Companies, government entities, non-profit organizations and entrepreneurs today have a need like never before in history to be able to communicate effectively “live” with people over great distances. This kind of real-time communication is so essential because the connections between people who don’t live or work near each other are becoming increasingly dense and complex.

A common solution to this challenge is the phone, and more often, web-based conferencing. Phone calls are limited to voice, while web-based conferencing adds a number of additional useful dimensions to the communication process. If you’re looking for a phone conferencing service provider or just want to learn more about your options, you’ll benefit from understanding more about web conferencing.

For starters, there are countless web conferencing providers on the market today, each offering systems with vastly different (but often overlapping) feature sets. To help you get a better layout of web conferencing systems, here is an overview of the 7 main types of systems, which are divided into categories based on how they will be primarily used:

1. Simple online meetings:

If your interest in these systems is basically running simple online meetings using audio and screen sharing features (where all participants can view the presenter’s computer screen on their own screens, remotely), then a simple online meeting system. Systems like Fuze Meeting, Microsoft Office Live Meeting, Tokbox, GoToMeeting (Citrix), and WebEx should work.

2. Large-Scale Webcasting:

If you have a need to present to hundreds or even thousands of people at once, such as when you’re holding a national online sales seminar, consider one of these systems: TalkPoint and GoToWebinar.

3. Business collaboration:

Some medium and large companies need to be able to collaborate on remote projects. This could include application sharing, annotations, and other features (besides video and voice). Consider these systems: Genesys Meeting Center, IBM Lotus Sametime, Oracle Beehive, ShowDocument, TimeBridge, and Adobe Acrobat Connect.

4. Education and training:

Do you need to train a lot of people remotely? Or maybe you run an educational institution that relies on the Internet to reach students with educational materials and courses. Try one of these systems: Elluminate, Openmeetings, and WebTrain.

5. Rich Media Sharing:

If you work in the multimedia world, such as film, music, or art, you’ll want a system that’s well-optimized to run rich media applications. See: Dimdim and OmNovia Technologies.

6. Customer service:

Some systems are ideal for helping customers or members of an organization who are working remotely for IT or other customer service purposes. These systems can do the trick: Glance and Netviewer.

7. Remote access:

If your primary goal is to gain access to someone else’s system (with their permission, of course), Citrix Online is one of the leaders in the industry. (author’s note: all information provided here is as accurate as possible, but some information may have changed since the time this article was published!) As you can see, there are many web and conferencing service providers phones on the market to choose from. Consider the systems listed above, depending on the intended use of the system.