Palo Alto, California-based Hewlett-Packard Co has announced the OmniShare conference software, first of a proposed family of document conferencing products. The company says that the OmniShare, which incorporates AT&T Corp’s VoiceSpan technology, is the first fully-integrated, pen-based conferencing product, and says it enables users to speak and transmit data at the same time. However it is not a personal computer, says Hewlett-Packard, but an interactive document conferencing product. Data and speech are transmitted simultaneously across one standard telephone line, enabling users to share graphics, text and annotation, while speaking on the phone. Details about the kit itself are sparse, but it is the result of an array of alliances: aside from combining AT&T Paradyne’s VoiceSpan technology, Hewlett-Packard went to Fremont, California-baded Logitech Inc for its electronic pen technology, Hitachi Ltd for its liquid crystal display know-how and Traveling Software Inc for its communications software. According to Hewlett-Packard, it works with documents from standard personal computers and Windows applications, and is a fully transportable, stand-alone system. The company says it plans to complement the OmniShare with additional products for personal computer-dependent users that will implement conferencing capabilities on the desktop. The Omnishare conference is available now and and is priced at $2,600.
