Meetings technology provider Worktopia has introduced Universal Meeting Solution - Virtual Edition (UMS-VE), a version of its popular meetings booking tool that allows meeting planners to search, compare and book video conferencing services at more than 400 venues for use in conducting virtual meetings."Video collaboration can play an important role in enhancing existing relationships and maximizing the return on meeting and travel investment," Worktopia CEO John Arenas said in a statement. "Because of the substantial cost savings compared with face-to-face meetings, it can allow for more frequent collaboration with customers, internal constituents and vendors."According to Arenas, UMS-VE will help companies who are trying to cut meeting costs as a result of the recession, as well as companies who are interested in greening their meetings, increasing meetings ROI and even mitigate the risks of global pandemics like swine flu."While avoidance of direct travel costs has historically been a primary driver for video conferencing use," he continued, "corporate clients are now also using it to lower carbon emissions, reduce executive down-time, and to reduce travel and health risks."Using UMS-VE, companies can search both public and private networks of video conferencing studios. And if they have a studio of their own, companies can add it to their network so that employees can reserve and book it internally.