Ring2 debuts BlackBerry audio-conferencing control

Ring2 Conferencing has introduced its business audio-conferencing remote controller for BlackBerry smartphones to the North American market.

Remote control of audio conferencing provides enhanced visibility, security and control.

Ring2 Conferencing, a leader in audio-conferencing and the world's first audio-conferencing company solutions for remote control of calls from a mobile device, has announced the North American debut of the Ring2 Conference Controller for BlackBerry smartphones from Research In Motion.

Users of Ring2's service still dial into their calls from any phone, but can then take remote control of the call from their BlackBerry smartphone for enhanced visibility, security and control.

Since the European launch of the Ring2 Conference Controller in May 2006, more than 100 corporate clients have started using the enhanced service and two leading European mobile operators have partnered with the company.

In the US, enterprises including Atlanta-based law firm, Alston and Bird, the telecoms specialist law firm, Harris, Wiltshire and Grannis, the transportation company US Xpress and various other customers are already benefiting from Ring2's technology by managing calls from their BlackBerry smartphones for enhanced visibility, security and control.

The Ring2 Conference Controller pushes remote control capabilities to the user at the exact moment they need to use them.

As soon as the first invited participant dials into the conference, the call leader's BlackBerry smartphone is alerted, both acting as a reminder and also enabling one-click access to the remote control application.

With a single click, the call leader then has a simple remote control at hand to: see who is on the call or missing in real time; make sure no one is listening in who shouldn't be; add someone to the call who is missing; mute people with background noise on the line; make sure others have dropped off the call before embarking on side conversations; record the call for retrieval as an MP3 file; assign a billing code for disbursement/accounting purposes.

"The priority in bringing our unique capabilities to the dominant North American market is to solve real, everyday problems and frustrations for regular conference callers - in the simplest possible way - using devices that fit the usage environment," said Steve Flavell, CEO and co-founder of Ring2.

"We only offer features that solve problems and keep things simple for our customers and this is leading to adoption rates of our remote control in excess of 60% of calls".

Frost and Sullivan senior industry analyst, Dominic Dodd, explained: "Responding to the increasing popularity of dial-in audio conferencing, Ring2's technology aims to solve everyday issues and frustrations suffered by regular conference callers, enhancing call manageability and ease-of-use.

"With its intuitive remote control tool for BlackBerry smartphones, Ring2's technology has the potential to transform this market space".

Carl Monroe, at one of Ring2's North American customers, the Atlanta-based law firm, Alston and Bird, commented: "With so many conference calls made from meeting rooms, it's great how Ring2 has turned the PDA into a mobile remote controller.

"Knowing who is on the call with just a glance to their PDA can be very helpful for our lawyers and underlines our commitment to call security.

"We were also impressed by the ease with which billing codes could be assigned".

Ring2's US service was showcased at Wireless Enterprise Symposium 2007, 8-10 May at the Marriott Resort in Orlando, Florida.

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