Version 2.0 of Apache OpenMeetings Incubating released!

This is our first release as Apache project and there have been major changes almost everywhere in the application.

Restyled UI The UI has been refactored to have a common look and feel. Additionally most of the icons are now loaded at runtime. That means you can change colors and icons at runtime without changing the source code. More info: http://incubator.apache.org/openmeetings/themes-and-branding.html

New Calendar The calendar was completely refactored and got a new UI that was built from scratch that also adds some new functions. For example it is possible now to password protect invitations sent via the calendar. Further the timezone handling has been refactored and there is now also a SOAP/REST API to handle calendar Events ( http://incubator.apache.org/openmeetings/SoapRestAPI.html )

Integration with Asterisk The application contains now modules to directly integrate OpenMeetings with Asterisk for SIP/VoIP integration. It enables you to dial in as well as dial out of conference room to SIP or ordinary phones. More info: http://incubator.apache.org/openmeetings/voip-sip-integration.html

Install/Backup/Import via command line Additionally to the Web-Interface you can now do all basic operations via console. Just cd to your OpenMeetings installation directory and type “admin” (or ./admin.sh) and you will see all the options available (OpenMeetings service should be shut down while doing those operations)

Using SWF10 for Video Components All audio/video related components now use SWF10 for broadcasting and receiving audio and video signals. That makes it possible to use for example the echo cancellation feature build in the SWF10 Flash Player.

There are a lot more improvements for example to recording, screen sharing and new layout options. To see the full list please review our Release Notes for Version 2.0:
https://issues.apache.org/jira/secure/ReleaseNote.jspa?projectId=12312720&version=12319197

There are also new Integration Plugins in the pipe!

Integration into Atlassian Jira There is a plugin in our SVN that will be released soon for integration with Atlassian Jira, you can watch a demo here: https://blogs.apache.org/openmeetings/entry/jira_integration_apache_openmeetings_demo

Integration into Atlassian Confluence Same for Atlassian Confluence Wiki, you can watch a demo here: https://blogs.apache.org/openmeetings/entry/demo_video_about_upcoming_atlassian

Important Changes OpenOffice service does not need to be running as permanent service. But you have to set the path to OpenOffice (or LibreOffice) and JODConverter tools in OpenMeetings configuration. OpenMeetings (and JODConverter) will start and stop the OpenOffice service when they need it.

Upgrading from Version 1.9 or prior To update from an old version of OpenMeetings to 2.x you should use the integrated Backup and Import tool that exists since around Version 1.3. You should follow our documentation, see: http://incubator.apache.org/openmeetings/Upgrade.html

Downloads of sources and binaries are available from the mirrors linked here:
http://incubator.apache.org/openmeetings/downloads.html

All downloads can be verified using the Apache OpenMeetings code signing KEYS .

Commercial Openmeetings Support FAQ

That's our attempt to keep support knowledge structured and save your time asking questions.

OpenMeetings Hosting Services

Currently there are two hosting offerings: non-extensive usage offering called Integrated Room Service with a standard price, and a special offering called Advanced Hosting Plan for high load or customized cases.

What you choose depends on the mode in which you are going to use OpenMeetings, i.e. how often you plan to make your conferences, how many users you are going to have, etc.

Most customers start from the Integrated Room Hosting package and transfer to a special offering if their businesses grow.

Integrated Room Service includes creating rooms and users for your organization on our server and integration with your web site.

You have possibility to create OpenMeetings rooms from your CMS, place OpenMeetings room and recording links on your site and single sign-on feature for the OpenMeetings room entering.

This service has “reasonable load usage” limitation: we make some monitoring of the hosting services, and if we see that workload of some organization users is too big, we recommend client to move to another service.

Great benefit of this is that it’s cheap and you can pay quarterly. Monthly fee for the service is 50 euro and initial service setup fee is 100 euro + the cost of your CMS plugin installing. Plugin installing service depends on your site details, you can find the prices for most supported systems in our FAQ.

Upgrade OpenMeetings and CMS plugins to the recent releases and urgent security updates are included into the price.

If it becomes not enough for your goals, or you have customized OpenMeetings version, or you need some non-standard integration features, you would need to switch to Advanced Hosting Plan.

We do not have our own data center, so you can rent a server from some provider yourselves, or we can do it for you. We have successful experience of work with Amazon which would be convenient for USA clients, Scalaxy and Hetzner. Advantage of these providers is that they promise guaranteed bandwidth at any moment of time and allow manage network bandwidth dynamically. So for the clients who want to have big OpenMeetings conferences at some scheduled times we suggest increase bandwidth for the conference time and then decrease it back when the conference is finished. This helps save the money for the hosting, despite that these providers look more expensive in compare with other ones. Other providers are also possible on your behalf.

For the Advances Hosting Plan, all the cases should be discussed individually and the price depends on the exact details of your project.

Another Apache Planet Welcome

This is actually another test. For interesting openmeetings news you can read my latest post at blogs.apache.org.

Welcome, Planet Apache

We are on the Planet Apache blog list now. This is a test post and a warm welcome.

Community member Daniel Asher has created a survey to find out how people are using OpenMeetings.

You can fill it out online:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?fromEmail=true&formkey=dG1DTXQyVHg2T09RMU1tNTBleExKeWc6MQ

The results of the survey will be reported back to the community.

Please fill out :)