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Remote Conferencing

author-image
PCQ Bureau
New Update

Meetings

and conferences provide a platform for people to meet and exchange information.

The purposes may be as simple as a project status update presentation or a

brainstorming session for a new product, or a vehicle for key decision makers

from different strata of the ecosystem to share their visions and roadmaps.

Organizing such events at even an enterprise-wide scale is difficult when

schedules of the attendees have to be accommodated. Imagine you have an

induction program scheduled for your employees while some of the attendees are

busy grappling with delivery schedules in different parts of the country. At

such a time, they would rather miss the induction program and finish their work.

However, instead of needing to compromise and have them do only one of the two,

you could harness the capabilities of remote conferencing solutions-audio,

video, data or mixed-to let them do both, without them needing to travel or

leave their desks!

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Remote

conferencing lets each participant attend the session from any location. This

lets your executives do their regular work even while attending the meeting.

Plus, specific features (like session transcripts) in some of the conferencing

options available also let them come back later and refer to what was said and

decided. This is not only convenient but also helps cut down on huge travel

costs.

The

case for you to consider remote conferencing as an option becomes stronger when

you consider that you no longer need to depend on a few service providers

renting out conferencing studios for large sums of money. The equipment for

conferencing is now compact and available right at the desktop. High speed

digital communications are now cheaper and broadband access is more

common-place.

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Technologies



Skype

Telephony

using the Internet is now an age-old concept. Traditional networks use

H.323 and SIP which are both point-to-point protocols. However, Skype uses

peer-to-peer technology over TCP/IP. This allows it to provide better

quality as required for voice conferencing and VoIP transports.



There

is, however, one drawback with this. As long as a user is logged on to the

Skype network, his bandwidth will be used to serve calls between other

Skype users!



To

the user, Skype is a client just like other messengers. This client is

available for Windows, Linux, Mac OS X, the Pocket PC and FreeBSD. It

functions in two ways-one, it allows you to make calls to your

contacts' computers which is a free service. Then, if they have a

telephone number registered on their account, you can also call that

number, but this is a paid service. Skype also gives you voicemail

facility on the paid plans. On Oct 18th this year, Skype was purchased by

eBay in a US $2.6 million deal.



Similar

services: Jabber, Google Talk. IMs like Yahoo, MSN and ICQ also come with

voice modules for voice conferencing between contacts. You can also

perform simple audio conferencing using cellphones that support up to

six-way conferencing (Nokia 9300).

Conferencing

technologies also eliminate the space crunch of having a sufficient number of

meeting rooms, and can be used at any scale-within a single office or across

the globe with equal ease. It can be used both with specialized equipment and

from your desktop computer.

Each

method has its own benefits and areas of application. Also, it is no longer

sufficient to have just audio and video in a conference session and you

frequently have the need to share data too. Thus, both audio and video

conferencing stations bundle the ability to plug in a notebook and exchange

data.

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But

are such solutions only meant for large enterprises? No. Different solutions are

available at different price points. While some setups can easily cost upto Rs 5

Lakh, simpler solutions exist that can utilize your existing investments (like

your PCs) and turn them into conferencing equipment. Let's take a look at some

of the options available and where and why you would use each of them.

Audio

conferencing




The most basic form of remote conferencing, audio is the basic communication
method. Of course, you could always pick up a phone that supports multi-party

calls and hold a conference-and today, even cellphones (like the Nokia 9500)

come with support for up to 5 and 7-way calls. But, you do need more than just

the ability to talk. What if you needed to send across a spreadsheet to the

other person, an information brochure, or a design plan? Therefore, you need

equipment that are more sophisticated and let you do more than just voice talk.

So what are the features you need to look for?


The

basic feature would of course be the ability to have a number of participants in

a single call. Plus, if you have a number of people sitting it at a single

location (say around a conference table), you need the ability for the equipment

to pickup their voice clearly. All of them should also be able to hear the

remote party well. So you need a good speaker (or the ability to add your own)

as well as a mechanism to add more microphones as needed to this end point.

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Technologies



Easy video conferences

Till a couple of years ago, it was unthinkable to use video conferencing on the bandwidth we used to get, without going in for costly ISDN or leased line circuits. Today, with improvements in bandwidth and its falling prices, video conferencing has become not only convenient, but is also there in every online home. The simplest video conferencing setup is an instant messenger plus a Web camera and the total costs a couple of thousand rupees. At the high end, there are the type of things we see in movies-wall panels of monitors with different contacts and high-speed satellite-based connectivity. Such enterprise-class products can cost tens of Lakhs of

rupees! Then of course come the regular video conferencing solutions like the ones described in this story, costing between 2 to 6 Lakhs. These solutions give you professional quality at economical prices.

Most

conferencing phones can be easily distinguished from their cousins by their

large speakers. Hands-free operation is of course a must. Some phones (like the

Cisco 7971-GE) also support data-driven displays. This particular phone, for

instance, can accept XML data and display it on its high-resolution screen. This

can add value to conferences-the displayed data could be your latest stock

prices or news headlines or other such feeds.

While

the cost of hardware-based audio conferencing may be quite high, cheaper options

exist and include IP phones and soft-phone based networks. For instance, you

could have a VoIP MCU (Multi-point Control Unit) box and connect it to

soft-phones instead of having to buy desktop instruments.

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Softphones

or 'software phones' are software that run on your computer, provide a

telephone-instrument like interface (like for dialing) and use your computer's

sound card to provide audio.

If

your audio conferencing vendor provides a softphone option, it would be worth

checking out its features. For instance, the ACS-500 from AVAYA Communication

features a 24-port MCU (expandable in 24-port modules) along with softphones.

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The

softphone packs features like participant count, conference recording and

playback, code-controlled conference security, Web based control features that

include document sharing and full session logging.

Video

conferencing 




Just hearing voice is sometimes not enough and you need video too. This also
adds the ability to convey more-not only that you can read the other

person's body language, but you can also enhance information either from a

nearby (television, notebook or PC) screen or other visual aids (charts,

objects, etc).


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In

the old days, a video conferencing session involved setting up special studios

with costly equipment for lightning, image capture and transmission. Today, that

has changed. It has become far more compact and has appeared on the desktop; and

it has also become much more cheaper. Of course, the video conferencing studios

still exist-VSNL for instance operates some at different locations.

Video-capable

conferencing equipment today comes with connectors for your computer monitor and

a socket for your VCR or disc player. From the video connection, you can play

pre-recorded tapes of your latest sales pitch, ad-campaign, and clips from the

annual company cruise... You can use the monitor connection to broadcast your

slideshows and presentations or show a demo using your computer or notebook.

Technologies



Conference and collaborate

Perhaps the oldest form of conferencing, this happens mostly via text sent up and down between the participants. In the early days, this had only one name -IRC. Today, we can perhaps classify most forms of online collaboration under 'data conferencing', right from instant messaging to document collaboration. Actually, audio and video conferencing must fall under this heading too, since everything is data after all. But we shall include only those activities here that require a computer in between to complete the action. Among the means available to achieve data conferencing are both messaging servers as well as specialized data-conferencing servers. While messaging servers would handle other tasks as well, such as e-mail, calendaring and so on, data-conference servers would concentrate only on conferencing. For instance, software like Lotus Notes and MS Exchange are messaging servers with integrated conference support- they allow users to collaborate on IM clients. But, MS Live Meeting and Macromedia Breeze for instance, are purely for conducting online conferences. These applications also allow video and audio streams as part of the conference and provide other facilities like sidebar questioning, sharing of desktops and so on.

One

innovative use such abilities are put into use are in virtual classrooms. The

IGNOU (Indira Gandhi National Open



University) broadcasts video presentations of its courseware on a regular

schedule. Students at specially set-up facilities watch these broadcasts. Live

interaction with the particular instructor is also provided using which the

students can clarify doubts and answer the instructor's questions. Companies

can use the same technology to provide remote training programs if you have

offices all over the country and it is difficult to bring everyone together for

regular sessions.

For

video conferencing, we have equipment ranging from the simplest videophone to

dedicated video-conferencing terminals. When purchasing video-conferencing

equipment, look for details like quality of the camera and kind of lighting

required for optimal performance. Some equipment also let you control both the

local and remote cameras with adjustments for zoom levels and focus.

To

truly 'conference' instead of one-to-one meetings, you need an MCU on your

shopping list that has an iMUX, which performs bandwidth aggregation. Both

hardware and software MCUs are available and the choice really depends on your

budget.

Hardware

MCUs cost more. But software MCUs consume a lot of processing power and need a

powerful host computer. Some video conferencing end-point hardware come with

their own MCUs built-in and these can support a number of sites. For instance,

the VSX 3000 described in the box on 'Setting up Polycom VSX 3000' has four

ISDN lines meaning it can connect directly to four sites.

Video

transmission is something that requires high bandwidth. And for smooth video, it

should really be compressed. So, look for equipment that supports H.264

compression. Security is another area you need to look at.

Technologies



Cost of video conferencing equipment

Aethra Vegastar



Features: Distributed architecture for scalability, native IP

switching, web-based management



Silver (5 party MCU): Rs. 3.5 to 4.5 Lakhs







Gold (7 party MCU): Rs. 4.5 to 6 Lakhs







Contact: Francis D'Souza, Siemens, Mumbai. Tel: 24987235



Polycom VSX 3000



Features: 17” LCD monitor, attached camera and stereo

speakers, AES encryption, 4xISDN ports, Ethernet port, web management,

monitor in



With IP only: Rs. 3,24,441 (approx)







With IP and ISDN: Rs. 4,21,791 (approx)







Contact: Krishna P.V., Polycom (UK) India Branch, New Delhi. Tel:
26207767




Sony PCS-series

video conferencing equipment



Common features: QoS (with ARC and ARQ), data sharing with

whiteboarding, video conferencing, memory stick support, AES encryption



PCS 11P: Rs. 1,73,400 (basic model)







PCS 1P: Rs. 2,57,200 (second level model)







PCS TL 50P: Rs. 2,99,900 (desktop model)







PCS G 70NP: Rs. 5,93,000 (high-end model)







Contact: Parag Lathia, Actis Technologies Pvt Ltd, Mumbai. Tel:
28340004




Some

models offer standard encryption like AES or ITU-T H.235 and would be compatible

when working with similarly encrypting systems. However, if you are

using

something that has a proprietary algorithm then you would be getting tied down

to that particular vendor. If your primary conferencing would be over public

networks over whose traffic you have little control, you need a system that can

automatically adjust itself.

Here's

where ARC (Adaptive Rate Control) and ARQ (Real-time Auto-repeat Request) can

come in handy. ARC will dynamically adjust its audio and video rates to suit

network conditions and ARQ will help with recovering lost packets in real time.

Among

the options available, is a model from Polycom. The VSX 3000 priced at Rs

4,21,791 for the IP and ISDN based version. See the box for more on how to set

it up. This is a compact and portable set that works over Ethernet and upto four

ISDN lines to provide video conferencing facility along with the ability to hook

up a VGA signal and one from your video (VCR/cable/disc player). Its operations

are controlled using a remote control that would be fairly intuitive to someone

who's used a TV or from a Web interface over the LAN. This Web interface can

be used to remotely set up the VSX, maintain the phone book, check up on who's

using it and why and so on. It further offers AES encryption for end-to-end call

security.

Data

conferencing 




When no audio or video is required, you could use a pure data conference. A
typical example would be text messaging on an instant messaging client.

Messaging solutions like Lotus Sametime and MS Exchange provide such facility at

the corporate level. While you could use a non-corporate service like Yahoo for

your text-messaging requirements, you could be faced with privacy and other

issues down the line.


HOW to



Setting up the Polycom VSX 3000

The Polycom VSX 3000 is

a fully integrated video conferencing solution for the desktop executive.

It comes packaged as a 17” LCD monitor, with a fixed-mounted camera and

attached stereo speakers. Here's how you can quickly set it up and

conference.



Step 1: The rear

of the LCD has four sockets for your phone-lines (marked as “ISDN”).

Connect atleast one phone line here. Connect a LAN cable to the 10/100

Mbps port on the other end of the panel. Also plug in the power. Toggle

the button next to the LAN connector — this turns on the 'video

conferencing mode' of the device. Power it ON.



Step 2: If you

want to draw the visual from another source such as a VCR, PC or notebook,

attach the VGA-out from there to the VGA-in at the rear of the LCD as

shown in the picture alongside. To tape incoming video, attach a

VCR/PC/notebook's video-in line to the VGA-out of the VSX 3000.



Step 3: Hit the

'Home' button on the remote and use the arrow direction keys to

navigate to the System menu at the bottom, open the Admin Options >

Network screen from there. Set up how it gets the IP (dynamic or manual)

and also setup the hostname and so on. The system will restart itself when

you save the changes.



Step 4: Now you

can dial out (using the remote control) to call a computer (by its IP

address) or other video-enabled conference equipment that supports H.323

or SIP.



Step 5: You can

also call into the device using Yahoo Messenger's 'Call computer'

feature. Select the option from the menu and type in the VSX 3000's IP

address to call it. Make sure you have a Web cam and speakers/mic attached

to this computer. Do note that in this mode, you cannot send text messages

to the VSX.



Step 6: The VSX

3000 also has a web interface that's accessible over HTTP port 80, using

its IP address. This allows for full configuration and monitoring as

possible from the device itself. In addition, the interface also shows the

local and remote video, and a virtual remote control for additional

functionality. Using the web interface, you can also send short text

messages to the VSX that appears as pop-up messages on that screen.



For

instance, in such a case you would have little or no control on how your

messages are handled or if they get stored somewhere. In 2002, some messaging

providers including Yahoo and AOL had tried launching specialized corporate IM

services. The initiatives failed to take off although these providers had

security and compliance covered, they couldn't do anything about providing

controls to monitor conversations and ensure the safety of sensitive data in

strictly regulated industries like BFSI.

If

you do plan to use their non-corporate services for corporate use, there are a

couple of concerns you need to address. One is interoperability. You cannot

obviously force all your contacts, especially if they work for other companies

to use the same service you prefer. But, implementing something like the Jabber

IM Server takes care of this problem by letting you talk to people who are on

different services. Look to our May 2004 issue for complete instructions on

setting up a Jabber IM server on your LAN.

Multi-protocol

clients such as Gaim are an option if you need a way to conveniently manage your

contacts on different services. Future versions of the Yahoo and MSN messengers

are also expected to work with each other without requiring any additional

software.

However,

when you do use such services changes to the conferencing/messaging protocol and

software will be transparent to you, without requiring you to install and

reconfigure your servers. Updated client applications will be automatically

downloaded and installed on user desktops.

Commercial

messaging options include Lotus Sametime (which also necessitates Lotus Domino),

MS Exchange. These solutions also add other facilities like e-mail, calendaring

and collaboration.

Data

conferencing can also be 'presentation streaming' where presentations

(slideshows, demonstrations, desktops) can be streamed on a network. This is

usually used for training and self-help environments where content is created

and placed on a streaming server for access at the viewer's convenience.

One

example of this is the Presentation Broadcasting in

Vista


. Our October 2005 issue has a hands-on how to do this in four steps. What one

would do is run the 'Broadcast a Presentation' item from the

Programs>'Network Presentation' menu and use the wizard that comes up to

setup the session and start the broadcast. You can also choose to pause or

discontinue display of your desktop at any time using a button on that wizard

screen. A viewer would also need to have

Vista


installed. He would select 'View a presentation' from the Start menu.

There

is no extra investment involved in conferencing on messengers since they use the

existing computer and network



infrastructure.

Collaboration

at the time of a conference, that is, exchanging files and working together on

something (like whiteboarding) adds value to that session. Web-based solutions

like WebEx offer to do this in a convenient pay-per-use mode. WebEx offers

document management, calendaring, online meetings, hosted discussions, and

contact management with their 'WebOffice' package. Their 'MeetMeNow'

solution on the other hand is a pure conferencing solution, which includes

desktop sharing, whiteboarding and audio facility along with instant messaging.

Both these services are paid facilities but can be leveraged by all enteprises

seeking to do either pure conferencing or conferencing with



collaboration. 

HOW to



Whiteboard sharing on Windows messenger

When collaborating

online, the 'whiteboard' on Windows Messenger is an interesting

feature to have. This allows two or more users to scribble on the screen

using just the mouse and share ideas. Whiteboards are useful when

diagrams, figures or other graphical entities have to be conveyed. On a

personal front, whiteboards are a great way to have a little fun too.



Step 1: Make

sure both you and your contact have the latest version of Windows

Messenger installed. You can then use the feature from either MSN or

Windows messengers.



Step 2: Open an

IM window to one contact and from the menu, select Actions>Start an

Activity, and click on 'Whiteboard'. This will send your contact an

invitation.



Step 3: When

your contact accepts the invitation, you can add more contacts to that

conversation and make it a conference. Each of the others also needs to

have the same version of Windows Messenger.



Step 4: Now, you

can scribble on the displayed Whiteboard using your mouse for a pen and

share your ideas and collaborate on anything from a new product to a

birthday party.

Webcasting 



Today's Web-casting applications are fast, rich and powerful. Harnessing

the power of rich-content UI such as those provided by Flash and faster Internet

connectivity available, applications like Macromedia Breeze, MS Live Meeting and

Lotus Sametime (which provides both collaboration and conferencing capabilities)

provide seamless two-way interaction using audio, video and data. Some of these

applications run off a Web browser using a plug-in, while others need or have an

optional downloadable client. Common facilities offered by such software include

two modes. One would be how the audience views the application and the other is

for the presenters.

As

a participant, you would be able to view video broadcasts that could either be a

slideshow presentation or an MPEG stream. To interact with the presenters, there

would be a text area where you can type in your comments or queries and submit

them. At the end of the session, the system would also allow you to download

session transcripts.

As

a presenter, the software will allow you to get an audience-wide view of how

many people are currently in attendance. Some software also give you a

theater-style view of the conference, including filled and vacant seats. Status

of different participants when they are watching the presentation or interacting

with the presenters or waiting for a response can also be seen. You would also

have the capability to apply moderation by discontinuing the sessions of

disruptive participants. Messages sent across by the audience are collected into

a queue and you can respond to them. Desktops and screens can be shared and you

can provide demonstrations that way.

Web

casts, today, are used by companies widely to launch products, make

announcements, present reports and so on to a much wider audience at a much

cheaper cost. Traditionally, this would involve setting up meetings at venues

all around the world, the overheads of getting people to those venues and so on.

All that is avoided when you use a Web cast instead, since the only cost you

incur is the cost of the application, server and bandwidth; which can all easily

be a one-time cost if you plan to use this regularly.

Technologies



Hosted meetings

Using the Web is the

cheapest way to conference. But what if you don't want to invest a pot

of money in setting up your own conferencing equipment or software? The

solution is of course, to outsource that to someone who can and offer it

to you at a much cheaper rate. Well, a form of this is called a 'hosted

virtual meeting'. Here, a service provider (not necessarily an ISP) will

setup a virtual meeting place. Using clients that would change depending

on the provider and the particular software, users can connect to this

virtual room and conference with whoever is in there. People can create

conferences and schedule them for a particular time and date and send out

invitations to participants for it. Features on the client can vary from

simple video/audio/text conferencing to sharing desktops and file

exchange.



Much larger

conferences, like modern-day Web casts during product launches or

announcements also have audience modules that allow the participants to

'raise hands' virtually and ask the speakers questions. Everything can

also be recorded for distribution to those who missed it.



Such meetings are

hosted usually either using Macromedia Breeze or Microsoft Live

Communications Server (Live Meeting). Both of them have their own freely

downloadable clients that are proprietary to that particular server

software. The clients can be both Web-based with the basic features as

well



as desktop software for increased functionality.



Providers of such

services include: WebEx, HP Virtual Rooms and CUWorld besides many other

providers. Some of these cost money while others require a registration

but are free.

Offsite

training is an area where Web casts can be used. Content can be recorded and

then placed online for download (or be streamed). Employees can then download

this content whenever they can



connect and view the session. This can be used in situations where online

interaction during the session is not a priority requirement or other means like

e-mail



or discussion forums can be used to take it forward. From smoke signals through

carrier pigeons to the latest appliance-powered instant messaging platform,

human



beings have come a long way developing this technology with a singular aim,

which is to communicate with his fellow beings. And to the corporate society,

that is a powerful tool. Today, that need has evolved from talking about food

supply and war to sealing business deals and conferencing with people at remote

locations which would be possible with the touch of a button and a fraction of

the cost it would take to go there. Today's needs are as intensely driven as

those of when the means and



language to communicate were invented. As connectivity and technologies improve,

the Earth will shrink once more and conferences will become richer and faster,

and dense everyday.

Technologies



Presentation streaming

This is an interesting product out of eInfochips, Ahmedabad. The product is a presentation broadcaster that uses a Flash-based front end with a C++ driven back-end engine. The presenter can use a computer system (PC/notebook) to transmit the content over standard TCP/IP networks. Participants in the conference can easily create, edit, move or delete streamed content in a variety of formats using a stylus. The content is also seamlessly archived and can be e-mailed to all the participants. Thunder can also be used for multi-location presentation. The participant interfaces can seamlessly use several simultaneous broadcasts. This is useful if say you're having a distributed sales conference and each sales manager needs to present his content to everyone else.

Sujay V Sarma

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