Videoconferencing Needs

From WolfWikis

Many people on this campus want a resource to help guide them through the process of videoconferencing. This WolfWiki is an attempt to synthesize the needs of our community.

Scenarios

One to one

• Professor needs to advise distance education student.
• Researcher needs to collaborate with colleague at another university.
• Helpdesk attendant needs to help client at remote location.
• Centennial or BioMedical Campus personnel want to collaborate with main campus personal and don't have time/patience to hunt for parking.

One to many

• Guest Lecturer for Class 123 cannot make it to campus meeting.
• Guest Lecturer for distance education Class 321.

Many to many

• Staff meeting for three professionals at different locations.
• Two guest lecturers for Class 123 meeting.
• Hybrid class...some participants on campus and some off.

Security

Security has several aspects that should be defined.

• Cannot be easily compromised by participants who are not invited into a conference.
• Integrated authentication with existing systems
• Robust environment that resists attacks (DOS attacks, Windows Security Holes)
• Encryption required by party being contacted (AES or CES)

Support structure

Support impact has to be defined so that we can make good recommendations based on not just needs but available resources.

• Uses existing networking infrastructure
• Server based or Serverless solution
• If server based, who runs the server (College, Campus or Third Party)

Ease of use

Ease of use is at some level a subjective term. For someone completely unfamiliar with a dedicated videoconferencing system, none of the existing systems are particularly easy to use. It should be assumed that any solution will require for the intended user to spend some time becoming aquainted with functionality and limitations. What is obvious to the technically inclined is often not obvious to the occasional user of conferencing tools.

That being said, computer based conferencing systems often have the edge in ease of use, because they can leverage user interface metaphors more successfully than dedicated conferencing systems. However, dedicated conferencing systems have other advantages -- tighter focusing on specific functionality (it doesn't try to do it all) and the ability to be pre-configured for a specific use.

Cost

Considerations for cost are:

• Infrastructure for dedicated or hosted conferencing systems. This can include systems or dedicated devices for hosting a conference (such as a MCU)
• For large scale conferences, room treatments including lighting and audio
• Endpoint equipment, such as a conferencing device or additional equipment for desktop conferencing (camera, mike)
• Support costs, including desktop support, help desk support, network topology support
• Annual upkeep and upgrades associated with purchase

Quality of service

• Determining appropriate technologies for needs is important here. Video conferencing is often used interchangeably with conferencing in general. Definition of terms is important here. For one-to-many presentations, with a limited amount of audience feedback, web-based conferencing environments may suffice. Video quality is often considered paramount, but in the end audio quality is what is most important.
• High Quality versus reliability. While everyone wants the best quality video that they can get, at the end of the day it is more important that the interaction be consistent, with no interruptions due to network congestion. These bottlenecks destroy the illusion of immediacy, in the same way that a break in a film destroys the movie watching experience. It is better to offer consistency over quality, all things being equal.
• Quality means repeatability. It has to just work. Every time. Just like a telephone. It may only take one time before an enthusiastic user is turned into a skeptic.

Solutions @ Other Universities

• University of Wisconsin
• Indiana University
• University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
• Virtual Clinical Practicum

Suggested Resources

Stuff goes here that relates to discussion of the technology and how it can be used. This is separate from the heading above since conferencing tools are used for both business and casual use as well. By looking at what these tools are, and how they are used, we can get a better idea of what the possibilities are in a university setting.

Pointers to Potential Products and Software

This is an annotated list of solutions that are either in current use, or are being tested. An entry should include not just a link, but additional commentary, such as:

• Address considerations listed above
• Your experiences with the solution (please, something more descriptive than "it is cool")
• How to get more information

Marratech [1] makes a commercial video conferencing solution that is based on SIP [2] technology. They offer desktop clients for Windows, Mac and Linux platforms. They offered a free version of their server, limited to 5 users, but that has gone away after their purchase by Google. When I was running the freeware version of their server I found it to be easy to configure, and image quality was quite good. I have no experience with interoperability with other systems, but documentation points to h323 interoperation and the ability to tie into POTS [3].

Earthlink Conferencing Server [4] is a freeware conferencing solution with multiple platform support. It doesn't offer any interoperatbility, and it appears that it has ceased development.

UserPlane [5] is a Flash-based conferencing tool that has both a free and paid mode. At the outset, anyone can set up a free conference with includes multiple video presence. However, banner ads run through the bottom of the conference. On the upside, a conference can be embedded in a web page.

Camfrog [6]is a videoconferencing solution for the Windows and Mac platform. The client is free, and there is a free server that can be used as well, but to get full security one must purchase their commercial server, which isn't that expensive. Again, as is familiar with many of these tools, it is a proprietary solution.

Skype for Business [7] is a business version of Skype 3.1. It has the same features as the standard 3.1; however, it also includes Windows Installer (commonly known as MSI). Already in use by a number of faculty/students -- however campus' have reported issues: http://insidehighered.com/news/2006/09/29/skype

ThruCam (aka Im4Cam) Linkis a software that up to eight connections with a minimum speed of 8 kbps. The user can either use a web cam image of themselves or live image of their desktop. The display image is not as large as some of the other programs that are available. You will need to create a user name for this software to use it. This is a PC solution only.

Rhub [8] is not a videoconferencing solution, but a web conferencing solution. However, it is unique in that it is an appliance that hosts interactive web conferences (text chat/screen sharing) with no client download and no recurring costs, such as with LiveMeeting and other hosted solutions. It specifically supports Windows and Mac for origination and participation, and devices such as the iPhone and Windows Mobile devices for viewing.