New Technologies in Video Conferencing

Video conferencing demand in India is on the upswing. According to a recent
study done by Zinnov Management Consulting, the market for full HD video
conferencing such as TelePresence alone would be USD 40 million by 2012. Given
the fact that the current TelePresence market is about USD 7.2 million, we are
about to witness significant growth in the next five years. Even the current
slowdown has become a bliss for video conferencing vendors. As companies look at
ways to lower their costs, cutting traveling costs and using video conferencing
is on the top of the list of many. Another key driver for this growth is the
current focus on green tech, as with video conferencing, companies can cut their
carbon footprint. With vendors coming up with new technologies and customized
devices for various verticals, video conferencing market is full of action. In
this story, we look at a few technologies in video conferencing and take a look
at how different verticals are using it.

High definition video conferencing

As the name suggests this form of video conferencing provides better quality
then conventional video conferencing. But of course you would need HD capable
equipment. Benefits of HD video conferencing include clear and crisp images. As
the resolution of images transmitted is high, it can be stretched to a bigger
screen without a drop in picture quality. Bigger screen means more number of
people can get involved. Other benefit of this technique is that more
information can be shared; ie in hospitals doctors can remotely check X-rays or
MRIs of patients as the images are very clear. Moving from benefits to actual
technology, SD (Standard definition) video conferencing is of 640x480
resolution; on the other hand HD video conferencing is of 1280x720 resolution.
So, you can see more pixels mean more information.

The standards used in video conferencing before HD encoding/decoding were
based on the common interchange format (CIF). ITU-T (International
Telecommunication Union- Telecommunication Standardization Sector) has developed
video standards H.261 and H.263. H.261 supports QCIF (quarter CIF) and CIF
formats while for high resolution 16CIF (defined in H.263) is used. H.264 is a
new breakthrough standard in HD video conferencing which will allow
interoperability of different products from multiple vendors.

Two important aspects of video conferencing are visual and audio accuracy.
Visual accuracy can be achieved with high resolution images as mentioned earlier
and devices that can capture and reproduce these images. Conventional HD
camcorder is not a great option for HD video conferencing; instead image sensors
specially built for conferencing should be used. The other equally important
aspect in video conferencing is audio quality and audio video synchronization.
Now there are two criteria for acoustic realism: input and output quality. Here
input quality, as the name suggests is quality of sound capturing devices. To
maintain high quality audio transmission, usage of good quality multiple
microphones that are properly directed is a must; while the other important
issue is transmission frequency range. Output quality constitutes high quality
speakers and proper synchronization between audio and video signals with echo
and noise cancellation.

A simple three party conference showing 3D capturing for life like experience

Video communication management

With increasing demand for video conferencing and wide implementation, the
need for proper management of video communication is high on priority. As video
conferencing is used in critical areas like medical field, the reliability is
becoming more important. There are several aspects to video communication
management, namely bandwidth management (most important), meeting scheduling and
support for ever increasing users and their devices. There are several solutions
(eg LifeSize Control) available that can be used to cover all these aspects;
most of them have simple browser based interfaces. Some other key criteria to
keep in mind before going for a video conferencing solution are: an open and
extensible platform, security, multi-vendor compatibility and efficient
management features.

Mobile video conferencing

Video conferencing is used by various companies for faster and convenient
meetings. A typical video conference is room based utilizing a video multimedia
conferencing unit. These systems are quite expensive and they have other
problems too. Conferencing using a mobile could be a far cheaper solution. By
utilizing the emerging 3G technology along with appropriate video gateway
devices, mobiles can be used as video terminals. This, when deployed with QoS
enabled IP networks, can give a quality comparable to the existing ISDN-based
solutions. The plus point is that it would be a great return on investment as
compared to an ISDN based solution. Not only this, it will also move the
conferencing from room-based to desktop or 3G mobile based conferencing.

GIPS (Global IP Solutions) have built a Video Engine based on Windows which
will support P2P video calling and multi-point video conferencing on mobile
phones.

Tandberg Profile 6000 MXP

3D video conferencing

Moving from 2D HD, the future of video conferencing is 3D video
conferencing. This technique will guarantee natural representation of all
participants in virtual space to enhance quality and efficiency. There are
various approaches to accomplish 3D video conferencing.

Shared virtual table environment (SVTE) concept is used to reproduce 3D
representation of members in shared virtual space. To achieve this, multiple
video cameras are used to capture different angles of participants. All these
images are then grouped in a virtual environment; this gives the participants
the feeling that they are sitting across a table. Two SVTE approaches are
Tele-cubicle and VIRTUE (virtual team user environment). The difference between
Tele-cubicle and VIRTUE is that the former is simple, multiple screen usage
while the latter is an extension of a working desk in front of the screen to
virtual conference desk.

Public video conferencing rooms

Cisco and Tata Communications have built public video conferencing rooms
around the globe to cut travel costs. These rooms will be available at Taj
Hotels for rent and will constitute state-of-the-art TelePresence
infrastructure. This is a great step, making video conferencing a service open
to all, especially those who cannot afford such infrastructure. With rent
ranging from $299 to $899, and capacity varying from one to eighteen persons,
this is a great option for organizations that are geographically spread across
the world.

Video conferencing in different verticals

Let's look the adoption of video conferencing by different industries.

1. Education

Many educational institutes and training companies have already started
using video conferencing to provide training to students, especially those that
engage subject matter experts based out of the country. Here again there are two
models: one is educational institutes deploying video conferencing in their
premises and the other is where the institute collaborates with a video
conferencing service provider and use their equipment as well as space to give
training to students. This is used by institutes providing distance learning. A
common example in India is Reliance Web world which offers courses in
collaboration with institutes like XLRI etc and many of their trainings are
provided through video conferencing.

Mobile video conferencing setup

Since education is a huge market and with video conferencing gaining
popularity, vendors are coming up with products specifically meant for students
as well as teachers. These devices are largely desktop based video conferencing
solutions and portable video conferencing devices. The portable video
conferencing devices also support WiFi so that users can use it from any
location.

From end user perspective, distance learning through Video conferencing gives
students a chance to receive training from subject matter experts, whereas in
the traditional educational model it's just the local teachers who provide
training. As students get to interact with different experts, this also gives
them the opportunity to get in touch with them later through email. This opens a
whole range of new opportunities for students, especially for those in rural
areas which otherwise was not possible in the traditional form of distance
education.

2. Healthcare

Use of Video conferencing in health care has been growing at a brisk pace.
In our previous articles, we spoke about how video conferencing being used to
provide remote diagnostics and for conducting surgery. Another emerging trend in
health care is TelePractice. One such example that we came across is providing
speech therapy through TelePractice. Here, the complete speech therapy course is
provided through video conferencing. The technology is of great help to patients
who are in rural areas where specialists are hard to find.

Vendors are now coming up with olutions customized for various industries such as this Tandberg Intern MXP

3. BFSI

Banking industry is another area where usage of video conferencing is on the
rise. As most banks have branches across the country, with some even having
branches across the world, video conferencing helps to cut costs but also
increase collaboration between employees of different branches, as well as quick
resolution of issues. Most banks in India use video conferencing for their
internal communication; however in US some banks have deployed video
conferencing to provide services such as Video Tellers. Another new trend in
this sector is to train employees through video conferencing, as this allows top
management to train new employees; and at the same it gives them other obvious
benefits such as savings in man hours.

Security of video communication

A lot of times the content of a video conferencing call can be critical from
a security point of view, for eg, video conferencing amongst directors of
company on future strategies or video conferencing used by defense
establishments. To secure this communication, one needs to understand different
elements of video conferencing security i.e. physical security of the meeting
room, data security and network access control, connection security and content
security. To secure content, among all the approaches on trial, the traditional
approach of encryption is more popular. For encryption there are dedicated
devices in market such as Polycom Security Firewall Traversal. Some of the
encryption algorithms used in these security devices are 56-bit DES to 128-1bit
AES. These devices take care of intrusion detection, provide firewalls and also
access vulnerability. To implement video conferencing security, there are laws
by countries such as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)
in the United States for security of client data (including video conferencing).
For authentication, there are three kinds of approaches: tokens, IP address
authentication, and referrers; one may use any one or a combination of these
approaches. Another point to keep in mind while implementing video conferencing
security is switching between secure and non-secure mode of operation. There is
no point of implementing multiple security layers if the content of a meeting is
generic in nature.

Polycom Video Border Proxy

This is a NAT/Firewall traversal solution from Polycom that can work with any existing firewall. It can combat security threats posed by traversal methods and is largely meant for companies with multiple locations. Besides security, other features of this product include optimization of video quality, shortest path routing and traffic shaping. It is also compatible with the H.460 standard which means mobile and home users can also securely connect and use video conferencing without needing any onsite hardware

Piyush Dhingra, Sandeep Koul and Swapnil Arora