Selecting Videoconferencing Equipment for HEP Applications Geoff Fayers

Selecting Videoconferencing Equipment for HEP Applications Geoff. Fayers G. J. Fayers@ic. ac. uk

Current Narrowband VC “Standards”

Standards & VRVS ä VRVS uses Hybrid (MBONE) “standards” – – – Experimental - not IETF or ITU Need > 1 GMip for 30 fps Limited use of MMX Insufficient parallelisation Common s/ware components are vic, rat, wbd, (sdr) ä Beginning to support H. 323 – For quality, need hardware DSPs

Recommendation 1 ä Limit investment in A/V Capture cards for ‘old’ VRVS and MBONE ä Decide how scalable you want H. 323 ä Decide whether ISDN important ä Decide whether investment incremental or strategic

The ITU Standards: H. 320 ä H. 320 - < 2 MBits/sec, ISDN ä Each ISDN channel is 64 KBits/sec – – – ISDN-2 = 128 KBits/sec ISDN-6 = 384 Kbits/sec Can also use ISDN-4 @ 256 KBits/sec Minimum is one channel @64 KBits/sec (a good test of standards’ compliance) ä For channels beyond 2, need BONDING – Mode 1 prevails for this application

The ITU Standards: H. 323 ä Packet-based ä Up to 2 Mbits/sec, adaptive ä Transmission technology undefined ä FR sometimes used ä Consider only IP networks here

Other Standards ä Mbone IETF tools: sdr, vic, rat, wbd, …. . ä H. 310 & H. 321 for B-ISDN (ATM) ä H. 324 for low bit rate videotelephones ä ………. others ä T. 120 - T. 140 - data sharing – ……MS Net. Meeting commonest implementation – Others platform-specific ä SIP (RFC 2543, Mar. ‘ 99)

T. 120 ä The “missing component” of VC systems ä Includes whiteboarding, ftp and application sharing ä Data. Beam’s Far. Site most successful interim product …. . But now swallowed up (Lotus) ä Intel’s Pro. Share Premier a strong alternative ä Picture. Tel had Live. Share Plus. …but no more 8

More T. 120 ä Also-rans are Media. Ring (Mediacom), TALKShow (Future. Labs) ä Most DTVC suppliers have moved to MS Net. Meeting ä Net. Meeting dominates at present: – DC-Share (Data. Connection) – Netopia Virtual Office (Farallon Comms. ) – Timbuktu Pro (Farallon Comms. ) ä Picture. Tel (Q 4/97), VCON, VTEL, Sony, Zydacron, Vis à Vis, GPT and MMT all offer Net. Meeting BUT………. 9

What about MS Net. Meeting? ä Implements modified T. 120 stack for data sharing ä Designed to prevent interoperability with strict T. 120 implementations ä Security risk

More about MS Net. Meeting…. . ä Also implements H. 323……. ä Example of a software-based codec ä Intel Pro. Share is another ä Suggestion: Do NOT use for a/v ä Users will ignore one-to-one restrictions ä Problems in UK VIP and Megaconf. ä Probably banned next this year ä Development? ?

MBONE Answers to T. 120 ä wb – Shared whiteboard, text and postscript drawings ä nt – Shared text editing tool for ASCII ä qb – 20% increase in remote audience participation ä More tools under development….

SIP vs H. 323 äSIP is IP exclusively äSIP less complex - cheaper to implement äSIP easier debug - text messages/commands äSIP Client/Server arch. - security, mg’mnt äSIP easier Firewall handling äSIP more scalable

Future of H. 323 ä Originally intended for LAN ä Has come a long way for Internet use ä Despite slow take-up…. . ä H. 323 will persist for ~5 years or more ä Will bridge with ISDN, ATM and PSTN ä Will integrate e/mail, voice mail, fax, call centres, VC ä GSM integration underway…. ä Too much investment to abandon ä Still developing…. . .

More on Future of H. 323 ä 2 Revisions of standard ä More may be expected…. . ä Several Annexes ä Annexe D important for HEP…. . ä Limited implementations

H. 320, H. 323 and T. 12* Implementations ä H. 320 in hardware, firmware and software – Desktop hosts include Win 98, Win 2000, Win. NT – No linux hosts ä H. 323 in hardware, firmware and software – Desktop hosts include Win 98, Win 2000, Win. NT – No linux yet – Some Mac - fast changing ä T. 12* in software – MS Net. Meeting prevails, but others exist for UNIX and esp. for Win. XX

ATM Range of VC Systems ISDN-6 Line Speed/ Quality Room - based PC DTVC Rollabout Room - based ISDN-2 H. 323? H/wired DTVC POTS PC DTVC Capture Cards/Videophones 0 2 4 6 8 10 £K 12 14 16 18

Conclusion for Desktops…. ä For data sharing, use Net. Meeting ä ===> Win 98, Win. NT, maybe Win 2000 ä But there are problems even then…….

H. 323 and Firewalls ä Must have Rev. 2 compliance ä S’ton have tested two ä Axent’s Raptor looks good ä Check. Point’s Firewall-1 appears to be OK now ä Edu prices comparable, tho’ Raptor not in CHEST ä Cisco PIX may now be alright…. . ä No linux recommendations ä Problems with Net. Meeting V 2. *

Conclusions for Firewalls ä If you are behind one on campus, check its H. 323 rev. 2 capability

H. 323 Endpoints H. 323 Gateway H. 323 Gatekeeper H. 323 MCU H. 323 VIU H. 323 Protocol Stack

MCU Facilities ä At UCL (Pete Clarke) ä At Edinburgh – G. J. Fayers@ic. ac. uk or – R. Hughes-Jones@man. ac. uk ä Both Experimental ä No Direct Booking!

Entry Level Recommendations 2 ä Use a PC with Win 98 or Win. NT ä Zydacron Z 353 at £ 995. 0 + VAT ä Augment with Polyspan Sound. Point PC at about £ 80 + VAT ä Get additional headset from supplier of Z 353 ä Make supplier responsible for integrating the extras ä Use Net. Meeting V 3. 1 ä Recognise the limitations

A Cheaper Entry Level Option äFor laptops, Win 98 Polyspan Via. Video at about £ 400 + VAT äbut…. – Changing IP address…. – Multiple IP addresses…. . – Win 2000 + X-Active + Net. Meeting + Via. Video – Camera

Polyspan Via. Video

An Alternative - VCON Vi. GO

Z 353 vs Via. Video Z 353 ä Single PCI half-length board ä ISDN-2 and IP ä S-Video aux input ä Headset, camera mics ä Aux. Line out ä Win 98, Win. NT, Win 2000 ä Suitable for rollabout PC ä £ 995 + VAT Via. Video ä External USB connection ä IP only ä No auxiliary inputs ä Built-in mic only ä Uses audio out in PC ä No Win. NT support ä Portable to e. g. ‘plane ä £~400 + VAT

A Scalable Alternative ä Zydacron Z 360 costs ~ £ 1, 500 ä Single full length PCI board ä For ISDN, also need ZC 206 @ £ 1, 750 ä Buy together for £ 2, 995 + VAT ä Capable of TV output, SVideo aux. Input – So two cameras or document camera ä Auxiliary mic. Input too ä Aux. Line output too ä Built-in echo cancellation

Echo Cancellation - A Superb Multiway Solution?

Queries? ä Next edition of “Recommendations” late Spring – Will include mid-range and some high-end recommendations ä Information on cameras, doc. Cameras, other add-ons ä Queries to G. J. Fayers@ic. ac. uk