Some organizations prefer not to set up separate web and telephone conference sessions in order to work in real time, and PBworks has released their Real-Time Collaboration Update as a solution. PBworks provides on-demand collaboration solutions for business and education.

This newest issue allows both real-time and asynchronous collaboration, through which colleagues can message coworkers, see which ones are available, and broadcast live editing sessions. The update also features True Voice Collaboration, which lets users initiate and manage impromptu conference calls through their current phone service.

PBworks doesn’t deal in traditional web conferencing and positions its products as replacements for that medium, but their alternatives are not far off. For example, this new release includes Live Editing, through which coworkers can “call in”  through instant message to notify others of changes they’re making to a wiki, and the concerned parties can see the changes happening in real-time. Also, ad hoc conference calls can be made over the PBworks system through the existing phone lines, which acts as the vocal element of web conferencing.

PBworks’ newest edition seems more like a dialed down solution to web conferencing than a replacement for it. More and more large enterprises are adopting web conferencing solutions for more than just meetings, using them for training sessions as well, and PBworks is a nice alternative for companies that may not need all the bells and whistles of an orthodox web conferencing platform.