“We live in a society where broadband is pervasive, media players are built into operating systems, and people are comfortable watching video on their computers and even handheld devices.”

Interview by Mike Sullivan of Sully’s Blog

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Nick Balletta has over a decade’s worth of experience in webcasting and is considered an industry veteran. Nick started his career as a webcasting executive in 1998 when he founded NextVenue Inc., TalkPoint’s predecessor company. NextVenue was created as an off-shoot of CNBC/ Dow Jones Desktop Video, a joint venture amongst Microsoft, NBC, and Dow Jones. Nick has previously served as an executive within Williams Communications Inc.’s Vyvx Broadband Media division. He served as president of Enterprise Services at Ibeam Broadcasting and was a member of the company’s board. He holds an MBA from the Rutgers Graduate School of Management.

TalkPoint provides technology and services for interactive webcasting and virtual meetings. Users of TalkPoint’s webcasting platform include a global who’s who of the fortune 1000. With over a decade of experience TalkPoint has developed the most robust, scalable, interactive, webcasting platform in the industry. Large, live, on-demand, interactive, and secure video and audio webcasting.

MO:
TalkPoint somehow evolved out of NextVenue, Inc. Can you talk about the history there and how TalkPoint came into existence?

Nick:
TalkPoint’s roots go back to a venture known as CNBC Desktop Video. The venture was established in the mid-1990s amongst Microsoft, NBC, and Dow Jones. The venture was formed to distribute CNBC television content over the Internet using streaming media technology. CNBC Desktop Video was way ahead of the times. It was a great concept, but technology had just not evolved enough at the time to support Internet-based streaming video distribution. Media players were not built into operating systems and broadband did not exist; the venture struggled. I had a commercial relationship with the venture through my previous startup, Voyager Networks. After selling Voyager to Frontier Global Center I was presented with the opportunity to purchase the assets of CNBC Desktop Video. I formed NextVenue, got it funded, acquired the assets of the venture, and gave Microsoft, Dow Jones, and NBC a carried interest in the new entity. We continued to distribute CNBC content but changed the focus to work directly with enterprise customers. We began providing webcasting services originally to investment banks and pharmaceutical companies in 1999. In 2000 we filed for a public offering and in the process was acquired by Ibeam Broadcasting. Ibeam was a satellite-based CDN service provider. Ibeam was acquired by Williams Communications Inc. in early 2002. In mid 2002, Williams went through a restructure and I was presented with the opportunity to buy back the operating assets of NextVenue. TalkPoint was born!!

MO:
It looks like your clients fall in the Fortune 1000. Who are your clients and what do they find important about your services? What differentiates TalkPoint in the industry?

Nick:
We operate in the enterprise space but have had continued success specifically in the Financial, Life Sciences, Publishing, and High Tech sectors. We work in highly regulated environments where there is a particular focus on security. In addition, our platform provides our client base with the needed scale, flexibility, and interactivity. The information distributed over our platform is actionable and mission critical. A high level of service is paramount. Large, live, video, secure, and interactive are the words I use that differentiate us in the industry.

MO:
Your website, talkpointcommunications.com , has demos of your services such as audio and video webcasts and webinars. It appears as if there is a solution for just about any need. How important is online video, be it virtual meetings to presentations, to the future of businesses? Why is this something to pay attention to?

Nick:
Business video is becoming a business workflow tool. I can’t remember when I viewed a presentation by John Chambers of Cisco or read an article where he did not mention business video. We live in a society where broadband is pervasive, media players are built into operating systems, and people are comfortable watching video on their computers and even handheld devices. We have seen an exponential increase in the number of video webcasts. As tool sets become easier to use, as telepresence devices become ubiquitous, and as corporate IT staffs deploy caching and multicast technologies, video will become more and more a business tool used in daily workflow. Video is here to stay.

MO:
The need for webcasting and virtual meetings have exploded in the past few years due to companies going global and the existence of more and more virtual employees. I’m sure this has increased the demand for your services, but has it also increased the need for additional features and changes to the platform?

Nick:
We operate in an environment where our technology is being used for thousands of live video and audio broadcasts of mission critical enterprise content. I often use the analogy that our distributed webcast platform is like an aircraft in which we took off in 1999 and never been afforded the opportunity to land. We are continuously doing maintenance, adding seats, new engines, extended wings, new windows etc. all while in flight. That’s the world of live webcasting. I always joke (half kidding) that we have never had an original idea. We listen to our customers (who are not shy) and they tell us exactly what they need. The art is discerning what features and functions, if developed, can be used across multiple customers and multiple vertical markets. We ask questions like: What features, if added, might impact security, scalability, performance? What features will be compatible across multiple operating systems, multiple browsers, be backwards compatible, and work across multiple CDNs? What features and functions will be future proof, based on macro technology trends? Finally, the most important, is what will the customer pay for? All of this is of course, mid-flight. We always have our seatbelts buckled and our tray tables up in the locked position.

MO:
What initially drew you toward the webcasting field? What was your background before founding NextVenue?

Nick:
I have always been in the technology sector. I started out my career as a sales guy selling Long Distance service for MCI in the late 1980s. I took a leap at my first start up in 1996 by founding Voyager Data Networks in NY. We were in the “Web Server Hoteling” business which ultimately became the Web Hosting / Co-location business we all know today. As a small startup in a nascent market, we were hosting the original websites for customers like Sony and Dow Jones. Friends of mine were in a similar business on the west coast running a company called Global Center. They were hosting two small websites known as Yahoo and Netscape. We combined the companies and filed for an IPO under the name Global Center. During the process we sold the combined entity to Frontier Communications. Frontier was later acquired by Global Crossing. After selling Voyager I was presented with the CNBC Desktop Video opportunity.

MO:
What are some of the unique ways or uses you have seen businesses use webcasting technology for? Anything out of the ordinary or just plain funny?

Nick:
Recently McDonalds used our webcasting platform to conduct a global competition for their employees called “McDonalds Idol”. It was a knock-off of American Idol and employees around the globe submitted videos of music performances. The finalists were flown into Orlando for their annual conference. TalkPoint’s webcasting technology was used to broadcast the final competition globally.