In telecommunication, teleconferencing is the live exchange and mass articulation of information among persons and machines remote from one another but linked by a telecommunications system, for example, a telephone system. Computers have given new meaning to the term because they allow groups to do much more than just talk. Once a teleconference is established, the group can share applications and mark up a common whiteboard.
Broadly speak, teleconferencing comprises various ways by which people communicate with one another over some distance. In a narrow sense, a teleconference is a two-way, interactive meeting, between relatively small groups of people (approximately 1 to 10 at each end), who may use permanent teleconferencing facilities. A teleconference involves audio communication between the locations, but may also involve video or graphics. One problem with conventional teleconferencing systems is that as more participants are added to the teleconference, the conventional teleconferencing systems' quality and performance degrades. In other words, as more participants are added to conventional teleconferencing systems, the conventional system's overall latency increases and long delays are created between when participants can speak.