Hall.com Opens The War Room For Full Team Collaboration

Hall.com publicly launched its real-time collaboration platform in November of last year and in less than four months has taken it to the next level with War Room. The core functionality, which we wrote about last year, is still active and being used, but is now called "Community Rooms" instead of a "Hall". Other enhancements such as the new top navigation bar and a persistent information panel on the right now adorn the site. They still need to add a search function to find public communities.

Let's see what the War Room can do!

Each of the numbered items below correspond to a red number on the large screenshot underneath. You can click on the image to enlarge it or right click and open it in a new tab so that you can flip back and forth.

1. Group Chat - Each person in the War Room can type and everyone can see the messages. To direct, but not hide, a message to a single person you can @mention them.
2. File Sharing - Files may be uploaded traditionally or by drag and drop for everyone to access. This is only a way to easily share files with a group for review; they can not be edited or viewed within the browser.
3. Notepad - This virtual piece of paper can be used for anything. All edits are visible as they occur by anyone and everyone can edit and create content live at the same time.
4. Invite - Here you are able to invite people to your War Room by email, Facebook post, or by sharing a specific URL. Each member needs to have an account to enter and can sign up traditionally or with Facebook.
5. Members - This section shows the current members and has a green icon in the lower right corner of each avatar to show if the person is activity logged in to the room.
6. Video Stream - Up to four members can broadcast video and audio for a video conference. Other people in the room can still see and hear the group even if they are not able to participate.
7. Private Chat - You and your contacts (#10) can IM privately without the War Room seeing.
8. Actions - The monitor/administrator can edit the room name and privacy, make other members monitors or kick them out, and change the email notifications. An email may be sent for each action, a daily summary, or no email at all.
9. Activity - A list of recent activity in the Community and War Rooms you participate in.
10. Contacts - Your contacts (requires mutual approval)
11. My Hall - Lists of your rooms

This is a great step forward in getting everything you need in one place for everything from ordinary meetings to project collaborations by virtual companies. Hall.com can be found on Twitter, Facebook, and their blog.