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ConferenceXP Update

ConferenceXP Update. Fred Videon & Andrew Whitaker University of Washington. I’m ConferenceXP. I’m Access Grid. Talk Outline. ConferenceXP Background and Current Release Upcoming Release: ConferenceXP 5.0 ConferenceXP Deployments of Interest Questions/Discussion.

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ConferenceXP Update

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  1. ConferenceXP Update Fred Videon & Andrew Whitaker University of Washington

  2. I’m ConferenceXP I’m Access Grid

  3. Talk Outline • ConferenceXP Background and Current Release • Upcoming Release: ConferenceXP 5.0 • ConferenceXP Deployments of Interest • Questions/Discussion

  4. Center for Collaborative Technologies • Microsoft funded center • Mandate: • Investigate education and other collaborative scenarios • Extend and maintain the ConferenceXP platform • Build the community of users and developers • http://cct.cs.washington.edu

  5. ConferenceXP • Platform for Real-time collaboration • High-quality multipoint conferencing • Full-screen, real-time video at 30 fps • Built-in presentation capability, whiteboard & screen sharing

  6. A Brief History of ConferenceXP • Project began at MSR in 2001 as DISC • Successful UW deployment for distance learning, ongoing since Spring 2003 • 4-way distance learning deployments Autumn 2004, 2005 & 2006 • July 2007: UW Center for Collaborative Technologies founded to continue CXP development & support

  7. ConferenceXP Services • Venue Service • Provide virtual meeting spaces • Simple web service • Archive Service • Conference archive & playback • Reflector Service • Unicast tunnel • Multicast support is not great in many areas

  8. ConferenceXP is a Shared Source Platform • Provides a great platform for research in collaborative environments • APIs designed for extensibility • .Net Framework shortens development cycle • Includes rich AV device support • Provides a proven platform for distance learning and distributed meetings • Existing tools support integrated TabletPC based presentation, archive post-processing and integrated archive playback

  9. Current Release • ConferenceXP 4.1 released December 2007 • Localization support • Extracted strings to resource files • Chinese version checked by native speakers • Vista Support • x64 Support

  10. UpcomingRelease • CXP 5.0: Aiming for Summer 2008 Release • Improved Diagnostics • Security Enhancements • NAT-friendly reflector • High-quality audio

  11. Diagnostics • Problem: Understanding network failures is very difficult • Approach: Aggregate connectivity information at a diagnostic service • Details (similar to multicast beacon): • Leverage the diagnostic info in RTCP • Receiver reports, sender reports • Each RTCP packet is copied over unicast to the diagnostic service

  12. Diagnostics: UI Changes • Warning icons • Tool tips • Missing participant “Ghost icon” • Access to Detail view

  13. Diagnostics: Detail View

  14. Security • 4.x has minimal security • Any client can join any venue • 5.0 provides password-protected venues • Two implementations: • Weak: Password required to access the mapping from venue name to multicast IP • Protects against accidental accesses • Strong: Password is hashed into a symmetric encryption key

  15. Security: User’s view

  16. NAT-Friendly Reflector • The 5.0 ConferenceXP allows multiple clients to run behind a single NAT device • Details: • 4.x assumes all clients use standard RTP, RTCP ports • NATs map different machines to different ports • 5.0 removes this assumption • Requires changing the JOIN protocol to use UDP

  17. High-Quality Audio • Changes to DirectShow buffering enable high-quality uncompressed audio • Higher quality compressed formats added • User control via advanced audio configuration UI Credit: José Feghali (TCU)

  18. Recent Deployments of Interest • Shared Course with Lahore University • Initial work with Latin America Virtual Institute • Music instruction and performance • Initial work with Aravind Eye Hospital

  19. Shared Course with Lahore University • Masters class, Spring 2008 • University of Washington • Lahore University of Management Science • Microsoft • Computing for the Developing world

  20. Technical Challenges • Ensuring adequate bandwidth • Limited bandwidth to Pakistan • Reliability • Ensuring this did not compromise UW-MS class • Limited time to prepare

  21. 3-way setup for UW, MS, LUMS Microsoft LUMS CP3 CP3 PMP Venue 1 PMP Venue 2 Archiver UW CP3 CP3 Server

  22. Future Work: Improved Support for Heterogeneity • Reduce complexity for scenarios such as the Lahore class • Enhance Venue to use multiple multicast groups • Admin & user configurable stream-to-group assignments • User configurable group subscription

  23. Work with LATAM Virtual Institute • March, 2008, LACCIR Meeting • Latin American and Carribbean Collaboration for ICT Research • Seattle and University of Chile, Santiago, Chile • Seminar presentation • CXP Unicast reflector

  24. Music Instruction & Performance • Work led by José Feghali at Texas Christian University • Master class in piano performance with the Royal Academy of Music in London • Other recitals and instruction including: • USC School of Music • Julliard School of Music • The New World Symphony

  25. Piano Master Class Video

  26. Aravind Eye Hospital • Video conferencing for telemedicine in southern India • Challenge: scaling beyond ~6 vision centers

  27. Get the ConferenceXP Source • ConferenceXP and related projects are available in source & binary distributions • http://www.codeplex.com/ConferenceXP Collaborate with us on new features, etc.

  28. Resources & Contacts • CCT Website/Wiki • Announcements Email List • Contacts: cct.cs.washington.edu cct-announce-request@cs.washington.edu cct@cs.washington.edufred@cs.washington.edu andrew@cs.washington.edu

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