Microsoft adds pricing options for Live Meeting

Microsoft is increasing the options customers have for purchasing its Live Meeting Web conferencing service. In addition to its current shared seat and per-minute pricing, customers can choose from a named user model that provides dedicated capacity for up to 15 users in a conference; a Room model for those that want to conduct large group meetings on a regular basis; and, a monthly minutes option that allows customers to buy a block of minutes to use. The named model is mostly aimed at heavy users of the service, such as sales people.

Microsoft also renamed its Presenter and Premier Live Meeting product levels to Standard Edition and Professional Edition, respectively, to more closely align it with the Office naming convention.

WebEx, which by all accounts is the leading Webconferencing service provider, offers two tiers of pricing: A per-minute charge of at least $0.14/minute or a $75 per port per month basis, which a WebEx spokesman says a 100 users could share 15 ports for about $1000 per month.