Earlier, we covered most prominent free Web conferencing applications and Remote control tools for achieving virtual presence in enterprises.

Here is another one, Ekiga (formely known as GnomeMeeting) is a free and open source VoIP and video conferencing application (software phone) for GNOME. Ekiga uses both the H.323 and SIP protocols. It supports many audio and video codecs, and is interoperable with other SIP compliant software and also with Microsoft NetMeeting. Ekiga in-fact is an open source alternative to Microsoft NetMeeting as there is a windows port available here.

Ekiga really supports plenty lot of features and here is a partial list;

SIP Features:

1. Advanced call control features like Call Hold, Call Transfer, Call Forwarding on no answer etc
2. SIP re-INVITE support
3. SIP/SIMPLE Presence support
4. Line Monitoring
5. Extended presence publishing
6. Full SIP capabilities exchange for codecs
7. SIP INFO DTMF support
8. Ability to simultaneously handle several network interfaces
9. and plenty more…

H.323 Features:

1. H.323v4 Compliant
2. H.245 Tunneling and Fast Start
3. Gatekeeper (RAS) Support
4. H.235 Annex D. Support
5. Gateway/Proxy Support
6. H.450.1 Call Hold
7. H.450.2 Call Transfer
8. H.450.3 Call Forwarding on No Answer, on Busy, Always
9. Configurable Port Ranges
10. RFC2833, Q.931, and Inband DTMF support
11. and more…

General Features:

1. Integration with Novell Evolution
2. LDAP Support
3. Advanced Address Book
4. Calls History
5. Dialpad
6. Rendez-Vous support
7. In call Instant-Apply of Settings
8. GConf and external Configuration
9. Possibility for administrators to block some settings
10. OSS and ALSA compatible soundcards support
11. Video4Linux, Video4Linux 2 and Firewire Cameras support
12. Devices Auto-Detection
13. Configurable sound events
14. Configuration Assistant
15. Manual
16. HIG compliant GUI
17. KDE and GNOME compatibility
18. and more…