One of the world's largest video-conferencing net-works has been taking shape from Brighton.

EyeNetwork co-ordinates video meetings between customers at 1,500 affiliate bureaus in 72 countries.

The operation is second in size only to a handful of large American providers.

Lisa Honan, managing director, said: "We are now averaging about 20 appointments a week, varying in duration from one hour up to 12 hours.

"One of the busiest projects currently on the go is lining-up a court case in Birmingham with witness-es in Malaysia.

"It would have been too expensive to fly them in to give evidence but, using our network, their contribut-ions can be made. The link- up has been booked for four hours on each of the three trial days."

The core area of business for the company is the recruitment sector. Forty per cent of bookings are made by recruitment consultants interviewing overseas applicants.

The standard rates for video conferencing are £100 for each hour of use with a £50 booking fee.

The company has recently launched a membership scheme to offer discounts to repeat clients.

Ms Honan said: "We have introduced a series of membership options which can make our services cheaper for regular users, making video conferencing even more cost-effective compared with travelling to meetings.

"Technological improve-ments mean the quality is near-video and you can link many sites at the same time."

The network was develop-ed by Ms Honan and research director, Paul Dickinson, who was a new media trends analyst in 1996. He believed video- conferencing was going to be the next big thing.

Ms Honan said: "Paul was extremely excited about the potential for this technology from the minute he first heard about it and we were very surprised other people didn't jump into the business as well.

"It took time to build the right team and to iron out the teething problems. For the first two years, we concentrated on providing a video-conference bureau to businesses within the borders of Brighton. Then we changed direction and began to build the international network in 1999. It has grown 300 per cent since and we have built a strong, viable business."

Clients include American Express, the Labour Party, Europe-an Commission, Dow Jones and Sony.

www.eyenetwork.co.uk