Webcasting and virtual events solutions provider ON24 has announced ON24 Virtual Show, a platform allowing companies and organizations to host trade shows, job fairs, conferences, and training summits in virtual venues.

ON24 Virtual Show customizable user interfaces, integrated webcasting and show reporting, profiles and message board discussions for professional and social networking, "smart booths" offering personalized content based on attendee's profile, and multilingual support.

ON24 believes that its service can help organizations reduce costs while decreasing the amount of time needed to plan and hold an event. Companies can also use the Virtual Show platform to extend physical trade shows with a virtual component.

Said ON24 president and CEO Sharat Sharan: "ON24 has a history of providing our customers with reliable solutions that work every time with global customer-centric service. With ON24 Virtual Show, we are transforming how organizations leverage webcasting and virtual events for their global communication and demand generation needs."

Speaking with Silicon Valley newspaper the San Jose Mercury News, Hewlett Packard's Innovation Program Office head and Personal Systems Group CTO/VP, Philip McKinney, predicted that Second Life-like communities will eventually be as common for workplaces as it is for recreational use.

He noted one specific advantage virtual business meetings have over other forms of distance collaboration: "You can schedule a meeting on a particular topic, but you miss out on casual conversation. That's a role Second Life can play. Some companies are using it as a virtual water cooler."

McKinney adds that as companies begin to use online as a business tool, the virtual worlds will need to gain legal status: "If I get in a virtual collaboration with somebody in another country and we invent something, what creates the basis for ownership? If there becomes a dispute, where do you take that dispute? That's going to have to be addressed."

Also, on the topic of the "gray wave," or consumers aged over 55 years old, McKinney stressed that an important opportunity exists in adapting conferencing technologies for older markets: "Everybody is out there chasing the 18- to 25-year-olds. The problem is the 18-25 market segment is shrinking by 6.5 percent a year. Over 55 is growing 8 percent a year. Fifty percent of all disposable income is in the 55-and-older category. So it's not a bad category to be thinking about."

Webcasting and virtual events solutions provider ON24 has announced that it has secured over $8 million in an equity round led by U.S. Venture Partners, Canaan Partners, and Rho Ventures, and an expansion capital financing round led by Gold Hill Capital.

This new financing brings ON24's total capital raised to over $46 million. The company intends to use the funds for "global expansion of the sales, marketing and client services organizations," as well as product development initiatives, such as ON24 Virtual Show, its platform allowing companies and organizations to host trade shows, job fairs, conferences, and training summits in virtual venues

Announced earlier this month, ON24 Virtual Show features customizable user interfaces, integrated webcasting and show reporting, profiles and message board discussions for professional and social networking, "smart booths" offering personalized content based on attendee's profile, and multilingual support.

Said ON24 CEO and president Sharat Sharan: “Our customers are experiencing increased ROI as a result of using ON24 solutions for demand generation and corporate communications. With rising fuel costs and the economic downturn, we have seen increased demand by organizations to leverage our solutions to hold online events as a cost-effective alternative to in-person events. We’ve raised this funding to accelerate our growth while being well capitalized during the economic downturn."

Multimedia services provider Digitell launched Virtual Convention Center, a platform providing technology for running virtual meeting and conferences.

Meeting planners can host varying levels of events, from small board meetings to large general sessions, where communication can be verbal using VoIP technology or can be written via text either privately or publicly. Both recorded or live presentations can run anytime or be set to run at a certain time.

Virtual Convention Center includes features for meeting invitations, online registration, avatar creation, a virtual calendar to post events, and e-commerce solutions for selling products online. Statistics on who visits, how often they visit, and what booths they visit are also tracked.

Companies can also recreate an exhibit hall through the Virtual Convention Center. Users will be able to watch videos, download brochures, send e-mails, or visit the company's web site from the hall.