 and 3G mobile devices. This would drive Skype-Out minutes and open the door for new subscription models."

You have been in the Skype market for a month. Can you share with our readers the total number of downloads to date? Can you tell us something about the geographic distribution of your user base, for example the top ten countries?

"We are reaching 400k downloads during this first month. We are extremely happy with these figures, while Spontania Video4IM is a beta plug-in, and the marketing has been limited.
The top 5 geographical distribution starts with Germany, United States, Brazil, Israel and France."

What’s new in this new beta release…

Six things─
1. An upgraded User Interface with tabs.

2. Configuration Tab

Selecting “Video Device Setup” takes you to a menu for selecting video capture mode using Vfw (Video for windows) or DirectX.

3.New encryption system to improve reliability of Call Set Up when traversing through NAT Routers. THIS ALSO MEANS the new version is not backwards compatible. All users must upgrade.

4.A program to synchronize Video4IM with Skype during start up and shut down. (Join to all video calls)

5.Always on top mode selection for video windows.

6.View Tab.

The View Tab allows you to select the default viewing mode as Mosaic where your pic is inserted inside the pic of the buddy you are viewing, Float mode where your pic is moved to the side or Full Screen mode.

What’s really exciting here? It’s the enable Vfw capture. Although intended to allow older video cams like 3COM to work the two capture modes opens up a new possibilities for content distribution of video productions, animations and games such as TV as Peter will demonstrates further along in this review.

Now lets hear from Dialcom’s Chief Technology Officer Marcelo Martin-Ballestero...

About two weeks ago you gave me a demo of your whole suite of enterprise technologies…. I found it fascinating to see you hold a mobile phone up to the camera and have my mug shot moving in sync, along with yours and Mario’s. Very impressive.

"Thanks Bill, I was interested you to know the Spontania suite of products, multi-videoconferencing and collaboration for PC, PDA, Symbian, Smartphone and 3G phones. This suite of products are part of our solution for corporate and Telco markets. As you could see only a part of this technology has been used in Video4IM, but I think that will change in future versions."

So how much of this technology can we expect to see transferred to the Skype World? What features can we expect in the future?
• Resizing the video window?
• Multi-user conferencing?
• Sharing applications?
• How about recording a video session and play it back though Video4IM? Sort of a SkypeVideoCast.
• I tested sharing a TV show with Peter in Romania. This holds much promise. In fact it opens up the whole idea of delivering content from me to others? Is this an area you will explore? What tools might you have for the producers of content? Editing comes to mind.

"All this features, multi-conference, video resizing, app sharing or record&cast are actually available in Spontania. Part of this technology can be transferred to Video4IM, as well as video capabilities with 2,5G and 3G terminals."

Will you develop an API so Dialcom can create an ecosystem─ a developer community to drive innovation for Video4IM?

"We are working on that. Realize that V4S works in a full P2P environment then is a simple application in the communication side. Once we have a full release version we can work in the Video4IM API."

Tell us about what is unique in your underlying technology? Any patents? Trade secrets?
Do you do any special things to manage the bandwidth consumed versus what each user has on-hand? In simple terms how do you control frame rate to achieve optimum lip sync, fluidity, colour and resolution?

"We are in the patent process in the US of the Adaptive Bandwidth Management that provides the best streaming depending kind of network (Inet, GPRS, UMTS) and device (PC, PDA, 2,5G phone and 3G phone).
This unique feature manages all the video parameters per user. In an extreme case, a 4 Mbps stream can be served to a mobile in GPRS as a 10 kbps stream."

Are you using the native Skype API or are you using a COM Wrapper to interface.

"Just the Skype API."

What additional function(s) would you like to see in the API to improve your user’s experience?

"One unified channel for P2P communication."

From the SJ Testing Lab
We tested the first beta release on May 30
And again on May 31
Our testing group used a pre-beta release for 0.8.5. Our test environments consisted of top of the line Pentium 4 and AMD 3000+ machines, connected to the Internet at upload speeds of, 256 and 400 kilobits per second. Cameras were Logitech 4000 Pro, Logitech 4000 Quick Cam Zoom and Creative Video Blaster Webcam Go Plus. Ping times between end points were about 225 milliseconds.
In the past year, our group has tested over a dozen video products that are either on the market or about to be in the market.

What did we set out to test?
1.Call set up time when selecting “Join to all Video”

2.Quality settings vs. bandwidth consumption, latency, frame rate and lip sync for both capture modes: Vfw vs. DirectX

3.Fluidity and pixilation in Full Screen view mode while moving person moves head from side to side View image
.

4.Video capture from a TV TunerView image

5.CPU utilization for both capture modes: Vfw vs. DirectX

6.Memory usage

7.Resolution Eye Chart: lines per inch and 10 point text

8.Effect of performing a File Transfer on pixilation and Skype audio quality.

9.Finger Test for latency

Final Result: The overall opinion of our test group is Video4Skype is the best or one of the best 1 to 1 video applications we have ever tested.

Interesting things we learned…
Use the Skype Connection Analysis Tool to troubleshoot issues that arise.

Poor lip sync? Finger count delayed by half a finger or more? Check the ping time. Typically west coast North America to Denmark and Romania is about 200 to 225 milli-seconds. A bit less than a quarter of a second. So you will always have that as a minimum. Also check the packet loss. If packet loss approaches extreme levels 20 to 50 percent it probably means you are uploading packets beyond what your buddy can receive. You are likely saturating the other party’s bandwidth. It is like freeway congestion some cars don’t get through or move at a snail’s pace. Here is a pic of Carlo and I in Float Mode and using the Skype Connection Tool View image
.

Try recording a session with a product like Snagit. It’s cool.

Video4Skype has a “Quality Slider” so you can optimize the quality of the image with the bandwidth consumed. The default is 50 percent.

During our testing we found something interesting and possibly quite useful.
The Vfw capture mode uses an older Windows technology. It supports only a 320 by 240 screen, i.e. about 77,000 pixels, whereas Direct 640 x 440 provides 282,000 pixels. Whatever magic is happening I am not sure, but for the standard Window size provided by Video4Skype the apparent visual quality is the same but the bandwidth consumed is reduced by about 30 percent. So if you are on a high speed Internet connection with an upload bandwidth of 128 kbs we suggest you try the Vfw capture mode. Below is a table showing our results.

Now let’s hear from Mario Silva Sanz, Video4Skype Product Manager...
First Mario, let me thank you for letting me and my fellow Skype Video beta testers Peter and Carlo be the first to test your new release. That is very generous of you.
Mario whenever I test with you the pic is perfect. Extremely bright, incredible clarity with photoshop like images. But when I test with others I will get frequent pixilation. What is your magic? Sometimes I think, maybe Spaniards are not animated like my Italian friend Carlo. It is not bandwidth because our upload and download bandwidth is the same as when I test with Peter in Romania? Is it room lighting? Your Web Cam? Do you have CMOS or CCD? Why would I choose one over the other? Mario, help our readers create the perfect video environment? Tell us the rules and tweaks for setting up the ultimate Video4Skype experience.

"I have a simply webcam (Logitech notebook, CCD). Probably you get a lot of bright because I am sited close to a big window. Furthermore we have found that most of the users have not installed at their PCs the proper webcam driver supplied within the webcam. That’s a major requirement to have a clear picture. Also in order to get a correct balance between bandwidth consumption and video quality Spontania Video4IM integrates a button that allow the user increase/decrease video quality ate the expense of bandwidth. The bigger the video quality is, the bigger bandwith consumption is."

Many people have told me video will not be adopted. It is too intimate. Yet as we all now know the exact opposite seems to be happening. I find people more likely to want a video engagement than voice or text. What is your personal experience?

"Regarding that we have an amazing experience. We have being tracing which are the main countries using spontania video4skype. The first one on top of US, Brazil and Germany is Israel. Probably because there are a lot of foreigners working there so probably they use it for having videocall sessions with their relatives. That’s why we have also changed our mind making a very easy to use interface fully integrated with skype. Dialcom team has taken also special interest for providing users a pure peer to peer connectivity with encryption, so the user can feel comfortable using our solution."

Interesting Interview Chatter from the Video4IM Team…
Marcello: “next 3-4 months we will have really interesting functionality. The number of minutes served is climbing steadily. We are getting lots of e-mail complimenting us on the quality of our product.” Mario: In a few weeks we will have a public Forum to interact with our users.”

Mario: Although our entry into the market was with Skype we are planning in the future to move to other messenger clients. We have already had informal talks with Yahoo. This is one of the reasons for our name change to Video4IM.

Enrique: “We like to do things in a proper way. We must concentrate our resources on just a few new things at a time. For this launch it was on the web cam management feature.”

Marcelo: “The new web cam capture method (Vfw: Video for Windows) allows users to use the older web cams and more importantly capture video from TV tuners and other devices. Enrique: “This allows users to switch devices mid-stream in a call.”

What about other platforms? Enrique: “We have no problem with technology to add additional platforms. We even have our video on Symbian and other such devices. The problem is the size of the market. For example it is our understanding that Linux is only 0.5 percent of the Skype user base. “

More on their Business Model: Enrique: “We are still working on our business model. Our traditional business is focused on the enterprise. We do not want to replicate our enterprise model on Skype. We see Skype as a consumer market. So in the future when we do offer sharing we will share fun things not business things. Like Skype we will try to identify premium services, for example, calls from SkypeOut could deliver Spontania video to your mobile phone. ”

What about windowing Marcelo? Right now a user has only two choices small and Full Screen. When will that change? Marcelo: “Yes. We missed that. (Smile) So simple too. I am pretty sure we can have that in the next release. Hopefully too, we will provide recording of video streams and supporting multiple video formats.”

At the end of the road do we have a map?
So where will Video4IM be at the end of 2005?
I have no idea. You heard their management team speak. Hold their feet to the fire! Without feedback from you, they will likely get lost. But it does look like the product is worth using and following. I, Carlo and Peter certainly look forward to working with the Video4IM team as well as with vSkype and the Skype team.

Video4IM and vSkype make our Skype community a more exciting place to hang out in. The competitive pressures these “partners” bring will push Skype and Andrei the core developer of Skype’s video offering to a higher level. I think that is good for all Skype users.
Carlo; Peter. You guys are great to work with. Thanks for the many intense hours you guys tested with me. You are really dedicated Skypers! I hope I hear a big applause for you from our Skype Journal readers!