INTERNATIONAL TRADE

Affordable Video Conferences: Many small companies that engage in international trade usually can’t afford to buy video-conference equipment. Recognizing this need, an Irvine company said it has started a new service leasing out equipment and office space for video conferences.

Office Telephone Management claims to be the operator of Orange County’s first public video-conference center, providing the service to major U.S. cities and 36 countries using U.S. Sprint’s long-distance network, said Chuck Merino, OTM’s general manager.

Costs for an hourlong video conference--including conference rooms and equipment in two cities on the East and West coasts--would run about $750, he said. A conference call between the United States and Japan costs a little more than $2,000 an hour, he added.